GoDaddy is the biggest domain registrar in the world, with more than 80 million domain names under management.
It makes sense that it’s therefore the most targeted domain registrar by cybercriminals, due to the sheer volume of domains.
For domain portfolio holders at GoDaddy, a type of upgraded protection is available. The message displayed under the Domain Management section displays an alarming number on attempted domain thefts: 170,000 times per year:
That’s how often criminals attempt to steal domains. Your domain name is your most valuable online asset and needs protection.
It’s unclear if the number claimed reflects attempts at GoDaddy alone, or industry-wide; either way, the number is staggering. Using GoDaddy’s numbers, that’s 1 in 470 domain names.
The figure seems about right. If you have 400+ names, you’ve probably had some sort of security issue, whether it’s too many failed login attempts, a DDoS attack forcing you offline, or even a theft attempt using social engineering techniques.
Never underestimate the tools of a domain thief and use this GoDaddy statistic as a reminder that you can never be too secure with your domains.
Kudos: Dale G.
Those are ATTEMPTS to steal a domain/hack into an account. But the actual number of domains stolen is a lot less. We’re aware of 23 that were stolen, just this month. That’s how many we’re aware of, I’m sure the number is about 10x that were actually stolen. So many domain owners don’t even check on their websites to see if they’re still up and running. And when they do, that’s when they learn the domain is stolen. But, many just expired and aren’t actually stolen.
Bill – It’s clear that these are attempts, but still the number is shocking. This number has nothing to do with expired domains, it’s provided as an alert by GoDaddy themselves.