Three Popular Domain Name Registrars Ask Customers to Reset Passwords

• Domain name registrars have been compromised by hackers since August 2019 and discovered it in October 2019.
• The actors breached the systems and may have accessed encrypted customer login credentials.
• Every password has been reset, and people will now have to set a new and unique one.

Web.com, NetworkSolutions.com, and Register.com are sending notices to their customers, asking them to reset their passwords. The reason for this sudden move is that a third-party gained unauthorized access to the systems of these domain name registrar entities, possibly resulting in the accessing of account information such as login credentials. However, it is clarified that no credit card data has been stolen in this incident, so it only applies to the accounts that people have on these platforms. Of course, if you’re using the same password elsewhere, you will need to reset it there too.

The domain name registrar Web.com discovered the network intrusion on October 16, 2019, and upon a deeper investigation, they figured that a limited number of their systems were first accessed back in August 2019. A spokesman of the company told Krebs that all of their customer passwords are encrypted, and they do not really believe that this information has been accessed in the first place. Still though, resetting the passwords is a mandatory precautionary measure that one can’t skip at this point. After all, changing your passwords every now and then is a good security practice, no matter whether a breach has happened or not.

The other two registrars that we mentioned above belong to Web.com, and so they share common parts of technical infrastructure. This means that the millions of clients of NetworkSolutions.com and Register.com should also reset their passwords. For now, though, no further details have been disclosed to the public. The relevant announcement states that the company has engaged with a leading cybersecurity firm to help them investigate and determine the full scope of the incident, while the authorities have also been alerted as required by the law.

If none of this fell inside your sphere of attention, trying to visit Web.com or any of the websites of its subsidiaries will result in a message for a password reset. This is set as an obligatory requirement right now, so there’s no getting around it. For more information about what happened and how you can protect yourself from now on, feel free to call 1-855-661-1676, or +1-904-515-0463 if you’re calling from an international line. Other than that, you may start using a password manager that will help you refresh your passphrases regularly, generate strong passwords, and use a unique one on each platform. If you’re on the look for a reliable password manager, check out our list with the top five to pick from.

Are you using one of the services that have been breached? Will you continue to trust them? Let us know in the comments down below, or on our socials, on Facebook and Twitter.