The ZA Central Registry NPC (ZACR) has revealed that has launched Registry Lock, a new feature that prevents ownership and other details of domain names (under its management) from being fraudulently changed.
“Registry Lock is a function that can now be activated at the Registry level to prevent the unauthorised transfer of domain names for the following domain name extensions: co.za| net.za |org.za|web.za as well as the four gTLDs of .africa |.capetown |.durban and .joburg,” says ZACR CEO, Lucky Masilela.
“The process is quite seamless, as it requires our channel partners (EPP-accredited Registrars) to provide the Registry with a passphrase via a telephonic validation process to enable changes, such as updates, transfers and deletes to be processed on a selected domain name. Manual intervention, although not perfect, has the current benefit of not being easily manipulated like fully automated systems.”
ZACR says that Registry Lock activations attract an additional cost to the normal domain name registration fee that users would pay but ‘the value of this type of protection is immeasurable when compared to the reputational and revenue losses that a domain name holder may suffer as a result of their domain name being hijacked’.
“Domain name holders are encouraged to take advantage of this service by contacting their EPP-accredited registrar (www.registry.net.za or www.registry.africa) to protect their domains from growing cyber threats and business interruption,” ZACR said.
