How To Protect My Domain Name

Inefficient Change Management Can Result In Omitted Or Invalid Dns Security Settings

Widely considered to be mandatory and essential security measures are settings such as Domain Name System Security Extensions for authenticating users and destinations, and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance, and Sender Policy Framework to vet email users. Ongoing surveys of Fortune 1,000 companies show that these protections are either missing entirely or they have been deployed incorrectly, exposing the affected organizations DNS networks and customers to serious compromise.

Never Share Your Domain Register Login Details With Strangers

Keep your domain registrar login details protected at all costs. This includes not sharing login details with anyone who cant be trusted one hundred percent.

Its fairly common for some web designers, developers and other IT services to ask for your domain register login data to alter some DNS configurations. The truth is, you can make these changes without giving them access, changing DNS records, or setting a new Name Server for your domain names. Its not rocket science if you dont know how to do it yourself, ask your domain registrar for help — but avoid sharing your login details with strangers.

If you cant make the changes by yourself and you find its really necessary to give access to your registrar account, your best option is to create a sub-account with restricted privileges so you can be sure others will not modify anything beyond whats needed.

Make Sure Your Domains Are Registry Locked

Most organisations have a change control process to prevent unauthorised changes to domains. However this does not prevent changes being made by:

• current or former staff in your organisation with the right credentials
• compromise at your registrar

Your public sector organisation can sign up to the free Registry Lock service provided by the Central Digital and Data Office to protect your domain from unauthorised changes to critical data. This sign-up process takes 5 minutes.

Note: Registry Lock will not affect your day-to-day Domain Name Service management and only works for .gov.uk domains. For other domains you should check with your registrar.

Your IT provider cannot sign up to Registry Lock service on your behalf. The Domain Name Administrator must sign up to the service.

The Registry Lock service will:

• prevent changes to your domain records and contact details in the .gov.uk registry, until they are verified by an authorised team in your organisation
• notify other nominated roles when changes to these records are made

The service will check any changes to the .gov.uk zone file for your domain as well as your contact details held at the registry. The zone file will generally just contain your name server records but can occasionally include other records as well. It will not prevent changes to individual DNS records like A, MX and TXT held with your registrar.

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What Is Domain Privacy Protection

Most IT professionals think their data is prone to cyberattacks and data breaches, despite their preventive measures. An additional layer of protection used by many IT professionals is domain privacy protection.

While registering a domain name, the WHOIS database stores your personal information and records your details . WHOIS is a database possessing contact and registration information for domain names. Domain registrars provide domain privacy protection to protect your data in the Whois records from unauthorised people.

Tips To Protect Your Domain And Prevent Email Spoofing

Spoofing is a tactic used in cyber attacks in which crooks try to impersonate a domain in order to lure and deceive others. The reason is obvious: if you know the message sender or the information source, youre much more likely to interact with it. Its merely a matter of trust and security. Of course, attackers know this and take advantage of it. So much so that spoofing is related to social engineering cases, spam campaigns, phishing and spear phishing attacks.

As a result, spoofing can harm you and your business in two ways. First, by using your domain. Indeed, cybercriminals can use your domain, company name and brand to commit scams and frauds, especially via email. Second, by flooding your mailbox with dangerous and unwanted messages. Imagine if a companys employee is deceived by a cybercriminal who has dark interests. As in the first case, the damage can be huge.

Email spoofing has been a common technique used by crooks because the process of sending emails doesnt have advanced messaging authentication mechanisms.

The sending process is based on the SMTP protocol, which isnt too concerned about the senders address. The main SMTP purpose is just to carry the messages, which allows criminals to use other peoples domains.

So its possible that someone may be using your domain and company name right now to spread spam and phishing attacks. No need to say how that may tarnish your reputation and brand.

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How To Protect Your Domain Name System From Hijacking

Large-scale domain name system hijackings usually in the form of DNS spoofing or DDoS attacks have been on a steady rise for years. But the unprecedented number of DNS hijackings in 2019 has prompted the U.K.s National Cyber Security Centre to alert and advise organizations on the threat. Learn how to protect your domain name system from hijacking.

The DNS operates like the switchboard of the internet, connecting alphabetical characters typed into web browsers with correct numeric-based IP addresses on servers where the content resides. If a DNS connection is hijacked, unsuspecting user traffic can be redirected to dangerous websites.

Be Suspicious Of Any Icann

First and foremost, it is essential to know that ICANN does not process domain registrations, nor does it offer domain name management services.

Consequently, the domain authority never sends emails directly to registrants about managing their domain names, and never collect fees from registrants directly either.

All domain-management related notifications come from the domain registrar itself. These include:

• WHOIS Data Reminder Policy notice
• Registration data verification request
• Domain name expiration reminder
• Domain name renewal request message.

Also, the registrar is responsible for collecting all domain registration and renewal fees as well as any other domain management-related fees.

Also, legitimate email messages sent from ICANN will never come from a domain other than icann.org, such as icann-domain.org or icann-support.org.

Besides, a real email from ICANN will never include an attachment or software that recipients will be prompted to open.

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Dont Use The Same Company For Domain Registration And Web Hosting Services

A lot of domain registrars also offer web hosting services like shared hosting or dedicated servers. Their goal is to keep all your business within their company to sell you complimentary products. This can be appealing, if you want to keep all your eggs in one basket.

