With domain theft in the news again, it’s time to take a quick look at some security offerings of popular domain name registrars. The security measures below may not be the only security features offered by registrars, so if I missed something, please let me know:
Name.com – NameSafe VIP service offering a security USB key fobs for accounts. Domain owners who have the keyfob need to use it in order to log in to their account, preventing anyone without the security key from accessing account-level actions (such as a domain transfer). Name.com is the first ICANN accredited registrar to offer this type of security service. Cost: $19.95 per account per year.
Moniker – MaxLock is an added layer of protection customers can purchase to safeguard their domain names at Moniker. With MaxLock, the customer provides Moniker with a government-issued form of identification (passport, license, military ID…etc) and two security questions, which cannot be retrieved online. Any account or domain changes must be completed through the Moniker security team. Cost: $19.95 per domain name per year or $124.99 per portfolio per year.
Fabulous – Challenge/Response security and the Fabulous Security Key are both security offerings of Fabulous. Challenge/Response is a security feature that allows the account owner to supply answers to a preset list of questions, in order to verify the identity of the user before being granted account access. The security key is a USB device that provides additional levels of security to sensitive areas of a domain owner’s account.
In my Registrar of Kazakhstan National we have very well security with barbwire feature and feature training pit bull dog that americans have to eat children.
Besides all the offerings, I would add that the most important thing to do, disregarding the “security package” you pay for is READ VERY THOUROGHLY the contracts and/or Service Level Agreement (SLA) and/or any other kind of binding document with your registrar.
You may be paying $19.95 per name / year…but is it really, and I mean for real, giving you extra protection ? Is this a technical feature? or just, like an insurance policy in case the worst happens?
Sometimes it could be just a nice, and expensive, illusion. ! Beware.
Also, with one of the specific examples of your post, you just have to be very aware of the company you deal with. For instance: Is it in the brink of bankruptcy ? It’s parent company ? If that happens, then what happens to your names? What is the procedure to recover them?
Lastly, I must add, that viewing this purely from the technical standpoint, there are existing -and extremely NOT expensive..almost zero cost, that is, no royalties for use- technologies that allow registrars to implement 99.999 % safe and secure features for domain transfers, domain’s data update etc. This is mostly related to the field of cryptography.
Of course, that 0.001% missing is a human factor, a procedures factor or, as the lawyers put it…”an act of God” case… What is your Disaster Recovery Plan for that case ?
On another side of the same problem: Now that ccTLD are the new fashion, I must also say that there are some registries and registrars for many ccTLDs that still think that doing all by paper is the “safe” way… it is NOT ! period..but it is the most cumbersome and problematic… but not secure and safe.
Think well on this issue. My 2 cents.
Kind regards from Mexico City.
Felipe Barousse
http://www.piensa.com
I would also like to point out that Fabulous.com also offers an E-lock feature which effectively freezes a domain’s registry settings, and can only be removed by Fabulous management after any special conditions specified by the client have been fulfilled. This feature is available free of charge.
More information can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/mufqdr
If anyone wants to take advantage of the additional security we offer, feel free to contact me, mike at fabulous dot com.
Cheers,
Mike
Fabulous.com
Mike.
Your ‘Executive Lock’ is an excellent idea that could induce me
to move domains to Fabulous.
I need a clarification on the speculation that Fabulous may be
sold or otherwise changed in the near future.
I would hate to have ‘executive lock’ restrictions passed on to
new owners who were not prepared to manually change things.
Have I misread the Fabulous speculation ?
Am I being over cautious ?
Thanks.
Thanks for the reply Lda, hope you had a good weekend.
At this stage we are unaware of any sale or changes that may occur which would affect the operation of Fabulous in its current form.
If there were to be any major changes that would impact on our customers, you would be notified accordingly.
Cheers,
Mike
Fabulous.com