The hijacking of David Walsh

He hit us up on Twitter. Could we help him get his domain back?

davidwalsh.name hadn’t been stolen from us, but whoever hijacked it had transferred it to Name.com before moving it to another registrar.

Inspired, we Tweeted back that we were going to try and get it. Even though it seemed pretty close to impossible.

It’s an exciting tale featuring a superstar blogger and all kinds of international intrigue. But it’s really that same old story about online security. The theft happened in 2011, but domain hijacking continues to happen on a regular basis. So here’s how not to lose your domain name:

1. Passwords. We know. We’re sorry. We keep harping on this. But P@$$W0RDz1! isn’t even strong enough anymore. Come up with something original and memorable only to you. That could mean a pass phrase like: MyCollegeDebTi$Overwhelming!
2. Multi-factor authentication. We have it. Every company worth its weight on the web offers at least another way to protect your data, money, etc.
3. If it’s all too much, use Name.com client LastPass.com. Very helpful for keeping track of all your varied and powerful passwords that you can’t be bothered to keep track of yourself.
4. And make sure your domain registrar (and any company, really) knows how not to get socially engineered (a.k.a played.)

In short, heed the David Walsh warning, and protect your domain.