One of the best ways domain name owners can secure their registrar accounts is to enable two factor authentication within their domain registrar accounts. GoDaddy is one of the major registrars that offers 2 factor authentication for its customers, although the company has not offered it to international clients until today.
I was informed that GoDaddy is now offering its international clients the ability to add this additional security measure to their accounts as of today. When the domain owner logs into his or her domain registrar account with a password, they are prompted to enter a unique code that is sent via text message to the domain owner. This is a free service now offered to all GoDaddy customers throughout the world (users may have to pay for text messages depending on their mobile device service).
Paul Nicks, GoDaddy’s Aftermarket General Manager, commented on this change:
“We know the importance of keeping domain names secure. These assets need to be protected and we know security has been a primary concern for domain name investors, both domestic and international. We’ve heard the call from our customers and have seen the success of two-factor in the U.S., so we’ve rolled out two factor-authentication globally.”
Although domain name theft is a somewhat rare occurrence, it seems like cases of stolen domain names have increased in the last couple of years. I believe the primary culprit of this is phishing, and having 2 factor authentication enabled should help reduce thefts via this mechanism.
You can visit this page on GoDaddy.com to learn how to set up 2fa for your account.
I am sure there is no fail-proof method of safeguarding your domain name assets, enabling 2 factor authentication is something that everyone should do if it is available at their domain registrar.
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing this, Elliot.
1. Use 2 factor authentication. It literally only takes an extra 5 seconds to get the text code and log in.
2. Have your rep call you every time to authorize a domain transfer
3. Add all of your domains to a domain monitor service provided by companies like DomainTools.
4. Keep them locked
5. Everyday check your account for transfers or pending account changes.
6. If you have 1,534 domains in your account then every morning and night check to make sure your account still says 1,534.
7. Keep the whois exactly the same for every domain. Makes it much easier to keep track of one whois then 5.
These are just some things I do but I’m sure there are many more.
Thanks for mentioning Elliot, just enabled it from Austria 5 mins after reading your article.. can’t be careful enough anyway
Finally they are offering it also non-US customers like us … better late than never …
Hope it works properly, no way if it’s buggy …
GoDaddy is offering it for free, but at the same time they cut on their discount coupons … it’s a coincidence? … 🙂
Thanks for the share Elliot. Have been waiting or ages. It sure works!
Thank you!
Great! Now they still need to explain why .com renewals have increased from $10 to $17! Discount club? Guest what, Uniregistry is cheaper and you don’t have to pay more to save more….
It’s about time!
too late ..i moved most domains to other secured registrars ….besides that GD always reacts and supports very slowly in any domain hijack cases
I think the Godaddy is going to release some big factor for improve their market.
SMS codes do not stop phishing.
The phish folk just steal and use the code right away.
Someone at GoDaddy forgot to match the threat with protection that blocks it… oops!!
Hi,
It still doesn’t work for me.
namepros.com/threads/godaddy-introduces-two-factor-authentication-outside-u-s.876610/#post-5009161