There’s a real world follow-up to my previous entry – Domain names – some basics I’ve learned through … experience. I said:
> I buy the privacy protection. That way, whois will
> tell people I’m are the domain owner but will point
> to Network Solutions as the contact. I have heard
> of instances where domains were “stolen” simply
> by providing the whois information to registrars
> who didn’t care enough to double check with the
> real owner.
Larry Seltzer of eWeek reported in his column that his own domain had been highjacked:
“My identity thief made two uses of this domain to my knowledge. He posted some e-mails to mailing lists, including this one on Full Disclosure (http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2007/May/0334.html). He also contacted eWEEK and tried to get control of the log-on credentials for my blog and to have my Ziff Davis e-mail forwarded to larry@larryseltzer.net. eWEEK didn’t fall for it. As far as I can tell, the impersonation efforts ended around then.“
So, there’s first person evidence that it happened to a big name industry writer – meaning it could happen to anyone. So I emphasize again, get the privacy protection. It’s cheap insurance against Larry’s documented nightmare of bureaucratic nonsense trying to wrestle his domain back.
Here’s Larry’s column:
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Whois-Abuse-Still-Out-of-Control/?kc=EWKNLSTE01222009STR1
Tags: Internet, Technology, Writing
