Web.com and its subsidiaries become victims of a data breach

Three well-known domain providers have experienced a massive data breach including customers' private data

Web.com and its subsidiaries experience massive data leak

Another data breach has yet overflown multiple news channels on the cyberspace. This time a major website technology organization got hit by a data leak that could have touched personally identifiable information of Web.com customers.

Web.com is known to own some affiliates recognized as Network Solutions and Register.com that also got involved in this data breaching incident. The leak happened during the end of August this year, however, it was not revealed until October 16, 2019.^[1] Research shows that some hacker connected to the firm's computers and managed to get hold of numerous customers' accounts and information that was stored there.

Web.com is an American company based in Jacksonville, Florida that was created 20 years ago.^[2] This firm is a common provider of domain registration, web design, website development services that have been employed by many people.

At least no credential or password information was exposed during the incident

The breached information was the one that has been held in the accessed accounts. According to Registry.com security information report, hackers might have tended to record names/surnames, residence addresses, contact details such as mobile phone numbers, email addresses, and data regarding the services that have been purchased by a current user:^[3]

Our investigation indicates that account information for current and former Register.com customers may have been accessed. This information includes contact details such as name, address, phone numbers, email address and information about the services that we offer to a given account holder.

Gladly, no credential or banking information got involved in this breaching incident, otherwise, the consequences might have ended really bad as millions of users might have gotten their bank accounts wiped out if the data would have landed in the wrong hands. The firms state that they keep all credit card numbers encrypted at not visible for intruders.^[4] Additionally, no cybercriminals were able to find out the passwords linked to the customers' accounts which also is good news, otherwise, remote hackers would have been able to hijack various domains.

Customers are encouraged to change their old account passwords to ensure full protection

Currently, all three companies have been running an investigation regarding the data breach incident. The organizations have prevented the data breach from continuation, have contacted law agencies, and are looking forward to discovering the roots of this activity. In addition, all possibly-affected customers are being informed about the data leak via email or their own websites.

As a precaution measure, all users that have been employing Web.com, Register.com, and Network Solutions services are encouraged to change their old passwords^[5] into new strong ones that include multiple numbers, letters, and symbols. Even though the companies state that they have taken all required security operations, users still need to be aware of phishing messages that might fall to their email boxes or be sent via SMS messages as the data breach did leak personally identifiable information and there is a possibility that the data might easily be used in various scamming and advertising activities.