Time to change your passwords.
This year we’ve seen an exponential increase in domain name hijacking and theft, all thanks to a requirement by ICANN for registrars to verify WHOIS information.
Domain theft is rampant in countries that the US legal system cannot comfortably reach, such as China and Russia.
What can domainers do to prevent the loss of their domain assets due to domain theft?
Attorney Stevan Lieberman, of the Greenberg & Lieberman LLC, has compiled an informative article on the subject of domain theft prevention, incorporating useful advice around the theft of a client’s domain name:
- Change your email password often.
- Test your password for its security strength. (There are free sites for checking password strength.)
- Disable POP if your email provider is able to use a different protocol.
- Tick the setting “always use https” under email options.
- Frequently check the “unusual activity” flag if provided by your email service.
- Use a two-step (two-factor) authentication if available.
For the full article, click here.
Good article. A couple things I try and do as well are:
Use different contact info on my registrar account vs my whois (when not using a privacy service). Making it harder for thieves to guess my account email.
Use a two factor email provider for sensitive emails related to account info as well as two factor account related security where available.
Always nice to see helpful (Preventative) measures being shared on cyber security. So sad that domain hijacking picked up momentum in 2014 and hoping that 2015 is a year that more laws get put into place that allow international treaty measures to go into effect resulting in the perpetrators behind bars. I think the only way they will learn is after they get arrested. Sadly, that might not stop some from doing it again when they get out, but at least it will send a firm message.