The article defines domain hijacking as a malicious act where a hacker takes control of a domain name to carry out harmful activities. It explains various hijacking methods, such as DNS hijacking and social engineering, and provides actionable steps for prevention and protection.
Key Takeaways
- Domain Hijacking Defined – It is a serious cyber attack in which a hacker illegally takes over a domain by modifying its settings, often to demand a ransom, steal data, or redirect traffic.
- Methods of Attack – Hackers use various techniques, including DNS cache poisoning, phishing emails, typosquatting (using similar-looking domains), and registrant impersonation, to gain control.
- Exploiting Hijacked Domains – Once a domain is hijacked, attackers may use it to steal customer information, redirect traffic to malicious sites, or even completely delete the website and its content.
- Prevention is Key – You can protect your domain by using strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, using domain locks, and opting for a registrar that offers Whois privacy to hide your personal details.
- Choosing a Reputable Registrar – Selecting a trustworthy and ICANN-accredited registrar, such as Trustname, is crucial, as they provide robust security features to prevent unauthorized access and protect your domain.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Key Takeaways
- What Is Domain Hijacking?
- Types of Domain Hijacking
- How Scammers Exploit Hijacked Domains
- How to Prevent Domain Hijacking
- How Trustname Safeguards Your Domain From Hijacking
Domain hijacking occurs when a hacker or bad actor seizes control of a domain name illegally by gaining access to the domain’s settings and changing the registrant information or DNS settings for the domain.
Domain hijacking is one of the worst attacks an online business can face - the damage to the brand’s reputation is often irredeemable, and many online companies don’t recover. That’s why this guide will teach you all you need to know about domain hijacking so you can stay one step ahead of any domain hijackers who might have eyes on your domain.
We’ll also show you the different types of domain hijacking attacks, vulnerabilities that scammers explore, and how Trustname helps safeguard your domain name. Let’s dive right in!
What Is Domain Hijacking?
Domain hijacking is an attack where a hacker takes over a domain name from its rightful owner to carry out malicious activities. When hijacking a domain, the attacker typically locks out the owner’s access by modifying the registrant account login details and/or transferring the domain to a new registrant account.
After a successful takeover, hijackers typically exploit the domain, demanding a ransom, installing malware on visitors’ devices, or redirecting visitors to scam sites to steal their sensitive information.
And in some ‘competitor takedown’ cases, the website linked to the domain is taken down completely and deleted.
Domain hijacking is one of the most prevalent cyber threats that domain owners face, and many webmasters are unaware of the vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. Let’s solve that -
Types of Domain Hijacking
First, let’s take a look at some of the most common types and forms that domain hijacking takes –
- DNS hijacking
DNS hijacking is easily the most popular domain hijacking technique and is an umbrella term for attacks that target the DNS settings on a domain name. A domain name’s DNS records contain information on the IP addresses, servers, and other critical website infrastructure linked to the domain name.
Some of the common domain hijacking forms include :[Component][List][Markers] Default - Cache poisoning
For visitors who have visited your website several times, your website gets cached (or stored) in the DNS resolver, so a new DNS request doesn’t have to be made each time they search for your domain name. The DNS resolver returns the relevant IP address right away.
- Fake DNS records
Another way a hacker can hijack your domain’s DNS is by deleting existing records and adding new records (A and CNAME records) to point your domain to a malicious website.
By creating fake CNAME records, a hacker can redirect all your website’s aliases to a central spammy webpage, where they can then harvest customer information.
A cache poisoning attack targets the DNS resolver cache, corrupting it with an incorrect IP address so that when a returning visitor attempts to access your domain, they are directed to another website.
The massive DNS cache poisoning attacks in Brazil, targeting Internet Service Providers in 2011, were notable. - Cache poisoning
- Social Engineering (Phishing)
Phishing is another method hackers use to hijack domains. Basically, in a phishing attack, the hijacker impersonates a trusted source (e.g, your domain registrar, web host, or DNS provider) to try to get you to submit your domain’s login information on a fake website.
Phishing attacks are usually facilitated by sending fake emails, messages, and website links, and may also be done to get you to install malware that then monitors you as you log in to your domain management account. - Typosquatting
Typosquatting is not necessarily a domain-hijacking method; instead, it focuses on capturing traffic. In typosquatting, hackers register domain names that are very similar to yours, with one name misspelled or with a different TLD.
Typosquatting aims to capture potential visitors who misspell your domain name and then redirect them to a fake website that impersonates your brand, ultimately stealing their information. - Registrant Impersonation
Another widespread domain hijacking attack is registrant impersonation. The attacker typically sends messages, emails, or makes calls to your domain’s registrar impersonating you, to make changes to your domain information without your consent.
While doing so, the attacker will often use very similar email addresses and contact information, hoping that the support agents at the registrar miss the subtle differences.
This is entirely the fault of the domain registrar and is what happened in the popular sex.com hijacking case that ran over several years.
Another widespread registrant impersonation attack was carried out against none other than the ICANN in 2008. A Turkish group of hackers called NetDevilz hacked ICANN’s DNS records by convincing the organization’s registrar to point the domain names to servers they controlled.
