DNS Hijacking

DNS hijacking involves changes to a domain name server (DNS), which translates human readable domain names into IP addresses. As the name implies, the "hijacking" means a user is directed to a different end server.

At its worst, this can lead to various fraudulent practices like phishing or data scraping, where data is collected in dishonest ways. A "softer" version of DNS hijacking is where an ISP will redirect a user to another page to generate ad revenue. For example, when typing in a bad URL, instead of getting a DNS error, the user might go to the ISP search page where the ISP is actually getting paid for sending the traffic.