{"id":4236,"date":"2014-10-08T17:02:01","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T21:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/?p=4236"},"modified":"2014-10-08T17:06:18","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T21:06:18","slug":"domain-theft-disclose-quiet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-theft-disclose-quiet\/","title":{"rendered":"Domain theft: Should you disclose it, or be quiet about it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most interesting discussions I had, in the aftermath of the <a title=\"Moniker password reset points to apparent mass hacking of accounts\" href=\"http:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domains\/moniker-password-reset-points-apparent-mass-hacking-accounts\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Moniker mass hacking of customer accounts<\/strong>,<\/a> was related to disclosing domain theft incidents.<\/p>\n<p>While it has been a personal subject of consideration, I did not have the opportunity to analyze my position, so hopefully this post will clarify that.<\/p>\n<p>A very respectable domain investor who asked that question, faced the dilemma of disclosing every stolen domain from his portfolio, or attempt to deal with it in private.<\/p>\n<p>The short answer: it depends.<\/p>\n<p>The challenge of identifying, reporting and publicizing the loss of a domain name to a thief, hijacker or cybercriminal is complex.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on the particular conditions of the theft and the amount of time that has passed since the act, one might choose to take an approach that combines both methodologies.<\/p>\n<p>Certain parts of any reaction to a domain theft should be kept under wraps for the best part of a case. Whether that is reporting the act to the authorities or hiring a lawyer or a private investigator, some details are best left out from any public disclosure.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, in my opinion, it is beneficial to announce that a particular domain or domains have been stolen.<\/p>\n<p>Such a public announcement almost immediately tags this intangible property as &#8220;red hot&#8221;, and for the most part freezes most attempts by the thief to quickly dispose of the domain on an otherwise lawful domain exchange venue.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, this does not mean that the domain will be returned, as if by magic, to the possession of its lawful owners.<\/p>\n<p>By disclosing that the theft has occurred, however, there are higher chances of expediting the recovery process, and to protect those unaware of the domain&#8217;s status, who might be offered a heavily discounted price.<\/p>\n<p>When a digital asset such as a domain name has been stolen, there is no room for bashfulness and embarrassment control; one must make a coordinated attempt to provide evidence of ownership, while disclosing the loss of their property in public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most interesting discussions I had, in the aftermath of the Moniker mass hacking of customer accounts, was related to disclosing domain theft incidents. While it has been a personal subject of consideration, I did not have the opportunity to analyze my position, so hopefully this post will clarify that. A very respectable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[193,448,96],"class_list":["post-4236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domains","tag-acronet","tag-domain-theft","tag-stolen-domains","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Domain theft: Should you disclose it, or be quiet about it? - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/domain-theft-disclose-quiet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Domain theft: Should you disclose it, or be quiet about it? - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the most interesting discussions I had, in the aftermath of the Moniker mass hacking of customer accounts, was related to disclosing domain theft incidents. 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