Domain hijacking

<p>Domain hijacking or domain theft is the act of changing the registration of a <a href="/facts/Domain_name/FDLD2m5G">domain name</a> without the permission of its original registrant, or by abuse of privileges on domain hosting and registrar software systems. 
</p><p>This can be devastating to the original domain name holder, not only financially as they may have derived commercial income from a website hosted at the domain or conducted business through that domain's e-mail accounts,  but also in terms of readership and/or audience for non-profit or artistic web addresses. After a successful hijacking, the hijacker can use the domain name to facilitate other illegal activity such as <a href="/facts/Phishing/hvgfz4U8">phishing</a>, where a website is replaced by an identical website that records <a href="/facts/Personal_information/384PbBg5">private information</a> such as log-in <a href="/facts/Password/WEoul230">passwords</a>, <a href="/facts/Email_spam/ARJr6Aem">spam</a>, or may distribute <a href="/facts/Malware/5ee7TLFR">malware</a> from the perceived "trusted" domain.
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Domain hijacking open-in-new

Domain hijacking