Securing your domain name is very essential. Don’t let someone steal and transfer your domain name without your knowledge. You will be surprised how many people are complaining of stolen domain names, and it happens every day! Here are some simple steps to keep your domain name safe.
1. Lock Domain Names
Domain locking is the most first basic step to domain name security. Once you lock the domain names, they cannot be transferred till you decide to unlock them. Unlock the domain name only before you want to actually transfer them. Your domain name might not be locked by default and you need to check this.
Always remember to turn on Domain locking.
2. 2step verification for Domain Name Changes
Its simple to set up 2 step verification and those few minutes of extra effort ensure that your domain name always stays secure. Any unauthorized changes will send information via email/phone and you can stop the hackers in their tracks. [Similar to Gmail 2 step verification]
3. Update Domain Name Registrant Details
A very common problem that does not allow the registrar to contact you in case of fraud domain name transfers. We keep on registering domain names, and many times we fail to check the contact details. Wrong emails can prevent you from stopping the domain name transfer. See what happened to 9Rules!
4. Whois Domain Name Privacy
Always opt for private registration, which protects your personal details like name, email, address, phone from the public domain. The more people know about the registrant details, the easier it is for them to track and change it. Private registration comes for a fee but is totally worth the money. Sometimes free domain privacy is available as in Google Domains.
5. Autorenew Domain Names
You will be surprised how quickly the year passes, and your domain name has expired. Always set the domain to auto-renew, this will at least ensure continuity of your domain name ownership. Before renewing, any domain name registrars do send out an email to renew.
It is even better to register the domain for many years (we booked this site for 10 years!) if you really want to keep the domain name. See when Google.com domain was up for sale for $12 only!