 December Hosting Tip
Did you know that you have at your fingertips over 38 of the most popular open source web applications available anywhere? And did you know they are FREE to Happy Dog hosting customers?
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December Marketing Tip
Whether you love them or hate them, one thing is certain - giant social networking web sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube offer one of the best marketing opportunities that's come along in years, and it's all FREE!
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Web Scam of the Month
With the ever-increasing scams that are popping up every day directed at web site owners and their customers, our hope is to use this column to give you a heads-up as they appear. In this issue we will discuss the ever-growing practice of "slamming."
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Web Scam of the Month
With the ever-increasing scams that are popping up every day directed at web site owners and their customers, our hope is to use this column to give you a heads-up as they appear. In this issue we will discuss the ever-growing practice of "slamming."
Domain Slamming: What it is, How to Protect Yourself
Domain slamming is a form of domain hijacking. A registrar engaging in domain slamming sends “renewals” or “expiration notices,” either by email or snail mail. These notices make it appear that you are registered with this registrar, explain that your domain registration is about to expire, and urge you to “renew.”
Of course, if you respond to the notice, you’re not simply renewing your domain; you’re now registered with that company instead of your regular registrar, and probably for a much higher fee.
Increased fees for registering your domain name could end up being the least of your worries. Think about it: what kind of company relies on this sort of fraud to attract customers? You could find yourself locked into a long-term registration contract, or even pushed into buying unnecessary services.
Worse, you might find that your own website and email no longer work, or that your domain name now points to an entirely different site with content you’d never want to see on your domain. The worst thing that could happen – and it’s rare, but it can happen – is that you could end up losing your domain permanently to the scammers.
Believe it or not, some of the largest registrars have been accused of domain slamming. VeriSign settled a lawsuit in August of 2002, filed by BulkRegister, which accused it of domain slamming. BulkRegister claimed that VeriSign sent out letters to domain owners, telling them they needed to renew their registration with VeriSign before the domain expired. But in many cases, the domain wasn’t really close to expiring, and the recipients of the letters were not customers of VeriSign.
Today's worst offenders are Domain Renewal Group, Liberty Names of America, and Domain Registry of America (droa.com). If you receive a bill from these or any other domain registry, look at it carefully and read the fine print. It is probably a domain slamming attempt.
Fortunately, if your domain is registered with Happy Dog, your domain is locked and safe and cannot be slammed. We'll keep track of expiration dates and renewals for you - that's one less thing you need to worry about. And if you ever need to update your domain name, all you need to do is log in to your account, safely and securely.
SSL Certificate Slamming
The practice of slamming has now even reached the SSL secure certificate market. Recently one of our long time customers received a call from Comodo, a less than scrupulous certificate company based in Great Britain. The sales person on the other end stated "Your certificate is going to expire soon. I can begin the renewal process for you right now." The problem is this customer has never owned a Comodo certificate. This was clearly an attempt by Comodo to trick this person into purchasing an inferior Comodo chained certificate instead of renewing her current Thawte single root certificate. Fortunately my customer knew who her certificate supplier was and realized she was about to be scammed.
Is summary, regardless of who your domains are registered with, or who you've purchased your SSL secure certificate from, the bottom line is to make certain you always KNOW who your domain and certificate provider is. That way you will always know when a slammer is knocking on your door.
It's a jungle out there these days! Keep safe!
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