A domain name is not just an ordinary web address, for a business, it’s a precious digital asset. When you buy a domain name, it brings your business online, provides email utility, features it in marketing promotions, and usually signifies years of your brand’s popularity.
Due to these reasons, domain accounts become lucrative targets for criminals. Domain hijacking happens when a person gains access to some account without the consent of the legitimate owner.
This has consequences on your domain name purchase, ranging from temporary downtime and phishing to brand damage.
The good news is that domain hijacking is avoidable. Knowing how criminals obtain control and how businesses can strengthen their security measures makes the avoidance easier. Here are the best preventive measures you can use to prevent domain hijacking.
Monitor account access
Attackers do not actually need to “hack” the domain themselves. The goal is to get access to the management account.
A criminal can acquire access by getting hold of a password through numerous ways such as phishing, hacking an email account, using malware on an employee’s device, or taking advantage of reused credentials from a previous attack.
Once an attacker gets in touch with the domain registrar, they can alter DNS records, make changes to contact details, transfer a domain name, or do other alterations. That is precisely why you should always monitor and safeguard your domain registrar account. It solidifies the website; the domain directs to the domain registrar.
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Phishing access to the OAuth process
Phishing is considered one of the easiest methods of obtaining access to accounts. For example, the domain owner can receive a letter that is designed to look like it is coming from a registrar, hosting provider, or security company and is sent to the domain owner.
Because messages related to domains may be urgent, users hurry without considering the sender or recipient of the message.
Consequently, employees who manage domains need to check the reliability of the instructions by visiting the registrar via a trusted route and not through any suspicious links in the emails.
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Compromised emails
A domain-associated email address is always part of password resetting. The attacker who hacked the email account that belongs to the registrar may obtain access to the notifications when the password is reset or security alerts are sent. In some cases, it led to easy acquisition of the domain account without the necessity of stealing the password itself.
Thus, protecting the email address connected to the domain becomes crucial for the security of the domain. Strong and unique passwords, as well as multi-factor authentication, provide additional security.
DNS changes can redirect visitors.
An attacker gaining access to the domain management does not have to go as far as transferring the domain to cause harm—simply changing DNS records may be enough to point the domain to a different server altogether. As a result, users might be directed to a harmful website, a phishing page, or another place under the attacker’s control.
This is particularly dangerous for companies since customers may recognize the domain and assume that they are still accessing a legitimate site. The process of routine checks of relevant DNS records helps detect unauthorized changes without delay.
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Domain transfers
It’s quite common to transfer a domain from one registrar to another by following the specific procedures. If the attacker acquires enough authority in the domain’s account, he or she might attempt to make the unauthorized transfer.
Providers like MilesWeb offer add-ons like domain transfer locks. This step is utilized by the registrars to minimize the chances of unauthorized transfers happening.
Strong authentication
One of the most effective ways to minimize the risk of domain hijacking is to ensure the proper security of the registrar account.
Using a strong and unique password can be a sufficient means to stop hackers from misusing passwords that users have reused on multiple services and accounts. Moreover, multi-factor authentication provides extra security as it demands some additional verification beyond the password.
As far as it is possible, companies should prefer stronger authentication methods and limit the access to the registrar account to trusted administrators.
Accurate ownership details
The information about domain registration must be up-to-date. Outdated email addresses, ex-employees’ data, or unreachable administration contacts can make recovery of legitimate accounts more difficult.
Companies must review periodically the access rights to domain management and verify if ownership and administration details are accurate.
Monitor domains
Domain security doesn’t stop after registration. Businesses must continuously and frequently analyze the DNS records, account activities, registration details, and transfer status to watch for any suspicious changes.
Some domain registrars and domain monitoring services send notifications when the essential domain settings are changed. Hence, it is always beneficial to know if the important changes are occurring. For instance, suspicious DNS changes found after minutes can easily be remedied rather than having a significant delay.
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Conclusion
Domain hijacking is often surprisingly simple, starting with stolen passwords, effective phishing emails, or hijacked email accounts. Once hackers get into domain management, they can potentially change DNS records, redirect visitors, or try a forbidden transfer.
You should take proper steps to protect your domain. In addition to registering the domain, strong passwords, two-step verification (multifactor authentication), transfer protection, proper email security measures, correct ownership data, and domain monitoring all reduce the risk of domain hijacking.
