Domain hijacking is a cyber attack in which an external party successfully steals an organization’s domain name, gaining full and often exclusive control over it. In the process, the legitimate domain owner loses administrative access to the web property, allowing the attacker to use the hijacked domain name for any chosen purpose.
Table of Contents
- What Are the Possible Causes of Domain Hijacking?
- What Are the Potential Consequences of Domain Hijacking?
- How Can Organizations Protect against Domain Hijacking?
Domain Hijacking: A Deep Dive
What Are the Possible Causes of Domain Hijacking?
Several causes can lead to hijacking domains.
Some may arise from the domain owner’s actions or negligence, such as allowing domain name registrations to expire. As a result, anyone else, including threat actors, can quickly re-register the expired domain names. Another cause could be when someone with access to a target organization’s DNS records falls victim to a phishing scam and provides attackers with the DNS credentials they need.
Other causes can result from cyber attacks, such as when hackers exploit a vulnerability in the domain owner’s DNS records or impersonate the domain owner and persuade its registrar to make changes to target DNS records.
What Are the Potential Consequences of Domain Hijacking?
Domain hijacking can lead to disastrous consequences. Here are three of them.
- Financial ruin: Organizations that mainly rely on their websites for business operations stand to lose millions, given that their domain is typically their most valuable asset.
- Reputational damage: Threat actors who hijack a domain could seize control of the CEO’s email account to execute a business email compromise (BEC) scam. If the incident gains media attention, the organization could face significant loss of trust on its customers’ and stakeholders’ part.
- Regulatory noncompliance: Should affected organizations lose data to hijackers, they face the risk of penalties for violating regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
How Can Organizations Protect against Domain Hijacking?
Domain hijacking, like many cyber attacks, can be avoided if organizations follow security best practices. We listed a few of them below.
Effective Registrar Selection and Renewal Management
Not all registrars offer the same level of security. While many are suitable for personal websites, they may not be secure enough for business purposes. For organizational domains, choose a corporate-focused registrar that offers enterprise-grade services, such as multifactor authentication (MFA), domain locking, and automatic renewal to prevent unauthorized changes and mitigate the risk of domain hijacking.
It also helps to keep your domain contact details up-to-date at all times. Regularly checking if they are right can ensure you receive critical notifications about transfer requests, DNS changes, or renewals, enabling you to quickly address unauthorized activities and prevent domain expiration, which could lead to hijacking.
Lock Out Unauthorized Entities
DNS credentials are just as important as, if not more important than, any account’s login details. As such, they require strong passwords that should be changed in case any of your assets get breached during an attack.
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for all your organization’s DNS and domain-related accounts as well. And if your registrar offers domain registry lock, avail of it.
Last but not least, pay attention to emails requesting your registrar login details. No one, not even your registrar, is supposed to ever ask you for them.
Keep a Comprehensive Asset Inventory
Maintaining a comprehensive and up-to-date inventory of all your assets is crucial for preventing domain hijacking. An external attack surface management (EASM) platform can help you keep track of all of your assets, including domain names, so you can ensure all of them are accounted for.
An EASM platform also helps track vulnerabilities in your web properties, monitors DNS configurations for unauthorized changes, validates domain ownership, and helps you stay on top of upcoming expirations. These capabilities work together to prevent domain hijacking by ensuring you maintain full control over your domains.
Key Takeaways
- Domain hijacking is an attack where an external party steals an organization’s web address.
- It can stem from negligence and complacence on the domain owner’s part or an attack designed to take full control of a target web property.
- Financial ruin, reputational damage, and regulatory noncompliance are the major consequences of the threat.
- Choosing a reputable domain registrar, using 2FA, and constant DNS record monitoring are just some of the ways by which organizations can defend against the threat.
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