What If Your Company Domain Was Suddenly Stolen? Lessons on Digital Asset Management from the GoDaddy Incident

"My site suddenly went down, and when I looked into it, the domain was registered to someone else."

If you neglect domain management, this scenario can actually happen. When I first heard about this, I honestly didn't quite grasp it. "What kind of situation is that?"

However, after some research, I found that this is by no means a rare accident. And the scariest part is that many companies that fell victim thought they were "managing it properly," only to realize it was too late.

What Exactly Was the GoDaddy Incident? The Reality of Domain Hijacking

In early 2024, a series of incidents were confirmed at GoDaddy, the world's largest domain registrar and hosting provider, where multiple customer domains were illicitly transferred to third parties.

In its filing with the U.S. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), GoDaddy acknowledged, "there was an unauthorized third party that gained access to our network… over a multi-year period beginning in 2019" (10-K report dated February 2024).

This wasn't a simple case of password leaks; it meant that GoDaddy's internal systems themselves had been compromised over a long period.

In other words, this incident had a different nature because, regardless of how careful the users were with password management, there was a high possibility that it was impossible to prevent.

Why Domain Transfers Are "Hard to Notice"

What happens when a domain is stolen?

First, your company website stops appearing or redirects to a completely different page. Next, the connection to your mail server is severed. Furthermore, when customers try to access it, they might encounter an unfamiliar "for sale" page or a phishing site.

The problem is that this transition happens "quietly."

If you have a cache on your office network, it may still appear normal internally, delaying discovery. By the time it is discovered, your business partners might have already been redirected to a different page.

Moreover, once a domain is transferred to a third party, the legal pathway to reclaiming it involves an international arbitration procedure known as UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy), which can take several weeks to months to resolve.

During that time, your domain belongs to someone else.

The "Blind Spot in Domain Management" Unique to Japanese SMEs

Let me shift the perspective here.

Recently, while talking to an employee at an SME engaged in food exports, I heard exactly this:

"Come to think of it, who manages our domain? Maybe the production company we hired when we started..."

I instinctively asked, "Have you checked the expiration date?" They replied, "Now that you mention it, I’ve never looked at it." This case is not uncommon.

Especially in SMEs, management of domains and servers is sometimes left entirely to a "former employee who was tech-savvy" or the "production company hired at the time of incorporation."

If that person quits or the company goes out of business, you lose access to the email address registered to the account. Renewal notices don't arrive. The path of "discovering it expired and being acquired by a third party" occurs every year as a more modest, non-cyberattack-related "careless accident."

The Japan Domain Registrar Association (JDRA) also repeatedly calls for caution regarding "drop catching," where malicious third parties acquire domains immediately after they expire.

Digital Asset Management for Companies Expanding Overseas

For domestic businesses, if a domain becomes temporarily unusable, there are alternative means such as "handling it by phone" or "issuing an urgent announcement."

However, from the perspective of overseas buyers and partners, it’s a different story.

If the website is down or a suspicious page appears when they first try to make contact, would they judge the company as a "reliable partner"?

Whether it’s for one week or one month, that impression will remain forever for the people who checked your site at that moment.

In B2B transactions, building trust takes time. But it can be lost in an instant.

Especially in the context of new business development, the movement of "I’ll check the company on their official website" after exchanging emails occurs naturally. If they hit a suspicious page at that moment, they will stop replying. They won't even tell you why.

Even in our own observations, there are cases where after the initial response from overseas buyer outreach, the process stalls during the company’s official information verification phase. I feel that domain reliability is a piece of infrastructure that directly affects the success or failure of sales.

Building trust with overseas buyers requires such digital foundation management. I’ve covered specific outreach methods in another article.

So, What Should You Do?

No massive investment is needed. Here’s a summary of things you can check starting today.

1. Check Domain Registration Information and Expiration Dates

Is the registered name the current company/manager?
When does it expire? (Preferably renew it for the next 2-3 years)
Is the contact email address for renewal notices still accessible?

