Most of us have accounts at various domain registrars, maybe a couple of parking companies and at least one or two email  addressees. With potentially 10 or more accounts, all with different user names, it can be much easier to access accounts by having the same password.

This is a HUGE no-no. If a thief is able to gain access to one of your registrar or parking accounts, he will be able to  see what email address is on file for that particular account. Should you use the same password for your email account, he will then be able to break into your email archive. This will allow him to not only change things with whatever account he broke into to get access to your email, but he can also search through your email and see where else you have accounts.

I know that most people use various passwords for different user accounts, and that is smart. I also know than many people are lazy and prefer to use the same password for multiple accounts. Not a good idea.

In fact, someone mentioned this on Namepros the other day, and a three letter .com domain name was stolen from his account. Thieves can be very tricky, and if you have one account compromised, you should ensure that it’s not simple for him to gain access to your other accounts.

I read  an article on Kevin Ohashi’s blog, and if you represent or work for a domain company, you better take notice. According to Ohashi, at least one major domain company is not storing customer passwords securely, and if this isn’t fixed by April 25, he will publicly name the company.

You can read the full details of the security threat on Kevin’s website, but the gist of it is that companies should keep client passwords encrypted, and he has noticed that one company does not appear to be doing so. This can put client accounts in peril, and if clients use the same password at different registrars, it can spell major problems.

I do my best to use different login information (user name and password) for each domain registrar I use. I know that no system is perfect, but account security is of  utmost  importance. Stolen domain names are expensive to recover, and that doesn’t include losses such as PPC/advertising revenue and missed sales opportunities.

I really hope Kevin doesn’t have to name the company that might have password issues, but if he does, let’s hope the company addresses those issues ASAP. It’s also a good opportunity for other companies to address their own password encryption system.

Thanks to Kevin for looking out.

I know, it’s not like my blog is CNN or Fox News, where a featured story means you either did something really good or really bad. However, it’s not always easy to get your news posted on a domain blog.

Here are a few tips for people that want others in the domain business to read their news:

1) Be nice. This goes for everything, but if you happen to be a nice person, I am probably more likely to write an article.

2) In the email that includes your press release, provide a summary of what your news is about. I think just about every blogger also either has a full time job or his own domain business to manage, so the easier it is to understand, the better.

3) Submit your news article to the site where you’d like it seen the most. Most of us don’t like to post the same article (unless we have a different take or it’s very important), so if you submit it to everyone and one blog posts it, it’s likely others won’t.

4) Make sure your news either impacts my business where I’d want to write something about it, or it impacts the domain industry as a whole. No offense, but if you just launched a mini site on an average domain name, it’s not news that will be interesting to most people.

5) Don’t make your press release too “sales focused.” I am happy to publish an article about a new product or service that will benefit others in the industry, but I not going to turn a post into a sales pitch.

6) Be nice.

I was out of town this weekend, and as a result, I didn’t really get a chance to go through my emails from Friday through Sunday until late last night. In this big batch of emails, there were three emails asking for my advice on issues that aren’t really in my wheelhouse. There was a technical question, a SEO question, and a legal question.

As much as it’s easier to ask a domain investor who has a public presence, you are far more likely to get an accurate answer by emailing an expert, instead of someone who might not have the expertise. For legal questions, you should always email a domain lawyer. Even if you believe I have a good idea of an answer, it really makes not sense to ask me because I am not a lawyer nor do I have any legal training.

Just as I am a domain investor with some level of expertise in this business, there are others who are experts in their particular fields, and it would  behoove  you to ask them industry-specific questions. It might cost you a bit of money to get an answer from an expert, but if you’re going to spend thousands of dollars on a website, or if you have a legal issue, wouldn’t it be better to spend a small amount of money getting an expert answer than asking a non-expert and getting a free answer? In other words, my “free” answer to a SEO question may end up costing you more if I happen to give advice that isn’t correct 🙂

BTW, for domain-related questions, you are far more likely to get an in-depth answer on DomainQuestions.com than by emailing me.  I no longer offer private domain consulting, and I am more likely to post an answer that others can read and see on DomainQuestions.com.

A few weeks back, I wrote an article stressing the importance of keeping your email addresses updated for Whois records. Not having an updated Whois record can cause problems for your domain assets and can potentially allow someone to steal them.

Today I learned that there can be other problems associated with having inaccurate Whois information. I received a “Notice of Infringement” email from the General Counsel for a company I didn’t recognize, and when I read through the entire email, I realized it was related to a domain name I had never heard of before.

A quick Whois search showed that it was registered to my email address but had fictitious Whois information. Strangely, the information matches the Whois information for the domain names I had previously mentioned in the referenced article, many of which seem to be legit websites, so something is funky.

Ordinarily, I would just delete the email and forget about it, but my big concern is that not responding will get the company to dig deeper, and of course if they do a Google search for my email address, they will easily find my business information and name. If they just go on that and nothing else, they could easily attempt to tie my company with the allegedly  infringing  domain name.

I would defend myself and prove that I don’t have anything to do with the domain name, but if it goes the legal route, it will cost me money to have my lawyer respond.  Of course, I would then likely counter sue for my legal fees since any legal action would mean their lawsuit was simply based on a Google search of my email address, which in my opinion, would be pretty shoddy research (instead of contacting the registrar to get the real data).

Anyhow, keep your Whois information accurate, for good or for bad. The domain owner might have a legitimate defense, but depending on how the company with the trademark pursues things, the owner might not even get an opportunity to defend the name.