What Is A Domain Name?

The key part of your website address, for example our web address is www.flint-it.com and so our domain name is flint-it. Your domain name locates your company on the internet, telling a domain name server where to look for your web page.

You may wonder why this is relevant to you, after all you probably have IT support who deal with this kind of thing. However, it is important that you read on as companies who are unaware are commonly caught out by domain name scams.

 Domain Name Renewal Hoaxes

Whoever set up your domain name will have paid for it – you don’t get space on the internet for free unfortunately- and your domain name will need to be renewed every so often.  Hackers and scammers have ways of finding out your renewal date, and send emails pretending to be your domain name provider and asking for a renewal payment.

We all know not to make online payments to vendors we don’t trust, but if you don’t know what a domain name is or who provides yours then it’s easy to be caught out by an official looking email.

Why not find out who in your office deals with domain name renewals and who your official provider is? It only takes a few minutes to find out and will make sure you aren’t susceptible to fraud.

Domain Name Check Hoaxes

Occasionally you may receive emails – usually from abroad – telling you that another company wants to register a similar domain name to yours, and asking for your permission.

Whatever you do don’t waste your valuable time trying to figure out what to do about it. This is usually a scammer trying to gather information about your company so the best thing to do is delete the message and block the sender.

Do You Know Who Controls Your Domain?

 In some companies no one knows anything about the domain, sometimes it turns out that a former employee set it up and then left the company. This becomes an issue if there is a problem with your domain name or you want to switch to a new provider.

Always make sure you know and trust the person managing your domain. Know how to contact them, and have access to your log in details should you need to take over management of your own domain.

Why not take a few minutes now to check who in your company manages your domain?

 

If you can’t find anyone who knows about your domain and want to know what to do next, or if you have any other questions please contact Flint IT at sales AT flint-it DOT com or call 0845 3309680.

---

Flint IT can provide the backup software you need to keep your business running no matter what.