GoDaddy, NameCheap restrict websites on coronavirus COVID-19 to avoid phishing
Internet firm Namecheap is ending the automated registration of website names related to the COVID-19 pandemic, an effort to combat coronavirus-related fraud, while top domain registries such as for example GoDaddy have taken down some suspicious websites.
Los Angeles-based Namecheap Inc. made the pledge after a federal judge in Texas ordered the takedown of an online site the united states Department of Justice accused of stealing credit card information and will be offering fake coronavirus vaccine kits. The web site allegedly offered what it claimed were World Health Organization vaccine kits in trade for a $4.95 “shipping charge”.
There is currently no vaccine for the coronavirus that triggers COVID-19. Experts say it will require 12 to 1 . 5 years to develop one.
The DOJ said the website, coronoavirusmedicalkit.com, was harvesting credit card information. The website registered that domain with Namecheap.
Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall said within an email to customers Thursday that the company was banning terms such as for example “coronavirus,” “COVID” and “vaccine” from the business's domain availability search tool. He said company employees could manually register legitimate domains.
The largest US domain registry business, Arizona-based GoDaddy, hasn't adopted a similar policy but spokesman Dan Race said it includes a “human review process that effectively detects and disrupts fraudulent content.”
Toronto-based Tucows Inc., a high competitor whose retail registration business is named Hover, has also not removed virus-related keywords from its customer-facing search engine. The business is, however, flagging all “covid” and “corona” domains for manual review, spokesman Graeme Bunton said. It is looking specifically for fake tests and cures.
Cybersecurity companies have reported a huge jump in coronavirus-related internet domains in recent weeks, and say most are the task of cybercriminals sowing malware, scamming the general public with false cures and harvesting payment card and other private information. One cybersecurity firm reported discovering a malicious data-stealing program masquerading as a virus information map.
THE BRAND NEW York Attorney General's office wrote Namecheap, GoDaddy and other major U.S. registrars on March 20 asking them to take aggressive measures against the against the law usage of coronoavirus domains, including blocking the rapid registration of virus-related domains.
In a tweet the same day the letter was sent, GoDaddy said it had already removed sites promoting online coronavirus for violating its conditions of service and said it could continue steadily to do so. ..
