Linode.com acknowledged the hack in a blog post.

Name.com has not responded specifically to the claims made by HTP, but the company sent out an email on the same day of our story alerting customers to change their passwords.

Name.com recently discovered a security breach where customer account information including usernames, email addresses, and encrypted passwords and encrypted credit card account information may have been accessed by unauthorized individuals. It appears that the security breach was motivated by an attempt to gain information on a single, large commercial account at Name.com.

Moniker.com representatives sent DNN a statement today about the claims made by HTP.  As we had mentioned in the earlier article, the information published (which we are not reprinting for obvious reasons) contained a handful of user names and passwords for administrative personnel with email addresses using @oversee.net.  Moniker is no longer owned by Oversee and some of the employees on that list are no longer with Moniker or Oversee for that matter. The information seemed dated at best.

Moniker’s letter to DNN stated :

“In regards to the alleged attack, our investigation has revealed the following facts.

-The published file does not contain any access or information related to or about Moniker customers, their accounts or their domains.

-The information was also not accessed through the Moniker registrar platform.

-The information included in the file contained access to a discontinued standalone content only site intended for public viewing.

We take any security questions extremely seriously and felt it important to provide a detailed response.”

From what DNN saw in the HTP published files, there did not appear to be any customer user names or passwords from any of the registrars mentioned including Melbourne IT, Name.com, Moniker.com or Xinnet.  (In other words, your log-in information isn’t published somewhere online for everyone to grab.)  The published file seems to be more of a “look what we saw” snapshot.

Related posts:

• Hackers Break in to Prominent Domain Registrars, Moniker, Melbourne IT, Name.com and Xinnet
• NameDrive Account Information leaked; Less than 1% of accounts affected
• Moniker launches DomainMaxLock
• Breaking News – Oversee Acquires Moniker
• KeyDrive S.A. Acquires Moniker and SnapNames from Oversee.net (PR)

Even though the registrars were not specific targets of the attack, HTP have posted a file called registrar-data.txt (not resolving now which details some of the info accessed from the registrars.

The HTP5 zine (now apparently down, cached copy here) brags about the registrars being “owned”. Name.com, MelbourneIT, Moniker and Xinnet are mentioned: Speaking of registrars, Xinnet, MelbourneIT, and Moniker – you’re all owned. Back in November, we hinted at Huawei access in our Symantec release. Their registrar? Xinnet. Total domains owned: about 5.5 million total. No kidding. :P

The hackers admitted difficulty with Melbourne IT security specifically because the registrar controls the DNS for Twitter.   “Domain management credz for Melbourne IT are mostly internal SOAP requests. DNS control of Twitter is tight.”

The info that was accessible from the hack in to Name.com seems to include data base access to a great amount of information.  The registrar-data file lists countless databases including quickbooks, customer info, hosting accounts, etc.

The Moniker information that was published included several administrator accounts with user names and passwords. Some of the accounts included former employees of Moniker/Oversee. Moniker is no longer a company owned by Oversee so that information seems to be somewhat dated.

As these are claims by hackers that have yet to be verified by the registrars involved, DNN is making attempts to contact all registrars involved to find out what breaches of security occurred and what was done to fix these problems.  To our knowledge no customer account information has been published publicly and there are no reports of domains stolen.

As reported by Michael Berken’s The Domains, name.com sent an email alerting their customers of the breach asking them to change their passwords.

Related posts:

• Comcast.net Domain Hijacked at Network Solutions
• Moniker/Snapnames accidentally sell the wrong domain
• Three Domain Registrars Lose Accreditation
• ICANN Terminates Three More Registrars
• Melbourne IT aquires Verisign DBMS

The company is planning to develop the domain name into a new site by August 2013 and is hoping to benefit from 20,000 links the site currently has according to the press release. The site will cater to the “Good Sam Club” member base and offer information, access to new and used RVs, how-to videos as well as social components.

“The term “RV” defines not just a type of vehicle, it defines a lifestyle,” said Good Sam Chairman and CEO, Marcus Lemonis. “We strive to be the one-stop shop for everything in the RV lifestyle and integrating www.RV.com into our suite of Web-based services for RVers further solidifies our position as the leader in this industry.”

The whois of the domain has yet to be updated to the new owner.

