Menu
Blog

5 Strategies to Strengthen Your Domain Protection

5 Strategies to Strengthen Your Domain Protection
7 minute read

As organizations move and create their businesses online, holistic and comprehensive cybersecurity is imperative. Potential customers view a comprehensive cybersecurity program as a clear signal that an organization values their trust and business. This is particularly evident when it comes to domain privacy protection.

Your domain is your gateway to the entire field of opportunities on the internet. So, if your domain is breached, your organization could suffer severe setbacks and confusion. Avoid the hazard of your customers connecting with a spoofed domain or a lookalike account by enacting domain protection measures.

We'll walk you through five strategies that can strengthen your domain protection. And you'll see the benefits of implementing these cybersecurity measures. First though, we'll explore what domain protection includes, and what the risks of ignoring it could mean for an organization.

What is Domain Privacy and Protection?

Domain privacy and protection is a holistic approach to protecting your online assets and brand integrity. When used together, an organization can not only limit the opportunities for breach or stolen credentials but can also continuously monitor and respond to threats in their digital landscape. 

Domain privacy is the choice to use cybersecurity measures to protect the data around your domain account and stored in the WHOIS database. Opting for domain privacy allows you to control who has access to the personal information contained in your domain registry application. This can provide an extra level of security before your personal cybersecurity system needs to assess a threat. Thereby, mitigating the risk that that information is made public and misused.

Domain protection includes the proactive and responsive measures your organization has in place to keep your brand, web domains, and digital landscape safe. This can include takedowns of spoofed domains and removing scams that attempt to misuse your domain name or brand.

Organizations should seriously weigh the risks of a domain being used maliciously or an employee experiencing credential theft. Once a threat actor has personal credentials or access to a lookalike account or website, they can begin to scam your potential client base. Not only could you lose access to digital assets, but also potential business and credibility. Domain privacy and protection provide added security to all your digital business and communications. As more businesses and individuals create their primary connections online, domain protection awareness is more important than ever. 

What is a WHOIS Database?

Domain registrars gather information about the owner of a domain name in order to maintain a record of the domain ownership and other pertinent information. This information is collected in a WHOIS database, which holds the information in a default public state. All websites must be obtained through a registrar, and the information from the WHOIS can easily be accessed through online tools.

Why Does Your Website Need Domain Privacy Protection?

You need domain privacy protection to keep the information you provide to a WHOIS database safe from theft and to keep the flow of business through your digital spaces secure. Web domain fraud can have far-reaching consequences for your business. Fraudulent domains can divert business from your organization to scammers, decreasing customer trust and revenue opportunities.

A related attack, domain squatting, occurs when another entity registers a domain name that contains your brand's distinguishable features. These could be your company name, trademark, or the name of high-level executives. The attacker intends to hold these features until your organization pays an exorbitant price to use it. A threat actor could also create a domain name that is so similar to an organization's official account that a customer or employee can easily be defrauded while assuming they are doing business with a legitimate organization.

There are good reasons to invest in domain privacy protection. Consider the following benefits:

Reduction of Span and Unwanted Contacts

Threat actors will take advantage of any opportunity to begin sending spam messages or other unsolicited communications. Reduce these opportunities through holistic protection of your information by protecting your contact information using domain privacy protection.

This solution works because the more spam websites or unwanted communications that are identified quickly, the less damage they can do. For example, if your domain privacy protection identifies a new domain that is trying to use your brand or impersonate your domain name, your protective monitoring system can identify the threat and shut it down. This protects both your organization from the potential damage to your brand and protects targeted customers.

Safeguard Personal Information

Not investing in domain privacy protection can result in your personal information such as the name of your organization, address, phone number, and email associated with the domain registry being easily accessible to experienced threat agents. The risk of identity theft or some other abuse of personal information is substantial. So, the benefits of safeguarding your necessary information can help mitigate these risks.

Reduced Risk of Phishing and Scams

Over 1.3 million phishing sites are detected across the global web. These websites are designed to funnel resources or information from legitimate sources into the hands of threat agents.

Phishing scams depend on their ability to successfully use social engineering techniques to deceive unsuspecting persons. Domain protection can help you avoid becoming a target of phishing attempts that use spoofed or lookalike domains.

Protection Against Competitive Espionage

In both niche and competitive markets, unethical organizations may exploit your organization's publicly accessible information to infiltrate and abuse your digital landscape. Domain privacy serves as a line of defense against this type of espionage. Otherwise, it can cause incredible damage to your personal or organizational assets.

5 Strategies to Enhance Your Domain Protection

Domain privacy and protection is an important part of protecting your digital personal and organizational information from successful domain-based cyberattacks such as phishing and domain squatting. So what does an effective domain protection method include? These five strategies will provide an effective defense and enhance your domain protection:

1 Opt for Domain Privacy Services Provided by Your Registrar

When acquiring a domain name, pay attention to the privacy settings offered by your domain registrar. Opt into the available domain privacy settings which may include options such as hiding or encrypting your given information and limiting sharing access. Investing in these options can allow you to make the best use of the first-line protection options.

2 Domain Brand Monitoring and Protection

Because cyberattacks present a 24-hour-a-day threat, constant vigilance is essential to stay ahead of potentially devastating account takeovers, domain squatting threats, and other emerging cyberattacks. Powerful and effective AI-driven domain monitoring tools through proven sources such as ZeroFox can automate this process and provide round-the-clock domain protection. When a threat is detected, ZeroFox can provide actionable insights for brand protection.

3 Enable WHOIS Privacy or Proxy Registration

Take advantage of proxy services that can route your public-facing domain information through a proxy website. This will diminish public access to your details. WHOIS privacy or proxy registration can conceal your personal information. But exercise caution when deciding how and when to use these resources, as you need to make sure your proxy provider is secure and is in a position to guarantee that all necessary domain registrar common ic actions are correctly routed to you. 

4 Update Your Contact Information on the WHOIS Database

You must keep your contact information up-to-date in the WHOIS database. Outdated information can lead to costly consequences such as domain loss or increased vulnerability. Important communications about your domain may be sent to an outdated contact source that could be compromised without you knowing, resulting in a convenient vector for threat agents to infiltrate or take over your web domain.

5 Implement Strong Security Measures for Your Website and Hosting Provider

Always use strong passwords containing letters, numbers, and symbols in a difficult-to-guess order to protect your online resources. Tools such as multi-factor authentication and restricted administrative access can ensure that your website and hosting provider accounts remain secure. 

Combining these five strategies with your comprehensive approach to cybersecurity can create the environment your organization needs to build a secure and effective domain and prosper. 

Help Protect Your Domain with ZeroFox

ZeroFox offers an expanding array of effective and powerful cybersecurity resources. We combine the ever-vigilant monitoring strength of AI with threat management systems that leverage human intelligence against evolving cyber threats. And we understand how important it is to understand your organization's unique attack surface and invest in the tools that will maximize your security. Stay ahead of the curve and avoid preventable risks, get a demo of Zerofox's complete collection of cybersecurity tools today.

Tags: Domain Protection

See ZeroFox in action