- Check Point Reports Increase on Black Friday-Themed Domains, with Nearly 10% Marked as Malicious
- In October 2025 alone, there were 1,519 new domains impersonating major e-commerce brands, and 1 in 25 were considered harmful
- Researchers warn that GenAI tools can accelerate the creation of localized phishing sites, increasing the risk this shopping season.
During October 2025 and the first weeks of November, there was an increase in new domain registrations related to Black Friday; However, experts have warned that many of these domains are malicious and abuse the discount hunting frenzy to steal people’s data, passwords, and possibly even money.
A new report from cybersecurity researchers Check Point claims that 158 new Black Friday-related domains were registered in October 2025, 93% more than the monthly average for 2025, and early November 2025 has been even more intense, with 330 new domains emerging in the first 10 days of the month alone.
Of those domains, almost a tenth (one in eleven) were classified as malicious.
The dangers of GenAI
In addition to domains that have the words “Black Friday” in their name, there are also many new domains impersonating major e-commerce brands that have also appeared in recent weeks. These too, Check Point maintains, are designed solely to take advantage of Black Friday.
In October, there were 1,519 new domains referencing sites such as Amazon, AliExpress or Alibaba, which is an increase of 24% compared to September 2025 and an increase of 12% compared to the same period last year. Of these websites, 1 in 25 were considered malicious.
Generally speaking, Check Point maintains that volume has been more or less constant, relative to previous years.
However, the researchers also warned about Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools speeding up the process of generating new websites, hinting that the threat of malicious landing pages, especially localized ones, is significantly higher this year.
“Creating and locating this type of operation is significantly faster and easier with modern generative AI tools,” Check Point said.
“While there is no clear evidence that AI was used in these specific cases, attackers are increasingly adopting these types of tools, which will make future campaigns broader, more targeted, and harder to detect.”
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