WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has issued a demand to several of the top American internet domain registrars to clamp down on the abuse of their services by Russian disinformation actors who he alleged are attempting to interfere with and influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. Warner sent a letter earlier in October to several well-known companies in the web domain registering and hosting … [Read more...]
Domain Days Dubai Set To Take Place At Marriott Resort Palm Jumeirah, Nov 5-6
WEST ASIA - Domain Days Dubai 2024 is set to take place at the Marriott Resort Palm Jumeirah on November 5-6, 2024. This will be the second edition of the event, aimed at professionals in the domain, hosting, and digital asset sectors across the Middle East and Africa. The conference will feature 40 speakers, attracting around 200 attendees from over 100 companies. Key topics will include domain name management, auctions, and monetization strategies, with a special focus on … [Read more...]
Google Announces Parked Domains Will Automatically Be Opted Out of Ad Serving
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - On Thursday, September 5, Google informed advertisers and users that they will be changing their Content Suitability policy, with new accounts being automatically opted out of serving ads on parked domains, beginning in October 2024. A parked domain is a domain name has been registered, but is not currently connected to an online service such as a website or email hosting. Simply put, it is a domain that has been bought but is currently unused; instead, … [Read more...]
Ethereum Name Service, GoDaddy Partner for Free Pairing of Domains, Crypto Wallets
ARIZONA - The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) – a decentralized, blockchain-based naming system that facilitates user-friendly names for wallet addresses – and domain registrar and web hosting company GoDaddy have partnered up to allow customers to pair Domain Name System (DNS) website domains (such as .com or .net) to an ENS (.eth) name for free which will promote use with crypto apps and wallets. While ENS domains can be assigned to an Ethereum wallet to streamline the … [Read more...]
Multiple Domains Used by Vietnamese Cybercrime Group Seized by Microsoft
REDMOND, WA - Multiple domains utilized by a Vietnamese cybercrime group known as “Storm-1152” to sell fraudulent Outlook email accounts have been seized by Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit. The domains have been used to cause millions of dollars in damage. Storm-1152 had reportedly used these domains to register over 750 million fake Outlook accounts that they then would sell online to cybercriminals. In addition, the outlaw group also provided numerous other illegal … [Read more...]
Google Ceases Selling New Domains as Transition to Squarespace Continues
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Back in July of this year, Google abruptly announced that it would be ending its Google Domains service after nearly 10 years and would be selling the business and all of its assets to Squarespace, a New York-based website building and hosting company. This month, as the transition from one company to another continues, the soon-to-be-shuttered Google Domains quietly revealed that it has ceased the sale of any new domains going … [Read more...]
Domain Registrar Namecheap Gives Away Half a Million Free .me Domains to Students
PHOENIX, AZ - Namecheap, the Phoenix, Arizona-based domain name registrar and web hosting company originally founded in 2000, recently announced that they have given away a total of 500,000 free .me domain names to students in conjunction with their Namecheap for Education program. The company originally started the program in 2014, which provides students, teachers, and others involved in academia who are located in North America, the United Kingdom, and … [Read more...]
WordPress Offering 100-Year Domain Registration, Hosting Plan for $38,000
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – WordPress – which recently made headlines when they offered up to one million Google Domains customers free transfers to their service after the company's assets were acquired by Squarespace – announced this week a new plan where they will be selling domains with a registration length of 100 years for a one-time payment of $38,000. Known primarily for its content management system that allows users to create simple and easy-to-use … [Read more...]
Website Company Squarespace Enters Agreement to Purchase Google Domains
NEW YORK, NY - New York City-based website building and hosting company Squarespace announced this week that they will be entering into an agreement to purchase Google Domains – a domain name registrar operated by Google that offers domain registration, DNS hosting, dynamic DNS, domain forwarding, and email forwarding – in a deal that includes all of the company's assets, which includes approximately 10 million domains that are owned by millions of … [Read more...]
LifeLock Confirms My Data Was Revealed on “The Dark Web” After 2021 “Epik” Data Leak
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – This morning I received an email notification that information or data which is presumed to be connected to my identity has been found on “The Dark Web” after the domain name and hosting company, Epik.com was hacked last year. The service is part of LifeLock by Norton. The following message arrived: Logging into my account a more detailed explanation explains that my personal information associated with the epik.com leak was located on the Dark … [Read more...]
GoDaddy Makes Two Recent Acquisitions of Leading Domainer Tools and Services
TEMPE, AZ - GoDaddy, the well-known domain registrar and hosting company, announced last week they will be acquiring competing domain sales company Dan.com, a move that GoDaddy stated would enable them to “reach more potential buyers.” Previously launching under the name Undeveloped, Dan.com made a name for themselves by attempting to undercut the competition by reducing their initial industry-standard commission fee of 15 percent to just 9 percent, which led to several … [Read more...]
Are You Losing Backlink Credit or Traffic from Your Forwarded Domain Names?
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – There are many reasons why you might want to forward a domain name; you might have moved your website, you own multiple domain names, or you purchase domain names which have existing traffic or backlinks. If you do not forward your domain name correctly, you could be losing backlink credit and/or traffic. Here are some scenarios to forward your domain name properly. The Simple Easy Way (Free and Doesn't Require Hosting) If you have your domains … [Read more...]
It’s Only A Matter of Time Until You Need to Be Licensed to Operate A Web Server
PALM BEACH, FL – I have been thinking about this off and on for a few years now, but I have never really posted or written about it. That is because it is an awful prediction that I hate the idea of, but I think it is going to eventually happen. Here it goes…. I predict that to operate a web server sometime in the near future, you will be required to have a license, or have passed a basic course in IT security or Cybersecurity intrusion mitigation. Not at the single site … [Read more...]
Two Year Investigation Leads to Take Down of File Hosting Site “Share-Online.biz”
PALM BEACH, FL – An investigation which began in 2017 has eventually led to the take-down and removal of a content hosting network using the domain name “Share-Online.biz”, which was particularly popular in Germany according to SimilarWeb. The site served up to 10 million visitors a month with millions of files stored across unknown number of servers which is expected to be in the hundreds Those 10 million visitors are now met with the following take-down notice: This … [Read more...]
German Police Raid Hosting Facility Dubbed “CyberBunker”; Seize Domains, 200 Servers
BERLIN – Thirteen people were arresting during a raid in Germany on September 27, 2019. According to Brian Krebs, a security journalist and investigative reporter for Krebs on Security, the raid targeted the physical premises of a Dark Web hosting operation that described itself as a “bulletproof” hosting provider that was willing to provide web site hosting services to any business, no matter how illegal or unsavory. This past Friday, 600 military equipped officers … [Read more...]