An unprotected business website is a place where no customer would willingly go. It is a topic we often hear in relation to user-generated content and social media outlets and not really in the domain arena.
When registering a new domain, hosting providers usually provide a Whois privacy option at a small extra cost. If you don’t take advantage of this, both your personal and business information is placed by your service provider on Whois public search database. Here’s how Whois privacy help protects your business from threats.
Keep your personal/business data and contact details private. When a domain name is registered with an ICANN-accredited registrar, Whois record is typically created as well. The Whois record of a domain contains domain and owner information, including domain status, registration and expiry dates, owner names, nameservers, email address, physical address, contact person, phone number, etc. The Whois database is available to the public, making you at the fingertips of anyone.
Less chance for identity theft. Identity theft has become widespread since ID data is a commodity in the shadow economy. The information is used in further cybercrimes like credit card fraud and ransomware attacks among others. Not having your personal information on Whois can reduce exposure to such threats and others.
Less Spam. Because your information is public, it gives an open invitation to scammers and spammers and before you realize it, your inbox may be flooded with spam. Plus, your email may be harvested for phishing attacks, for instance. Cybercrime statics show that even though the total volume of spam emails has actually gone down, there is actually more spam emails that pass through email security because of better technology that creates them. A publicly available email address is an unnecessary risk.
Safeguarding your physical location. More than cybersecurity Whois Privacy offers, it also offers physical privacy, especially if you conduct your operations at home, or worse, you are a solo home-based entrepreneur. You wouldn’t like strangers knowing about your address and snooping around your property, right? What would happen if you get them riled by your latest post about claiming cash or interest, or even overzealous supporters showing uninvited at your doorstep?
This is why making your physical location private through Whois privacy is important.
Easier management of contact information and feedback. True, it’s easier for users to contact you if your information is public, but it can also backfire, as what we’ve tackled above. From a practical point of view, it’s better for your customers to contact you through your site’s contact page. That way you know the contact details that you provided are designated only to that business and separate from all your other contact information.
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Ownership privacy. Keeping your information private has all sorts of benefit. For different reasons, you may choose not to link your personal information with your business dealings due to personal and security reasons. Whois privacy can do just that!
EndNote
It’s all about cybersecurity at the end. The sophistication of cybercrime cannot be tolerated nor downplayed. Going for Whois privacy can add to your personal and business online protection. And that should be one of your primary considerations.