SECURITY ALERT: Bogus Whois Problem Reports

[Domagon]

Bogus "Whois Problem Reports" are increasingly going from being an annoyance to being a real security risk.

Dotster threatened to delete a domain based only on a report that was obviously bogus a week or so ago.

BulkRegister threatened to suspend a domain if I didn't respond within 5 calendar days just today.

What good are Whois Problem Reports when anyone can file one and there's absolutely no screening performed to ensure such reports have any validitity to them; reports filed on some of my domains claimed everything was wrong, including the expiration date - what!? Talk about pure nonsense!

If one really wants to cause mayhem, they simply file lots of bogus Whois reports - and for maximum effect, target domains that are name servers - suspended name servers will kill a lot of sites cold and likely not be immediately noticed.

There is much talk about the transfer policy changes and security, and yet bogus Whois Problem Reports is a security risk many times worse!

Some ICANN policy changes are needed pronto...

1. Requiring more than just a name and email for people making complaints - they should have to provide a postal address that's verifyable and/or some other information.

2. Screening of such reports - permit registrars, if they're not already, to toss out Whois Problem Reports that they feel are invalid without involving the registrant; stop wasting their time over this nonsense.

3. A standard on how registrars handle Whois Problem Reports

* including a reasonable time like 30 days before taking any action ... as of now, some registrars do little while others suspend domains within only a few days - so if one goes away on holiday, they could very likely come back and find their domains suspended/deleted.

Something needs to be done before bogus Whois Problem Reports get any further out of hand ...

Ron

[Dave Zan]

I actually saw one case of this used by someone's enemy to get his site shut
down. I'm not sure, but the registrar even tried calling the domain name owner
but ended up leaving a voice message.

And because the owner didn't respond within the time frame, zapped! Scary
when you know how to use it against someone else online.

BTW, Go Daddy charges $9.95 if the WHOIS "complaint" isn't complied with to
their standards after a few days...

[jazzpetals]

They should charge 9.95 to the people who file the complaints, that would cut down on the bogus ones.

I actually saw one case of this used by someone's enemy to get his site shut
down. I'm not sure, but the registrar even tried calling the domain name owner
but ended up leaving a voice message.

And because the owner didn't respond within the time frame, zapped! Scary
when you know how to use it against someone else online.

BTW, Go Daddy charges $9.95 if the WHOIS "complaint" isn't complied with to
their standards after a few days...