HSC.com domain name stolen
Technology firm lost its domain name in the middle of December.
Someone at communication technology firm Hughes Systique Corporation must have had a rough holiday.
The firm, which is part of satellite firm Hughes Communications, states its HSC.com domain name was stolen from its Go Daddy account around December 14.
It has so far been unsuccessful in getting the domain name returned.
Hughes filed an in rem lawsuit (pdf) against the domain name on December 27. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia, which is the jurisdiction for the .com registry Verisign. [Update: the judge ordered the domain transferred back to Hughes.]
As stated by the suit, the firm has not been able to communicate with the person who stole the domain name. It also states that Chinese domain registrar eName, where the domain name was transferred to, has refused to return the domain name to its Go Daddy account.
While it’s unclear how the domain name was stolen from Hughes’ account, many cases of domain theft can be prevented by using two-factor account authentication. In this case it appears the domain name was managed by an employee in Hughes’ India office. Go Daddy does not yet support two-factor authentication in India.