- Registrar hacking
Last on the list is registrar hacking. And it might come as a surprise, but registrar hacks don’t happen as infrequently as you’d think - over the years, dozens of domain registrars have been hacked.
When a domain registrar is hacked, every customer is at risk since the attacker can have unrestricted access to domains they currently manage and can effect unauthorized changes to domain names.
How Scammers Exploit Hijacked Domains
What are some of the common ways hackers exploit hijacked domains?
- Demand ransom amounts
First, the attackers can hold your domain ransom, demanding that the domain owner pay money before their domain is returned to them.
- Website redirects
Hackers also exploit hijacked domains by redirecting the domain’s traffic to spammy websites. Whenever an unsuspecting customer attempts to access the domain, they may be redirected to websites that appear very similar to the real website.
- Steal customer information
As an extension of the above point, the primary objective of most domain hijacking attacks is to steal customer information, including credit card details and email addresses.
The attacker redirects unsuspecting users to a lookalike website and then collects payment information to commit fraud at a massive scale.
- Delete websites
Competitors playing foul may sponsor a domain hijacking attack to cripple a website or store completely. After hijacking the domain, the attacker can then delete the website content and any on-file backups, effectively running the brand out of business.
How to Prevent Domain Hijacking
Knowing the risk factors and common portals that domain hijackers use to steal domains will help you avoid them. Here’s how to prevent your domain from being hijacked -
- Renew Domains Before They Expire
A very popular way for your domain to be snatched is if you let it expire. Many domains are placed on auction by registrars immediately after they expire, and if someone has had eyes on your domain for a while, they can swoop it up quickly.
In 2015, a former Google employee purchased the ‘Google.com’ domain after it expired. The company settled with the employee for $ 6,000, even though he had owned it for just a minute.
To avoid needing to monitor expiry dates, set up auto-renewal at your domain registrar so your domain stays active automatically. - Always Verify the Authenticity of Websites You Visit
Whenever you receive emails from your registrar, make sure to check any domains they link to and that they are an exact match with your registrar’s domain name.
Please be careful of spammy emails that prompt you to reset your password without prior warning. Another possible sign that an email is spammy is if it doesn’t address you directly with your name (e.g., Dear John) but instead uses a generic greeting like ‘Dear registrant’ or ‘Dear user’.
Phishing websites that impersonate domain registrars are highly prevalent, and many domain owners fall victim to them. - Use Strong Passwords
Use strong passwords that are ideally a combination of upper and lower-case letters, numbers, and at least one special character. You don’t want to use a password that’s easy to guess for your domain accounts.
- Use Registrar Domain Security Feature
Domain registrars like Trustname offer you security features specifically designed to prevent unauthorized changes to your domain name, out of the box.
Ensure your domain lock is always enabled to prevent any unauthorized transfers. Enable two-factor authentication(2FA) on your accounts so your domains stay safe even if your password is compromised.
Other security features, such as DNSSEC, which adds cryptographic signatures to DNS records, are must-haves. They verify that the requested records come from the authorized server and not an unauthorized one.
- Register Similar Domain Names and Trademark Domain
A great strategy to combat typosquatting is to register several variations of your domain name and close matches, including different common TLDs. For example, googl.com redirects to the Google.com website.
If you also have a very unique domain name, you can register it as a trademark to give you the legal rights to dispute any domains that anyone registers that are similar to yours.
- Use Domain Privacy
One reason why many domain hijacking attempts (especially registrant impersonation) are successful is that the attackers have information to work with.
Contact information associated with a domain name is required by ICANN regulations in the Whois database, allowing anyone to run a Whois lookup and access your contact details, potentially leading to impersonation or spam.
Enter domain privacy - A service offered by top domain registrars like Trustname that hides your contact information with generic or proxy details. Always opt for domain privacy for all your domain names to keep your personal details private.
- Choose a Reputable Registrar (DNS Provider)
And the best decision you can make for your domain name is choosing a reputable registrar. The best domain registrars have robust security measures in place to prevent registrar hacking, as well as other features to prevent unauthorized transfers and domain changes.
You want an ICANN-accredited domain registrar, such as Trustname, with a proven track record of successfully protecting domain names from hijacking attempts.
How Trustname Safeguards Your Domain From Hijacking
Trustname is an ICANN-accredited registrar that places a strong focus on domain privacy and security. We offer several security shields that prevent malicious actors from gaining unauthorized access to your account and hijacking your domains.
First, we’ll never fall for registrant impersonation and make any changes to your domain without carrying out thorough checks to ensure you are the one initiating them.
On Trustname, you can easily set up auto-renewal for your domain names. When sending you emails, we’ll always address you by your name and include our only domain, trustname.com, so you never click a fake link.
You can also enable/disable your Domain Lock under your domain’s general settings. To protect your account, Trustname incorporates authenticator apps like Google Authenticator, ensuring that even if your email and password are compromised, no one can gain access to your account.
And the cherry on top, our Two-Tier Domain Privacy feature gives you the option to register your domain in the name of our partner proxy company, Perfect Privacy LLC, so your personal details are never made available in the Whois database. But if you decide to register the domain in your own name, our second layer replaces your details with proxy details, protecting you from spammers and impersonators.
Ready to experience domain privacy like no other? Visit Trustname now!