[Hat tip to Mike of Domain Guardians]

Related posts:

• Strata Services Buys Domain Portfolio and Monetization Company
• Oversee.net buys ShopWiki for Undisclosed Price
• Netflix buys DVD.com for an undisclosed sum
• Afilias buys the .MOBI Registry for an Undisclosed Amount
• Thomson Reuters buys Mark Monitor for an undisclosed sum

Here are the domains and their current (at the time of this post) bids at Sedo ends in less than 3 hours:

Here are the domains and their current (at the time of this post) bids at Snapnames ends in less than 6 hours:

Related posts:

• Sedo’s Monthly GreatDomains Auction ends today
• Sedo Greatdomains Auction Ends today
• Sedo’s Greatdomains Auction ends today
• SnapNames Year End Auction Ends today
• SnapNames Year End Auction Ends Today

Bill writes about his change: Over the last few years I’ve discovered that what I really love doing, more than anything else, is helping people and companies with their domain name challenges. More specifically, I love domain name consulting, especially working with startups, entrepreneurs, and marketers to find and buy their ideal domain name. So, after much reflection and soul-searching, I’ve decided to leave Tucows to do domain consulting and domain buyer broker work full-time under my own new brand.

Related posts:

• Van Gelder to leave NBT, to offer consulting services
• Tucows Donates Domain to Freddie Mercury’s Estate
• Downsizing at Tucows
• Dell buys “adamo.com” domain name from Tucows
• Snowe Bill Freezes In Committee

Jamie always had good content and interesting insights, so I’m glad to see him back at it.  Frankly, domain blogging seems to be a sea of copycatting daily domain lists, weekly sales reports, and who bought what.  Jamie always had a knack for coming up with new content.  It takes a lot of work to crank out that original content.

Related posts:

• Tucows Will Use Afternic To Auction Expiring Domains
• Last week’s Sedo and Afternic Sales Report
• Sibername introduces premium .ca auctions
• Domain Roundtable Auction Submission Closing Soon
• 8 Domain Newsletters you cannot afford to miss

Sunrise starts on the 1st of May 2013 and will last for one month until May 31st. Landrush will begin the following day and will end on July 14th 2013. General Availability starts on July 15th at the ICANN meeting in Durban, South Africa.  There will be no restrictions to registrations of free domains and anyone can register their own .ML domain. Free .ML domains work exactly like any other extension and can be renewed each registration period at no charge.

[via The Guardian, Press Release (PDF)]

Related posts:

• Free Speech Coalition Announces Plans for .xxxxx New TLD
• Domains.com Offering Free Listings and 0% Commission On All Sales and Auctions
• .XXX TLD To Be Approved Tomorrow?
• Adult Trade Organization to Lobby Against .XXX sTLD at ICANN Meeting
• .ORG Prices To Increase April 2011

Related posts:

• Melbourne IT aquires Verisign DBMS
• Melbourne IT acquires Verisign DBMS
• VeriSign to increase .NET prices by 10% on July 1st, 2013
• VeriSign publishes new video promoting .TV
• Sedo buys GreatDomains

Uniregistrar completed their accreditation earlier this month. The name and site clearly identifies it as being associated with Frank Schilling’s Uniregistry that is applying for 54 new gTLDs.

The new site states:

Uniregistrar is a new ICANN accredited registrar designed to let you create domain names in the new top level domain extensions offered by Uniregistry.

Beginning in 2014 anyone will be able to create and manage their domain names using the simple site we plan to create here. The names offered by Uniregistrar will be shorter, clearer, easier to use and manage than the .com .net or .org names you know from the past.

We think you’re going to like the names we have to offer and we look forward to serving you. Check back with us later this year as a new site gets created at this location.

With this move the registry operator and new gTLD applicant is one of the first of the new entries that is making it clear that they will be operating their own retail registrar.

“Vertical Integration” (registries that own/operate registrars) has been a long and ongoing issue at ICANN, but in late 2010 the board decided that registries are indeed allowed to own registrars. One of the other applicants, Demand Media, recently increased the reach of their retail channel recently by buying the retail registrar name.com.

Related posts:

• Uniregistry releases .Blackfriday Promotional Site
• Law Firm Becomes ICANN Accredited Registrar
• Through Thick & Thin: ICANN RFP for Registrar Data Escrow Services
• Sedo becomes an ICANN accredited registrar
• ICANN Chooses Iron Mountain For Registrar Data Escrowing

I’m sure there is much more to Igal on a personal level, but it’s a sobering reminder that one day we all expire.
RIP Igal and may your domains auto-renew forever.

If you’d like to know more about Lichtman, he was covered recently in a DNJournal story.

Related posts:

• BusinessWeek features Michael Mann, WashingtonVC
• DNN Founder Adam Strong Joins Growing Partnership at MO.com
• Entrepreneur – Domains and “Personal Brand” Protection
• Steve Wozniak to Keynote DOMAINfest Global 2009
• .ME Registry Giving Away Premium Domain Names (sort of)