Website and/or URL spoofing

Website spoofing is all about making a malicious website look like a legitimate one. The spoofed site will look like the login page for a website you frequent—down to the branding, user interface, and even a spoofed domain name that looks the same at first glance. Cybercriminals use spoofed websites to capture your username and password (aka login spoofing) or drop malware onto your computer (a drive-by download). A spoofed website will generally be used in conjunction with an email spoof, in which the email will link to the website.

It's also worth noting that a spoofed website isn't the same as a hacked website. In the case of a website hacking, the real website has been compromised and taken over by cybercriminals—no spoofing or faking involved. Likewise, malvertising is its own brand of malware. In this case, cybercriminals have taken advantage of legitimate advertising channels to display malicious ads on trusted websites. These ads secretly load malware onto the victim's computer.