Webhosting & eCommerce

Domain Locking Update

ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), who administer rules governing domain names, recently implemented changes to the domain transfer system. The transfer process works by the gaining/new registry requesting Authentication from the domain owner. The current registry will then request authentication from the domain owner aswell, completing the process.

However, if the initial request, by the gaining registrar, is fraudulent or faked and the current registry does not receive a response to its' request for authentication, the transfer will now be approved. Previously, if no confirmation or decline was received in 5 days by the current registry, the transfer would automatically FAIL.

After this change, there was a case where the domain panix.com was transferred to a unknown third party and services to panix.com were halted. A fraudulent request was made to transfer the domain and it was automatically approved after 5 days, without authorization from the true owner.
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To reduce the chance of this happening to our customers' domains, we have now LOCKED all domains(.cc, .ca, .uk domains do not support domain locking). Locking puts a "Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK" in your WHOIS record and prevents a default transfer of the type described above(any transfer request will be automatically rejected). You still maintain full ownership of your domain and you are able to un-lock your domain at any time through the Domain Management area.