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According to a press release published by Marketwire, search engine Baidu and registrar Register.com have agreed to an undisclosed settlement. Baidu had sued Register.com earlier this year after crackers modified the DNS for its baidu.com domain name, which was registered through Register.com. The domain name has since been moved to Markmonitor and was set to be locked against changes on the registry level.

Register.com issued the following statement:

“On January 11, 2010 (New York time) / January 12, 2010 (Beijing time), a breach of Register’s security by a cyber-attacker resulted in a severe disruption to Baidu’s website and operations. After an internal investigation, we found that the breach occurred because Register’s security protocols had been compromised. We have worked with United States law enforcement officials and Baidu to address the issue. We sincerely apologize to Baidu for the disruption that occurred to its services as a result of this incident.

“Security is essential to our business and to our client relationships. Over the years, as we have worked hard to be an industry leader in every aspect of our business, we have continuously reviewed and adjusted our security practices and technology in an attempt to stay ahead of the increasing sophistication of cyber-criminals. Security cannot be viewed as a static goal, but rather an ongoing process of improvement. That has, and continues to be, a top commitment to our clients.”

Baidu stated:

“We accept Register’s apology for the disruption to Baidu’s services last January. At Baidu, providing our users reliable search services is our highest priority.”

[via press release]

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com (9)

After partnering with Network Solutions a while back, AfternicDLS has now also added Register.com as a partner registrar for their Domain Listing Service thus increasing the reach to end users and small business customers for their domain sales.

Domains listed with the (more expensive) premium promotion option have an average sales price (ASP) of $1,600, 33% higher than the expanded promotion ($1,200) and 78% higher than sales within the basic promotion level ($900). The premium level is currently only available for domains registered through Network Solutions or Register.com for domain names with a fixed price.

Premium Promotion partners are:

• Network Solutions
• Register.com
• Afternic
• Buydomains
• GoDaddy
• DomainTools
• Tierranet
• DomainDiscover
• DomainsBot
• Miss Domain
• directNIC
• PremierDomains
• Ultimate Domains
• domize
• Instant Domain Search
• FreshDrop
• JustDropped.com
• DomainsNewsletter.com
• Rick Latona
• Premium Domains

See the full press release after the jump.

Register.com Expands Distribution for Domain Name Sales through NameMedia

Register.com to Join NameMedia’s Domain Listing Service as a Premium Promotion Registrar

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NEW YORK, NY —April XX, 2010 — Register.com, a leading provider of web services and domain registration, today announced that it has signed an agreement to join NameMedia’s Domain Listing Service (DLS). Under the terms of the deal, Register.com’s customers will have access to more than two million domain names currently offered for sale through the DLS service located at AfternicDLS.com.

Similar to the MLS network for physical real estate, the DLS network provides a source of liquidity for digital real estate, or domain names, that are currently registered but are available for purchase. By listing their domain on DLS, domain owners expose their property to the largest source of potential buyers through a global distribution network, now including Register.com.

“We are excited to provide our customers with an additional opportunity to buy and sell premium domains,” said Register.com CEO Larry Kutscher. “This strategic partnership allows Register.com to couple our award winning customer service with expanded access to the Domain Reseller Marketplace.”

“Register.com is one of the industry’s leading registrars and its addition as a premium promotion partner for DLS will add significant value to Register.com and AfternicDLS customers,” said NameMedia CEO Kelly Conlin. “Through its global distribution network, AfternicDLS now receives more than 35 million requests each month by consumers looking for a domain name, making it the most productive platform for connecting domain sellers with domain buyers.”

About Register.com

Leveraging 15 years of experience in the domain business with over two and a half million domain names under management, Register.com (www.Register.com) has built a reputation as a leading provider of global domain name registration, email, web site design and web hosting services. Register.com enables businesses and resellers, such as ISPs, Web Hosts and Portals, to create a dynamic web presence without the need for extensive technical knowledge. Register.com is the only web services provider to earn the JD Powers award for outstanding customer service for the last five years.

About NameMedia

NameMedia is a leader in the acquisition; development and trading of digital real estate through a network of highly targeted websites and a marketplace for premium domain names. The company’s website development focuses on creating compelling online communities in niche categories. The company’s marketplace allows owners of premium domain names to list their domain properties for sale, and for domain buyers to review the largest available inventory. Through its ownership of one of the largest domain portfolios in the world, its innovative website development platform, and its broad distribution, NameMedia now serves more than 50 million visitors to its network of websites and sells domains to customers in more than 100 countriesHeadquartered outside Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts, more information is available at www.namemedia.com.

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

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Earlier this month the same group (the “Iranian Cyber Army” that had modified Twitter’s DNS, also modified the DNS for the Chinese search engine Baidu.com. Baidu.com has now filed suit against Register.com (according to AFP) seeking damages for the interruption of the service. The group had managed to get access to the domain management account at the registrar and modified the nameserver entries for Baidu.com. Baidu stated that the DNS “was unlawfully and maliciously altered” as a result of the “gross negligence” of Register.com. After the attack, the company’s CTO, Li Yinan, resigned for personal reasons.

A number of registrars, such as Moniker and Fabulous.com are offering additional locks that can be used to prevent any changes to a domain name. Even Verisign as a registry operator has recently proposed two factor security features (approved by ICANN as a voluntary offering) based on other Verisign products and a different type of domain lock (registry-lock services, approved by ICANN) to protect the domain. However not all of these locks will protect companies from potential changes to their nameserver-entries.

(c) 2009 DomainNameNews.com

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