Karthik Balachander
Whether you run a simple one-page-website for a side hustle or manage hundreds of domains for your employer which is a large corporation, domain name security merits your attention and action. Losing control of your domain names could lead to data compromise, website downtime, fraud attempts on your customers and loss of credibility. In this post, we cover 5 easy and powerful tips to enhance website and domain security in 2022. You can use this as a handy checklist as you build towards a big and successful year.
1. Use a secure password for your Webnames account
Password security is not fancy and is probably oldest bit of advice everyone has heard, but it is also among the most important things to fix for better security. Here are some password security best practices to keep in mind for your Webnames account password:
- 16+ characters and unique to only your Webnames account
- A combination of letters, numbers, and characters with no consecutive duplicates
- Exclude any personal info (addresses, phone numbers, family or pet names, etc.)
- Use a password manager if you’re not already, and use it to generate new complex passwords moving forward
Keep up the momentum: update your Webnames email password next, and do the same for all of your core digital accounts such as hosting or site builder accounts.
2. Refresh the Security Pin for your Webnames account
When you contact Webnames Customer Support, our representatives confirm your identity by verifying a personal identification number that you provided in the account signup process. If you haven’t changed it for a while (… or ever), you can do so under Account Settings > Security Settings.
A security pin helps reduce the likelihood of a successful social engineering attack on your account. Social engineering attacks are a form of account compromise where an attacker uses personal information such as date of birth or location to trick support staff into altering account details. Webnames support staff use the PIN to verify that any incoming support request is indeed from the authorized account owner who set up the PIN in the first place.
3. Enable two-factor authentication, if you haven’t already
Implementing 2FA is the single most important step you can take to keep any account secure. It’s free and takes <1-minute to set up after you have Google Authenticator or another TOTP app on your mobile device (Authy and Microsoft Authenticator are also great options). You can enable 2FA under Security Settings alongside your PIN in your Webnames account.
4. Confirm that your account contact details are up-to-date
Every year, inadvertent domain expiry wreaks havoc on countless small and big businesses. This step ensures that renewal notifications, password reset requests and other important communications are sent to the right email address and you are contactable should any suspicious activity occur on your account. You can do this on the Account Owner settings screen after signing into your Webnames account.
5. Scan your domain name(s) for common security vulnerabilities
Recently Webnames launched an automated domain security scan tool that analyzes publicly available information about your domain name. scan your domain(s) using this tool and gain an understanding of the potential risks that your domain may be exposed to. The tool also provides recommendations on how you can address these risks by simple measures such as enabling domain locks, or using account lock, installing SSL certificates or enabling domain privacy protection. We also wrote a detailed article that explains how the domain security scanner works.
Visit our Cybersecurity Resources page for tips and free cybersecurity tools.
If you have more questions about your domain name security checkup, speak to an expert about additional security measures you can take for your business. Simply call us toll-free at 1-866-221-7878 for personal assistance.