THUNDER BAY – BUSINESS – Many website hijackings are avoidable with enhanced domain name system safety measures, says the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), the organization that manages the .CA domain.
“The string of attacks in recent days demonstrates the risk that high-profile website owners are facing from cybercriminal activity targeting their domains,” said David Chiswell, Vice President of Product Development at CIRA. “We hope that CIOs will urgently take action to protect their domains with a locking service from their domain registry.”
The City of Ottawa and Craigslist join the New York Times, Twitter and the Huffington Post on the list of domain hijacked by malicious actors.
“In today’s fast paced internet world, it is important to have suppliers that work with you in preventing cases like this. Here at Sencia we monitor(babysit) each of our client domains, and keep strict control locks. When a suspicious request comes in we, call and speak to a director at the company to verify any changes before we allow them to be processed. We have stopped hundreds of these attacks, and as we are writing this, one more just popped in. Paying the extra few dollars a year for domain services is well worth it in the long run,” states Joe Quaresima, Systems Director at Sencia Canada Ltd. in Thunder Bay.
“Media organizations, governments, police forces or political parties are all potential targets for cybercriminals and should be particularly cautious,” added Chiswell. “We also know that the risk of domain hijacking increases around the holidays or with significant political events, such as elections.”
Website holders who operate high-traffic, high-transaction websites, such as e-commerce or financial services sites that regularly deal with large volumes of personal and confidential consumer information should also ensure they are protected.
