Individual skill
detecting-typosquatting-packages-in-npm-pypi
Detects typosquatting attacks in npm and PyPI package registries by analyzing package name similarity using Levenshtein distance and other string metrics, examining publish date heuristics to identify recently created packages mimicking established ones, and flagging download count anomalies where suspicious packages have disproportionately low usage compared to their legitimate targets. The analyst queries the PyPI JSON API and npm registry API to gather package metadata for automated comparison. Activates for requests involving package typosquatting detection, dependency confusion analysis, malicious package identification, or software supply chain threat hunting in package registries.
internal/tools/skills/data/supply-chain-security/detecting-typosquatting-packages-in-npm-pypi/SKILL.md
Source commit d42f381ad34843e71a42658e5c57290c713e85af
What was checked
- Matches the observed repository HEAD
- Yes
- Scanner rules are current
- Yes
- Repository scan complete
- No
- Skill scan complete
- Yes
- Observed behavior
- Network or broad shell
- Last checked
- Nov 9, 2026
These are observations at the recorded commit, not a guarantee of safety. Review the source before running it.
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Repository context
- Repository stars (not skill ratings)
- 1,329
- Repository last updated
- Nov 9, 2026
- License
- Apache-2.0
Observed agent integration: No specific integration evidence. Standard SKILL.md installation does not imply verified compatibility.
- cybersecurity Repository topic
- security Repository topic
- bug-bounty Repository topic
- automation Repository topic
- autonomous-pentesting Repository topic
- ai-agent Repository topic
- ai-security Repository topic
- ethical-hacking Repository topic
- golang Repository topic
- penetration-testing Repository topic
- typosquatting Declared skill tag
- npm Declared skill tag
- pypi Declared skill tag
- supply-chain Declared skill tag
- package-security Declared skill tag
- levenshtein Declared skill tag
- dependency-confusion Declared skill tag
- malicious-packages Declared skill tag
- security Derived category
- engineering Derived category
- operations Derived category
Files and excerpt
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SKILL.mdcore · 14,795 bytes
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# Detecting Typosquatting Packages in npm and PyPI
## When to Use
- Auditing project dependencies to identify packages whose names are suspiciously similar to popular libraries
- Proactively scanning package registries for newly published packages that may be typosquats of your organization's packages
- Investigating a suspected supply chain compromise where a developer installed a misspelled package name
- Building automated monitoring that alerts when new packages appear with names close to critical dependencies
- Assessing the risk profile of unfamiliar packages before adding them to a project's dependency tree
**Do not use** as the sole determination of malicious intent; name similarity alone does not prove a package is malicious. Do not use for bulk automated takedown requests without manual review of flagged packages. Do not use against private registries without authorization.
## Detection Gaps & Validation
Pure Levenshtein matching catches the obvious misspellings and misses the attack classes that look nothing like a typo at the byte level.