mysecurepc

One of the things we all dread is loss of our hard-earned domain name.

Domain expiration - if your domain expires it could be snatched up in seconds by a domain speculator. Guess what? They will sell it back to you at a very high price, if they deem it valuable, o r point it to another website hoping to capitalize on the web traffic.

Registrars generally do not send out notices via postal mail anymore. This means the contact email address must be valid or else you will never be contacted.

One gotcha is not to use free email accounts for notification. Some disappear, such as MSN, if you do not login within a specific time limit.

Domain Theft - this was mentioned in an earlier article.

Inaccurate contact information - If the information provided to ICANN is inaccurate and you do not respond to their queries within fifteen days you will lose your domain.

How do you protect yourself?

1. Keep track of your domain expiration dates
2. Make sure the contact information is accurate
3. Place a domain lock on your domain name
4. Have you or your company listed as domain owner
5. Do not reply to emails about domains you do not recognize
6. Renew your domain for several years instead of yearly
7. Make sure the registrars’s domain is not blocked by a spam filter
8. Consider consolidating your domains into one registrar

Doug

Domain hijacking is: unauthorized transfer of a domain from one entity to another. Note that the domain is not expired and this is an illegal process.

How does this happen?

The domain registrar is tricked into changing domain name registration from yours to someone else’s. This is usually done through identity theft as the thief poses as you.
Fortunately, most domain registrars have a feature called ‘domain locking’ which prevents unauthorized third party domain transfers, deletions, or modifications.

Here are some suggestions on mitigating domain hijacking:

• Make sure domain locking is enabled on your domain registrar.
• Do not click on email links that talk about domain renewal. Always contact the registrar directly.
• Add your registrar’s domain name to your email white list so you do not miss renewal notices.

Doug