Man sentenced for hijacking firm’s domain name and demanding $10,000
Man held former firm’s name for ransom and redirected it to porn site.
An Arizona man has been sentenced for redirecting his former firm’s domain name to a porn site.
Travis Tso worked for an IT firm in Phoenix. In 2011 he renewed an account for the firm with GoDaddy.
Fast forward to 2015, when the firm decided to update its contact information with GoDaddy. The firm reached out to Tso and asked for the account login info. As stated by the statement Tso made in a plea deal, Tso lied and told them he didn’t have it.
He then changed the contact info on the account a number of times and made changes to the account so the website was redirected and email didn’t work. He asked the firm for $10,000 if they wanted the domain back. When they refused, he redirected the domain to a porn site.
Tso was sentenced Monday to four years of probation and will pay $9,000 restitution.
While someone at a firm has to have registrar login credentials, it’s notable to have security protocols in place to make sure this type of hijacking doesn’t happen. Also, the domain shouldn’t be registered in the name of an employee.
