Domain was hacked - what can we do?

[backstreetviking]

Domain 21century-mp3.com, that belongs to a webmaster that I used to have link exchange with was hacked 1-2 months ago.

The ex webmaster - Maurice has no idea how this has happened. For a while he was hosted with the hacker`s company. The company is called fiber-projects.com and operated buy a dutch guy Dennis Steyfa.

Maurice called tucows and some other companies and they all said it was a legal transfer. There are 40+ webmasters who know that this is not true. We all know Maurice and used to be partners with him for more than 4 years. Because of the hacker he now had to buy a new domain name 21century-mp3.nu, but he lost approximately 15.000 daily unique visitors because of this.

I just e-mailed OpenSRS legal support and am waiting for their answer. Perhaps if all webmasters that know him would put some pressure on Tucows, we might get it back. Another option is, we pay this guy a visit

What else can we do? All suggestions are welcome.

Tomorrow, when I talk again to Maurice I will know some more details about this and will update the thread. Such things really piss me off. That could happen to anyone of us. :\

[armkaz]

The domain was registered under your name. You can get it back 100%. Just contact your registrar provider.

[cct5rb]

armkaz Wrote:The domain was registered under your name. You can get it back 100%. Just contact your registrar provider.

Yeah if you contact the registrar they should be able to prove that you own the domain and you will be able to get it back hopefully

[hotchocolate]

guys you dont understand,
the problem is that the victim was hosted in the attacker's hosting company server and used his domain registration service which was a tucows reseller. so when the attacker just changed the registrant info and shifted the domain to his a/c then the tucows staff claimed that it was a legal transfer as they attacker had pushed the domain when he knew victim's password and how to transfer domain legally.

now the thing is that even if the domain belonged to Maurice then still his registrar would be getting priority in this case of legal transfer, but though a civil suit can be filed against the registrar if you have evidence of site's visitors and also you can check past domain owner's whois info from domaintools.com. best of luck!

but take it as a lesson that never register your domain with your hosting company, it can land your domain into trouble.

[Ken]

When it comes to domain name registrars and hosting providers, the smaller the company you deal with, the bigger the risk. Especially when dealing with resellers: anybody can become one. If you deal directly with the company they have a bigger incentive to listen to you as it could seriously harm their reputation. A 140 character Twitter post is all it will take to cause mass panic, when word leaks that registrars is losing customers domains its like the sky is falling as domains are like one of a kind precious jewels. But panic will subside when people hear you bought via a middleman and that’s where the weak link is. The company providing the services will also not worry too much. It’s a rogue reseller, indemnifying the company somewhat depending on what their terms of service is when dealing with resellers.

[luckypig]

I suggest U should try to contact the registrar.
And get it back.

[mikestenger]

Either way, I'm pretty dang sure it was illegal what they did.

[zach]

The legality depends on the terms and conditions to which you agreed to when asking them to register the domain name for you.

If the terms and conditions say that you retain control over the domain, then they are legally in the wrong. I do not know of any internet-based mechanism for rectifying this. As you said, the registrar does not have responsability here (legally, not morally). The only thing I could suggest is sending a transfer request to the current registrant with a threat for legal action.