If you don't know whose email address is registered, the first step is to check WHOIS information (publicly registered domain info) or contact the registrar.

Common registrars in Japan include Onamae.com, Muumuu Domain, and Star Domain. For instance, on Onamae.com, after logging in, you can check the expiration date and registered email address via "Domain Settings" -> "Name Server/DNS Settings" -> "Domain List." Similarly, for Muumuu Domain, you can check the list via "Domain Management" in the control panel.

2. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on the Registrar Side

In the context of the GoDaddy incident, there were cases where whether or not 2FA was set for the registrar account influenced the scope of the damage.

By adding SMS authentication or Authenticator app authentication in addition to a password, you can lower the risk of unauthorized login.

This is a configuration change that can be done in 5 minutes.

3. Check for Transfer Lock

Most registrars allow you to turn on a "Transfer Lock" from the settings screen.

If you enable this, even if a third party attempts to transfer the domain to another registrar, the registrar will block it.

On Onamae.com, you can check/change this via "Domain Settings" -> Select target domain -> "Transfer Prohibition Settings." It is often on by default, but it might be off for some reason, so it's a good idea to check.

4. Document Domain Management Responsibility and Handover Procedures

This might be the most modest, yet the most effective measure.

"Where is the ID/password for the domain management account stored?" "Who confirms the renewal and when?" — Write these two points somewhere within the company.

Notion, a spreadsheet, or even paper is fine. The goal is to get the management structure out of an individual-dependent state and into a state where "someone else can understand it if they look."

FAQ

Q. Where can I set the domain transfer lock? A. You can set it from each registrar's management screen (domain settings page). For major registrars like GoDaddy or Onamae.com, items labeled "Transfer Lock" or "Transfer Prohibition" are displayed on the domain details screen. Try logging in and checking the settings of the target domain. For Muumuu Domain, similar settings can be accessed via "Domain Operations" within the control panel.

Q. If I am a victim of domain hijacking, how can I get it back? A. First, immediately contact the registrar's support to report the unauthorized transfer. If the issue remains unresolved, you will need to use international arbitration procedures based on the UDRP (Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy). However, since it often takes several weeks to months to resolve, I feel that proactive domain management is more important than anything.

Q. How can I check if my company domain is currently safe? A. You can check the registered name, expiration date, and transfer lock status by searching for your company domain name in a WHOIS search tool (e.g., whois.domaintools.com). It is also a good idea to check if the registered email address is still accessible.

The Very Sense of "Digital Asset Management" Is Lacking

While writing this, I was also thinking about something else.

People naturally have a sense of managing land and buildings as "assets." But what about domains, email accounts, social media pages, and cloud-based data?

Although these are important digital assets that support business activities, they are often treated as "convenient tools that cost maintenance fees."

In particular, a domain is the company's "address" online. If you can understand that having it taken by a third party is similar to someone else changing your company's signboard without permission, the gravity of this issue will be easier to grasp.

The GoDaddy incident showed that this can happen even with large services with scale and credibility. On the other hand, many accidents that occur daily in Japan are due to much simpler reasons, such as "no one confirmed the expiration date."

You can prevent the latter simply by checking today.

Closing Thoughts

When was the last time you reviewed your domain management?

Expiration date, registered email address, and transfer lock status—by checking these three points in 5 minutes, you can significantly reduce the risk of being in a situation where it's "too late when you notice" starting today.

Trust from overseas partners is built not just from the text in your emails, but from the company's entire digital foundation. Before flashy sales strategies, please check whether your essential management is in place. Review this once.

If you have any concerns, feel free to contact us via comment or LINE. Add LINE friend

#DomainManagement #CyberSecurity #SME #DigitalAssets #CrossBorderEC #OverseasTransactions #B2BSales #Export #OverseasSales #ExportBusiness #ColdEmail