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How to Recover From a Domain Name Theft
Nowadays, with the expansion of internet all over the world, the importance of having a domain name to spread the brand has increased significantly. The domain name acts like a real asset for the business owners and for those who involved in its buying and selling. But, have you ever wondered what it would be like to discover your domain name being theft? What would it feel to see the authority of your domain name in some other hands? Well, it would be a helpless sense.
Here we have listed few points to make you aware regarding – how to recover from a domain name theft.
What Is Domain Name Theft?
Domain name theft or domain hijack is the activity where the hijackers change the registration of the domain name without having the permission from the primary registrant. Notably, the occurrence of this is an unfortunate instance which can disturb the overall business process functionality. The reasons behind the hijack or theft may include
- Negligence towards security form the owner
- Security issues with the domain provider
- Expiration of Domain Registration
Markedly, for the “Expiration of Domain Registration,” the domain owner can do nothing as the hijacker will ultimately sound legal in his/her actions. One should always enable ‘auto-renewal’ to avoid this to happen
How to Recover the Domain Name?
For the recovery, first, understand the part of the company running the domain name(s). There are two most important terms that you need to keep in mind if dealing with the domains:
ICANN: For the domain names, it is the main governing body. ICANN is responsible for setting the compliance rules and processes into place for the registrars and the circumstances like name hijackings.
VERISIGN: They are involved in managing the infrastructure of the domains. WhoIs information is handled by them and only they have the authority to transfer a domain name. (With the order from the court or ICANN compliance notice)
Immediately alert your registrar
Regardless of the situation and the actions that you are taking from your side, inform the domain registrar immediately. The registrar is the contact company from where you had purchased the domain. Additionally, ask them to put the ICANN procedures in place so that the new registrant who has hijacked the name can be contacted.
Get ready with your lawyer
While it is just time-consuming and people-allergic way, you need to hire a lawyer to prepare the case and to follow the legal channels for the process of transferring back the domain. Remember to hire the lawyer having experience in handling these type of cases with a high success rate of –
- Getting transferred the domain name back to the actual registrant.
- And, imposing the penalty or compensation on the hijackers.
Make a move with the court order
There are a set of protocols that your registrar company will begin to follow after your complaint, but still, for most of the cases, the chances of the registrars getting the domain back to the user are quite small. Understand that the registrar company does not own any authority to transfer the domain name back to you, rather, they only follow the defined procedure.
For this, ask your lawyer to issue an order from the court and ask the domain registrar to transfer the domain as soon as possible by producing as many proofs as you can.
Rush and Make noise
Losing a domain name can badly hit the work and ultimately the revenues. Panic in this situation is normal, and the need of getting back the domain name is quite genuine. Certainly, one who encounters the problem can only understand the bitter pain, so try to rush and touch the social platforms for complaints and follow-ups. Social pressure always helps to make a bad situation right again. Moreover, ask the registrar company to boost up the investigations and make them realize the criticality of the case.
How to Prevent Domain Name Theft
Choose two-factor authentication – It enables the functionality of adding a unique code or password that the admin uses at the time of login. The code arrives by email or SMS.
Transfer lock– Some registrars share a unique code with the registrant that is needed to produce at the time of domain transfer. Without the unique code or key, the domain cannot be transferred further.
Password change – Changing the password on frequent intervals mitigates the risk. So, try to modify the passwords and avoid access over insecure systems.
Guard the WhoIs email account– Add proper steps for logging to the registered email account, as once have the email access, the hijackers can easily compromise the other passwords.
Conclusion
With the spread of digitization, the business count associated with the internet has significantly boomed and so as the domain name theft. Hackers all over the world try their best to snatch the domain names and websites to link their malicious activities further. It is therefore recommended to ensure the proper safety against these unethical practices by opting domain privacy protection or the other available adequate security features.
All in all, have proper grip on your domain so that in future you need not search again for- how to recover from a domain name theft
