What Happens if Your GoDaddy Account Gets Hacked?

[mansett]

Suppose someone stole your password or hacked your GoDaddy account and changed all your security information (like password, email, etc). Does that mean you lost everything? Can GoDaddy help you restore your account? What information should GoDaddy ask you about your account to verify you are the legitimate owner?

P.S. I am just curious and worried. My GD account is fine.

 

[werty]

Cool Down man. Just use a good reasonable password and you will be fine. Why are they going to hack your GoDaddy account? What is the probability that could happen? How many people have you heard about having their GoDaddy accounts hacked?

 

[Toni]

well i had my godaddy account hacked before...
the dude put up some phishing sites to gather credit card details from one of my websites...
recived some angry mails from LLoyd...
but its all fine now again...

 

[-REECE-]

Yeah, that's what a lot of people don't get -- you can have some super crazy hard to guess password, but click one wrong link in an email (or on the web) and you might just have well have picked up the phone and told the soon-to-be hacker your password. I do the large majority of email browsing using a Mac and all link clicking -- they can get spyware and even apparently a virus now, but there's much less of that kind of stuff out there. If you have a very valuable domain you can't afford to lose, you might consider purchasing Godaddy's protected registration service or alternatively, switching to a registrar like Fabulous which offers additional security features for free.

As for if your account were to be hacked, your best bet is to contact your registrar as soon as you find out and give them all the information they ask for (and more if you have it available and think it will help). If the domain has been transferred to another registrar (can check that out by whois), be sure to contact them as well -- they might be able to help by freezing the domain until your registrar has a chance to investigate the claim that your domain was stolen. If it does get transferred to another registrar, how easily you get your domain back will really depend on how cooperative that other registrar is.

well i had my godaddy account hacked before...
the dude put up some phishing sites to gather credit card details from one of my websites...
recived some angry mails from LLoyd...
but its all fine now again...

 

[Peter]

I wrote an article a while back regarding securing domain names and 1 of the main points was NEVER USE A FREE EMAIL ACCOUNT. A lot of domain thefts come as a result of things like GMail accounts being hacked.

Free email accounts are not secure and should not be used to house personal information nor used as part of your login details.

If your account is hacked and details changed it is possible to get the account back but consider how much damage they could have done by the time that happens.

 

[werty]

Wow. I didn't know this happened that much. I will probably change my GoDaddy email then.

 

[Peter]

werty just dawned on me the article is still linked in my sig. Most is common sense but worth a read.

 

[bmugford]

Here area couple pointers for security from my experience in general, and with GoDaddy.

1.) Don't use a free email.
2.) Use a different email for your GD account itself than is listed on the whois.
3.) Use long varied passwords. Use several different passwords.
4.) Use an updated virus/spyware scanner.
5.) Run a firewall to prevent unwanted outbound/inbound connections.
6.) For large account holders GD has extra layers of security, so even if an account is compromised it is impossible to transfer or push domains. This requires an executive account.

Another thing I do is run Firefox with NoScript. When I am looking for end users I am normally opening sites I have never been to before, and have no idea what they will contain. It is a good idea to block any scripts by default until you know the sites are not running anything malicious.

Brad

 

[bamaboy]

I think if you realize your account is hacked, call godaddy asap.

For security reasons, i always lock my domains and keep a secure password.

 

[mansett]

Thanks for all your comments and tips!