How Businesses Can Change Domain Names To Avoid Cyber Attacks

The Institute Of Public Accountants (IPA) Urges Businesses To Alter Domain Names To Prevent Cyber Attacks

The Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) published an article on 25^th March 2022 urging businesses to alter domain names to prevent cyber attacks.

IPA is cautioning small businesses that their outdated domain name category could expose them to fraudulent online behaviour, such as company email hacking.

According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), anyone with a local connection to Australia, including businesses, associations, and individuals, can register a new domain name category starting on 24^th March 2022.

Instead of .com.au,.net.au,.org.au,.gov.au, or .edu.au, these shorter, more straightforward domain names will end in .au. All Australian businesses will have until 20^th September 2022 to reserve their .au equivalent domain name, after which it will be available to the general public.

This new domain name option allows cybercriminals to conduct fraudulent activity against your organisation. In particular, cybercriminals could register a .au domain name and use it to impersonate your company, such as by registering yourbusiness.au where you already have yourbusiness.com.au.

The ACSC recommends that all Australian businesses with domain names register their .au equivalents within the next six months. Companies should consider registering a .au domain name that includes their current top-level domain.

For example, a company that already owns yourbusiness.com.au should register both yourbusiness.au and yourbusinesscom.au. It will prevent future cybercriminals from registering these domain names and using them to engage in fraudulent cyber activities.

When a domain name gets contested, where one company owns yourbusiness.com.au and another organisation owns yourbusiness.net.au, a process known as priority allocation gets used to determine who can register their .au equivalent.

If a company does not apply for priority allocation, the .au equivalent of their domain names will become available for public registration and cybercriminals. The ACSC advises all businesses to pursue priority domain name allocation.

Businesses can use an auDA-accredited registrar to register .au domain names. Visit the auDA website for more information about .au domain names.