Domain name is a property that can be subject to theft anytime soon if you aren’t really careful. This is called domain hijacking.
Domain hijacking is an illegal activity. It involves stealing somebody else’s personality to allow him to trick those domain registrars. He does this by submitting a false transfer request to the registrar until it can provide the hijacker the full controllership of the domain. Once he gets this control, he becomes the new sole owner of the domain name. He can either set up his own website for porn or use this as bait so the real owner will give him ransom for the domain name.
There are absolutely disadvantages with regards to domain hijacking, one of which is site redirection. Aside from losing your domain name, which you can never get back unless you’re willing to undergo legal battle, you’ll also lose your own traffic. Thus it is ideal that you protect your domain name closely.
Top-level domain registries make use of EPP, or extensible provisioning protocol. This means that there’s a unique code exclusively given to domain registrants as a means of providing security to any unauthorized transfer requests.
You also need to find a truly reliable web host that does not utilize open DNS servers. If you want to be really sure, you can visit dnsreport.com and type in the URL of the domain name of the website. The line intended for Open DNS Server should indicate “Pass.” Otherwise, you need to contact your web hosting provider immediately. A secure DNS server makes your system more difficult to hack than open ones. You must look for another web host if your current one cannot solve this problem.
Attorneys can also play a webmaster role just to make sure that domain names of their clients are kept safe. But this can be an expensive choice. Cheaper ones may include availing of a prepay domain recovery program such as those of TROANN. This is a title registry for domain name ownership. There’s no sure way or preventing domain name hijacking because of the human element. However this set-up will minimize the risks and it’s easier and more convenient to recover. You can also ask for a domain title certificate as evidence of your ownership.
A lot of website owners who are victims of this scam prefer to go down-low. Though filing a case and going through trials can be extremely daunting, not to mention draining for the pocket, it’s still worth a try, especially if credibility of your business is on the line.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
As a fellow webmaster, i would advice all those registering their domains online to avoid netfirms.com - they are thieves. We had recently registered our domain on their site and with proof of purchase and a receipt later, we realized the domain has been sold to someone else half a day after our official purchase!
I would recommend many other domain providers, but that seem like i’m endorsing them, i merely conclude to beware when dealing with this India based IT institution.
Last word of advice, if they realize the worth of a domain after you have purchased it, they will revoke their claim and purchase it themselves, so that they can later resell it.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:55 am
A similar thing happend to me years ago but with godaddy. I was emailing godaddy staff about an issue and I mentioned that im going to register optimizationservice.com
Few hours later the domain name was registered and godaddy was showing in the whois as the registrar.
Anyway, there was nothing I can do about it, and it was my mistake in the first place to include such information, in an email to a total stranger !