Why You Should Protect Your Parked Domains
Parked domains may not seem like valuable assets, but they certainly can be. A lot of people perceive them to not be of much value due to the fact they have no substance or website linked to them. But they are crucial. The success or downfall of a website, when it is launched, can critically depend on the domain name behind that website and behind that business. And so that’s just one of the reasons why you should protect your parked domains.
As a business, establishing a digital presence is very important. And a website and email addresses are a big part of that, and what is the foundation that underlies both of them? Yes, it’s your domain of course. It has both tangible and monetary value attached to it more than it may seem. And it is far, far more than just a ‘website name’. It is your only digital identity.
How Can You Protect Your Parked Domains?
Parked domains by default are like sitting ducks and easy targets for cyber criminals. Most established website domains have a very strong security infrastructure around them that can deter cyber criminals, and so they turn their attention to inactive or parked domains. And if you have a parked domain, it’s more than likely that emails aren’t being used very often on it. And if your website name is similar to that of a well-known domain, you could find yourself being used or simulated as a spoofing weapon.
Speaking of emails, this is where most social engineering and phishing attacks are aimed. And so as the owner of a parked domain you find that these parked domain emails inboxes may be targeted more so than established websites. Although both are frequently targeted, cyber criminals frequently find parked domains as easier targets due to the lack of security surrounding them.
Protecting your emails
There are ways to protect your parked domains and these are as follows. Firstly you will want to create an SPF record with no permitted senders. This means that no IP address has the right to send emails from your parked domain. This means that emails should not be sent from your parked domain. Of course, if you want to send any emails you will need to change this, but if you are planning on parking and protecting your domain for a while this is key.
You will also need to speak to your hosting provider and set up a ‘Null MX’. If you go into your DNS settings, you should have something called an ‘A’ record, in addition to MX records. If you don’t have an MX record, you can create a null one. This means that any emails sent to your domain will immediately fail. Meaning that you will be stopping any malicious emails coming through to your parked domain.
The above actions along with general common sense will deter criminals from trying to attack your parked domain and will also prevent your domain from being spoofed. It sends out a very strong and clear message that your website is not being used for sending or receiving emails. And this is important because emails are a big medium that is used by cybercriminals as such to try and elicit information from you. It also sends out a strong message that you will take very secure and protective steps to ensure that your domain is protected and safe. This can be reassuring to any potential buyers as they will want to know that the domain they could look at purchasing has been looked after.
Utilising your parked domains
If you join our team here at DomainUI, we will help drive traffic through your website whilst at the same time helping your SEO by establishing your online presence with your parked domain. You can also choose if you want to earn passive income by including Amazon advertisements on your page. If you have a strong domain name this can mean a lot of traffic will get drawn to your page potentially meaning lucrative returns.
As part of setting up your parked domain for our service, you point your DNS towards our parking servers. These ensure that your domain is secured and safe. We are there to protect your parked domains, and to drive traffic towards them. Helping you ensure that you are making the most out of your digital assets which are in the form of domain names.
If you want to know more about our domain parking service get in touch today. We can answer any questions you may have about the service. We can reassure you that you are in safe hands if you choose to park your domains with our team at DomainUI. We have brought something new to the industry and are looking to revolutionise how domains are parked and offer something new to those of you out there who have domains that aren’t currently being utilised.
