It has been confirmed that one of the largest domain name registrars called Network Solutions along with Register.com and Web.com were breached.
The world’s first domain provider, Network Solutions, owned by a Web.com parent company, has nearly 7 million registrations and it is not yet known how many records could have been affected. However, it is reported that nearly 22 million accounts are likely to have been impacted. Web.com also owns Register.com that was breached as well.
All three websites have published nearly the same security breach notices regarding the incident to users who attempted to log in.
What exactly happened?
According to the security notice, the security breach happened back in August 2019 when a third-party gained access to the company’s computing systems without authorization.
On October 16, 2019, Register.com determined that a third-party gained unauthorized access to a limited number of our computer systems in late August 2019, and as a result, account information may have been accessed. No credit card data was compromised as a result of this incident.
Even though customers’ passwords are believed to be protected and not accessed, hackers accessed customers' contact details that include addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and names along with the information regarding the services offered by the company to account owners.
Concerning the passwords protection, the company assures,
We store credit card numbers in a PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant encryption standard and do not believe your credit card information is vulnerable as a specific result of this incident.
In a security notice, users are also advised to reset their passwords when they log in into their account next time.
Following the incident, Network Solutions decided to hire an independent cybersecurity firm in order to investigate it. Federal authorities are also aware of the breach.
