Interesting article on ComputerWorld.com about a new system for detecting domain names and websites used for cyber crime. The company OpenDNS has been around since 2005 and has created something they call Natural Processing Language.

From the article:

A security system undergoing testing by a San-Francisco-based company aims to speed up the detection of websites and domains used for cybercrime.

The technology is being developed by OpenDNS, which specializes in performing DNS (Domain Name System) lookups. The DNS translates domain names such as idg.com into an IP address that can be called into a browser.

OpenDNS offers a secure DNS service for ISPs and organizations that blocks requests from Web browsers to sites that may be associated with cybercrime or that spoof a company.

The new system, called Natural Language Processing rank (NLPRank) looks at a range of metrics around a particular domain name or website to figure out if it’s suspicious.

It scores a domain name to figure out if it’s likely fraudulent by comparing it to list of suspicious names or phrases. For example, g00gle.com — with zeros substituting for the letter “o” — would raise a red flag.

Read the full article on ComputerWorld