But what if an attacker gains control over your client area? Not only will he have access to your domain names, hell also get to your web hosting space, access your files and cause even more damage to your company.

Dont gamble with your security. Keep domain and hosting on separate accounts.

Pay Attention To Incoming Emails Requesting Registrar Login Details

Phishing attacks happen every day. Its dangerous business, something that can reach you in the form of a simple incoming email from your domain registrar, or even the ICANN.

Scam and phishing emails are often sent by forging a trusted senders email address, or from a domain name similar to the original one from your registrar company. For example, if your company is Namecheap, theyll send the email from a domain name like namecheapsupport.com or namecheapmail.com.

If you ever receive a suspicious email from your registrar asking you to click a link or requesting your client area username or passwords, dont do it. Always contact your domain registrar from the official web page and forward the email you received to their technical support so they can determine whether its real, or if it is indeed a phishing attack.

You can even receive phishing emails that appear to be coming from ICANN. In that case, be sure to forward your email to , so they can verify its authenticity.

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Apply For A Trademark

The only way for a business to gain permanent ownership of their domain name is by registering it as a trademark. A registered trademark provides the owner with the exclusive right to use, sell and license a trademark. Only a registered trademark provides proprietary protection against unauthorised use in Australia. It also allows owners to effectively protect and promote the reputation of a brand or business. You should also register your businesss other intellectual property assets including your business name, logo and slogan. If someone registers a domain name that infringes on your trademark, then you can lodge a complaint with auDa and have the registration cancelled.

Its important to note here however, that not all domain names can be trademarked. In order to register a trademark for your domain name, your name must be more than merely a direction to the source of your webpage or information regarding the webpage.

Protect Your Brand With These Domain Name Tips

You have a domain name for your website. It works great: you love the name, your customers and fans know it by heart, and people can easily find your website.

But as your sites popularity grows, theres also a growing threat. Nefarious people might try to take advantage of the hard work you put into your business by registering typos and other variations of the name.

There are ways you can protect yourself and your brand. Here are some suggestions.

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Check Your Registrar Has Multi

Make sure your registrar offers multi-factor authentication when you access their portal to make changes to your records. This will help lower the risk of someone hijacking your domain name. You should also check your registrar uses MFA when they access the registry service.

To make sure your registrar uses MFA you should:

Protect The Lifecycle Of Your Domain Names

Corsearchs domain management solutions enable brand owners and legal teams to centralize and strengthen domain name portfolio monitoring and protection. We simplify domain name management to give you a clear view of your portfolio. Our expert domain team also delivers watching, recovery, and investigative services that strengthen your domain name assets.

Whether you need to register a new worldwide domain with an ICANN-accredited registrar, recover typo traffic, or investigate and monitor specific domains, we can help.

With our end-to-end trademark clearance and brand protection focus, we also offer a holistic environment for the securing and management of domains along with trademarks and other brand assets.

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What Are Domain Names And How Do They Work

A domain name is the part of the URL after the www. Often, the domain name is a company name or what a web page is about. There are two parts of a website: the domain name and the files of content that will go onto each page of the website.

The files are hosted on a server. The domain is bought and then hosted and stored on a domain registration company. You also need to sign up with a hosting company to upload the files from the server. Both the domain and web server files must be integrated for the website to function properly. Once the files are uploaded and the domain is registered on a hosting company site, the site owner configures the domain name to point to the files on his web server using the domain control panel. Once this is set up, Internet users will be able to see the correct webpage and content when they enter the domain name into the web browser.

Domain Brand And Registrant Investigations

Corsearchs domain investigations empower your brand protection team to aggregate domain ownership information and identify infringers targeting your brands. Traffic data and screenshots help identify and prioritize high-risk infringement.

Our collaborative enforcement platform and evidence tracking features support swift infringement resolution.

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Register Variations Of Your Domain Name

Register variances of your domain name online as scammers are often looking to register domain names similar to yours so they can imitate your brand. Through common hacking techniques like phishing or domain name typosquatting, hackers can use your domain to trick unsuspecting users into providing confidential details like banking information, putting your brands reputation at risk. Registering variations of your domain name limits opportunities for others to register those same variations and put your brands reputation at risk.

Appoint A Domain Name Administrator

The Domain Name Administrator is responsible for the security of your domain name.

Appoint a Domain Name Administrator to manage your domain names as an asset, as recommended in the Minimum Cyber Security Standard. The administrator should put a process in place to manage the lifecycle of a domain from creation to removal.

For large organisations, the administrator will usually be a member of staff who is part of the domain management team. For smaller organisations like parish councils, the administrator will usually be the clerk or another similar role.

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Delete Expired Or Undead Domains

Make sure you delete expired domain names. If expired domains are still live they are known as undead domains. All services connected to expired or undead domains, including email and web services, will stop working.

To delete expired or undead domains you should:

Domain Privacy + Protection

When anyone registers a domain, that person’s name, email address, phone number, and even home address is publicly available online in the WHOIS database. This happens because the laws surrounding domain names require every domain name owner to disclose their contact information.

Since most people don’t want their personal contact information available to the public where scammers, hackers, and anyone else can see it, they use Domain Privacy. Domain Privacy + Protection is a service Bluehost offers that will hide your personal contact information from the public WHOIS database and replace it with generic Bluehost contact information instead. You are still the owner of the domain name, but your personal contact information can be kept safe.

Domain Privacy + Protection protects you from:

• FAQ

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