The popular registrar Name.com was hacked last week and send an email to all customers so they could reset their passwords. Hackers aimed at one of name.com’s large commercial clients caused the registrar to send emails with a link to change the login password. I wrote about this in the post: the Name.com password reset email is REAL: time to change your name.com password.

What is rare about the incident is that that name.com gave full disclosure to all their customers and gave updates through their support, name.com blog and social media like  twitter and facebook.

Name.com posted an article on their blog called “We got hacked“. Very few companies have the guts to admit something like that and that at least shows the integrity of Name.com. I am sure that most registrars (and I have a big one in mind) would have denied and hacking incidents. Here is how Name.com handled it:

Many of you received our email or saw online that name.com was hacked. The truth is that it’s one of the more painful admissions that can be made on the Internet. We want you to know that when we say that we “give a shit” we truly mean it. In an effort to maintain the open, honest, and transparent reputation we’ve built for ourselves, we’re going to give you the lowdown on what happened and what we did in response.

Our security team alerted us that unauthorized individuals had accessed our database. After doing some digging we found that the attack seemed to be geared toward a few specific accounts. The hackers had a target and name.com was a means to that end.

The information that was accessed includes usernames, passwords, physical addresses, email, hashed passwords and encrypted credit card data. EPP codes (required for domain name transfers) are not stored in the same place so those were not compromised. For the techies who are wondering, the encryption on the credit card information is 4096 bit RSA. Since the password hashes were compromised we took proactive steps and initiated a site-wide password reset (hence the email, apologies for the inconvenience).

We are genuinely sorry for the annoyance and the scare. We’re taking this incredibly seriously and are doing everything possible to continue to improve the security of our systems. We greatly appreciate the support across the web and over the phones.

Visit the blog post for the comments and the immediate response from Name.com. There is a person claiming that his account was hacked and his domain were stolen but we should wait and see how this turns out.

I have only used Name.com for drop catching and started using it in late 2012. I am now thinking that I should give Name.com a shot as one of my main registrars. I haven’t even checked their renewal prices but their support so far seems excellent. Only full disclosure will keep customers from leaving and maybe get a few new ones! Well done Name.com.

The email that Name.com has been sending is real and all name.com customers should change their password. Hackers aimed at one of name.com’s large commercial clients have caused the registrar to send emails with a link to change the login password.

Name.com has been giving updates through their twitter and facebook accounts:
“The email you received about the password change is from us and is valid. We had some hackers go after one of our large commercial clients, and we want to take all the precautions possible. In the email (which if you haven’t received you should soon) there is a direct and unique link to change your password. Thank YOU for choosing name.com! As you know we’re always on Facebook and Twitter, so can communicate here, and for some questions we’ll direct you to customercare@name.com. Any other support questions you can direct to support@name.com. Again, thank you.”

Here is the email message in case you haven’t received it yet:

Dear xxxxxx,

We are writing to inform you of a security measure we have taken to protect the integrity of the domain names and information associated with your account.

Name.com recently discovered a security breach where customer account information including usernames, email addresses, and encrypted passwords and encrypted credit card account information may have been accessed by unauthorized individuals. It appears that the security breach was motivated by an attempt to gain information on a single, large commercial account at Name.com.

Name.com stores your credit card information using strong encryption and the private keys required to access that information are stored physically in a separate remote location that was not compromised. Therefore, we don’t believe that your credit card information was accessed in a usable format. Additionally, your EPP codes (required for domain transfers) were unaffected as they are also stored separately. We have no evidence to suggest that your data has been used for fraudulent activities.

As a response to these developments, and as a precautionary measure, we are requiring that all customers reset their passwords before logging in. If you use your previous Name.com password in other online systems, we also strongly recommend that you change your password in each of those systems as well.

Please click the link below to reset your password:
[link removed]

We take this matter very seriously. We’ve already implemented additional security measures and will continue to work diligently to protect the safety and security of your personal information.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. If you need any additional assistance or have any questions please email customercare@name.com. We’ll continue to be as open and honest with you as possible as additional important information becomes available, so keep your eye out for a blog post or additional emails.

Thanks,
The Name.com Team