When the world’s leading web hosting providers like 1&1, GoDaddy and Just Host offer their hosting services, they include domain names in their plans. Offering domain name services, be it transfer or sales, has now become the expected standard rather than the exception as hosting providers vie to offer more and more features to make sure that they are meeting their clients’ needs. In fact, offering domain names at nominal to low prices or even offering a free domain name has become a popular way of attracting more customers.

But What Are Domain Names?

Domain names can be loosely defined as digital addresses that are used to identify the location of a website. To be a little bit more technical, when people type in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a website in the address bar of their web browser, they are actually telling it which site they want to go to.

Another way to define it would be: “the domain name of a website is a subset of its URL”.

For Example, if a website’s URL were http://www.xxxx-xxxx.com/ the domain name would be “xxxx-xxxx.com”.

Once the browser has the domain name, it translates it into a set of unique set of numbers that are separated by periods called IP addresses. IP addresses uniquely identify each server, computer or other electronic device that is connected to the internet. Once the browser knows the website’s host server address using the IP address it is supposed to head to, it navigates the internet, connects to the specified server and downloads the requested page(s).

Domain Names Need Protection

As can be seen from the explanation above, a domain name is something that needs to be protected by all means. If a website owner were to lose control of their domain names, whether by chance or design (we will see how it could happen and how to prevent it later), it could cause a number of problems:

–  If it has been hijacked by other people, these people can point the domain name to another website so that when visitors type in the URL, they are redirected to the hijackers’ site.

– The hijackers could “squat” on it – simply hold on to it – or ask for a sum of money as payment for them to release it back to the owner. This can be resolved by seeking arbitration from the webhosting provider or even going all the way up to ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Of course, this may take time and there is no guarantee that it will result in the domain name being relinquished back to the original owner – some hackers are very good at extracting all the personal details of their victims that it would be difficult to prove that they aren’t the original owners themselves.

– If it is an e-commerce site, all the profits could possibly be redirected to the hijackers bank accounts.

So, how do you protect your domain name?

Below are a few steps that can be taken to make sure that anyone’s domain names remain secure:

1. A username and password is required to access the controls of a domain name and that is the first line of defense. Website owners should apply the rules of creating strong passwords to thwart hackers. The passwords should also be changed on a regular basis – no password remains secure forever.

2. All hosting providers that sell domain names have an option that clients can use to receive alerts and/or notifications when their domain names are about to expire. This is a critical feature because the alerts can be configured to notify the domain’s owner(s) before a certain amount of time is left for expiration – a month for example – and the notifications will not stop coming until the situation is corrected.

This feature comes in handy when, for example, the website’s owner configures the domain name renewal fees to be automatically deducted from a credit card. If the card were to expire or didn’t have the required balance amount in it a notification is sent to the owner’s email address informing them of the fact. Without the notifications, the domain name would be lost as it would be released to the general public pool after a certain amount of time from the date of expiration and then anyone can snap it up.

3. Web hosting providers include a feature that allows for regularly scheduled updates to be sent out (via email) reporting on the general status of the domain name. The site owners should take more than just a cursory glance at the emails. If there are any unwarranted activities happening (reconfiguration of settings, for example) they can be a good sign that an account has been hacked into and is being tampered with.

4. GoDaddy has one domain name protection feature called “Deadbolt Transfer Protection” that makes it impossible for most domain name transfers to occur irrespective of the fact that it was an inadvertent, accidental or malicious attempt at doing so. Once a customer activates this feature the only way the domain name can be transferred to another party is by following a strict set of instructions and procedures that needs the active participation of the owner.

5.  Another feature that hosting providers offer their clients is domain privacy. Whenever a website owner registers a domain name they are asked to provide their true and correct contact information. This information is then made available to the public in a WHOIS database. This, in turn, makes it easy for hackers and spammers to use the provided information to either gain access to the domain name or do other malicious activities.

With domain privacy activated, the web hosting provider will shield the address from the public and make their address or contact information visible. With these tips, you should be well on your way to protecting your domain name and all of your assets behind it. Be sure to check out 1&1, JustHost, and GoDaddy for three of our highest ranking domain protection services here.