by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - September 21, 2006 - f. "Someone Stole My Domain Name" - Domain Theft & Hijacking
Are your search engine rankings still yours? Other people might hijack your search engine rankings and they might steal your web site visitors. The worst thing is that you might not even notice it. As if the dangers of cybersquatting, typosquatting and domain theft weren't enough, hackers are also after your valuable trademarks and web traffic.
Are you losing visitors without knowing it?
Imagine your web site URL is listed in the search engine results on Google, Yahoo and MSN. Most people that click on your URL in the search engine results are sent to your web site.
However, some people that click on your web site URL are sent to a totally unrelated web site that has nothing to do with your site.
Although your web site URL is displayed in the browser, people see a totally different site that has nothing to do with you or your company.
How do these hackers steal your visitors?
The hackers exploit a flaw in the software of some domain name servers (DNS). The hackers send incorrect information to these DNS server so that the server redirects the traffic for the URLs to another site.
If the DNS server does not validate that the information has come from an authoritative source it will send visitors to the wrong pages. That means that people who enter your URL in the web browser will be sent to the hacker's pages instead of your pages.
How can you protect your web site?
It's important that you use a reliable host that does not use an open DSN server. Go to www.dnsreport.com and enter the URL of your web site. You should see PASS in the Open DNS servers line. If your domain name fails the test, you should contact your web host.
Using a secure DNS server is crucial if you don't want to expose your web site to hackers. If your web host cannot fix the DNS problems, you should use a new web host.
Our lawyers have experience helping domain name owners / registrants protect their domain names. If you need a domain name attorney, contact Traverse Legal, the domain name legal specialists.
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
