WSJ Article: "Thieves Steal Company Web Addresses"

I wanted to share and article from last week's Wall Street Journal; it's an important reminder on securing your company's Web address. The article was titled "Thieves Steal Company Web Addresses" in the March 12, 2015 issue of the WSJ. It led with the point that cybercriminals targeting businesses are stealing more than customer passwords and credit card numbers these days. Some are stealing the company's Web address (URL) itself.  

There are a couple of cautionary tales therein including ShadesDaddy.com; they had their Web address hijacked by Chinese cyberthieves. As a result they were offline for 11 days and lost an estimated $50,000 in revenue while they struggled to get control of their domain back. 

As the article explained, hackers use a variety of methods to gain control of a company's domain, including phishing emails that can capture a domain owner's keystrokes or passwords. Other "social engineering" methods are possible. You need up-to-date security software and solid internal processes to protect your company from these and multiple other hacking hazards.

I would add that cybercrooks (or your competitors) may also watch your domain ownership expiration date to swoop in and grab it the instant it becomes available. If that happens, getting it back can be difficult, and/or expensive. We suggest you purchase your domain for multiple years and that it's set to "auto-renew" to mitigate this risk,

Here's a link to the WSJ article: "Thieves Steal Company Web Addresses"

While new online security threats seem to come up every day, there are some basic steps you can (and should) taek to insure your IT "fences" have no glaring holes in them. We have a nine point checklist that might be a helpful reference. Let me know if you would like to have a copy and I'll fire it over. Click to Send Me an Email

Glad to assist. 

Steve 

Nasdaq breaks 5,000; is this dot-com bubble 2.0?

It was March 2000 when the Nasdaq last touched 5,000 (briefly). It was a tumultuous time for those of us who were growing Internet companies in the midst of the late 90's dot-com bubble. Now, fifteen years later, the Nasdaq is back in the 5K neighborhood, which leads to the question: Is this dot-com bubble 2.0?  We don't think so.

While there are some overvalued individual companies, the larger composite index is in a very different place today. There's real cash flow. PE ratios are rational. And the Nasdaq's recent performance generally in line with the S&P 500 and Dow. But in the interest of considering both sides of the "bubble 2.0" question, check out this video on CNBC. http://www.cnbc.com/id/102470833?