How To Secure Your New Generic Top-Level Domain

The advent of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) will definitely be accompanied by security issues of new dimensions. As a result of this, it is very important to be creative and plan ahead in order not to be caught unaware. Cyber criminals are always busy formulating strategies to compromise the system but if you can take the following steps, your domain name will be fortified and you will have peace of mind.

There are many ways that cyber criminals can manipulate your domain name for their own gain but few of them will be discussed in this piece. They can damage your brand by registering it with the .sucks extension thereby promoting the brand in bad light. Also, they can register a domain for your brand without your knowledge and use it to steal your customers’ identities as well as passwords which is generally referred to as phishing. Besides, they can counterfeit your brand by registering it with the .cheap extension and make so much money that should have accrued to your bank account.

Prevention, they say, is better than cure, hence, it is very important for you to prevent a cyber crime than spending hours and resources in trying to get justice after an occurrence. The process of getting justice may be cumbersome and your revenue source may have been blocked. Consequently, you should register a trademark for your brand and subsequently register the trademark in the Trademark Clearing House (TMCH) set up by ICANN, a body that regulates internet domains. One benefit of using the TMCH is that you will be favored to register new domains that are connected to your trademark before the registration is opened to the general public. In addition, whenever anyone tries to register a domain name using your trademark, you will be properly informed so that you will be able to take the necessary action.

Furthermore, you should register multiple domain names for one website in order to prevent cyber thieves from doing so at your expense. The engagement of online criminals is to register different variations of popular websites in order to benefit from their popularity. But when you have registered the variations yourself and point them to your main site, you have already beaten the criminals to their game. You should also register for multiple number of years and set your account to auto-renewal. If your domain name expires and you don’t renew it in good time, it may be taken away from you and an online thief may be the one to finally buy it, perhaps after failing in his/her attempts to compromise your domain.

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