HELP!!! GoDaddy HIJACK!!!

[INTJMom]

I work for an organization that has a web presence.
Today our domain name was hijacked by GoDaddy!
All our information is gone.
We are in the process of switching from one server to another server in the next couple of weeks.

What do we do?
Can we hijack it back?!

 

[Hands Mechanical]

Hijacked? What do you mean?

Did you purchase the domain name through GoDaddy or another reseller?

Is your hosting on GoDaddy (or was it formerly) and what are you switching to?

You should be able to continue ownership of the domain under your GoDaddy account, and just change the settings of the domain to point at whatever the DNS servers for your new hosting is.

 

[Totenkindly]

Yes, the OP is a little confusing -- can you give more info?

The sort of hijack you describe isn't making sense, from what I know about hosting and web site and domain ownership.

(and, ironically, my accounts are at GoDaddy...!)

 

[Synarch]

I work for an organization that has a web presence.
Today our domain name was hijacked by GoDaddy!
All our information is gone.
We are in the process of switching from one server to another server in the next couple of weeks.

What do we do?
Can we hijack it back?!

PM me the domain name and I can take a look. As the others mention, it could be the hosting, the domain registration, etc.

When a domain expires you actually have 30 days to renew it, so this seems unlikely. Even after the 30 days you have a window to get it back.

 

[Hands Mechanical]

I have used GoDaddy extensively in the past as well, and they've always been polite and helpful and not the least bit shady. Get in touch with their support staff, it sounds like you may be having some kind of technical issue rather than them stealing your domain... unless your organization failed to renew its domain name and GoDaddy snapped it up once it expired, in which case your only option is to buy it from them.

 

[INTJMom]

Hijacked? What do you mean?

Did you purchase the domain name through GoDaddy or another reseller?

Is your hosting on GoDaddy (or was it formerly) and what are you switching to?

You should be able to continue ownership of the domain under your GoDaddy account, and just change the settings of the domain to point at whatever the DNS servers for your new hosting is.

Sorry...

The organization I work for doesn't have anything to do with GoDaddy.. AT ALL.

I just didn't know if the fact that we are switching from one server to another caused a weak-point in the ether-world, which allowed them to infiltrate.

What's strange is that our webmaster tried viewing the website and it came up correctly.

And I just viewed it from home and it's correct, so I'm really confused now.

 

[Bushranger]

Sorry...

The organization I work for doesn't have anything to do with GoDaddy.. AT ALL.

I just didn't know if the fact that we are switching from one server to another caused a weak-point in the ether-world, which allowed them to infiltrate.

What's strange is that our webmaster tried viewing the website and it came up correctly.

And I just viewed it from home and it's correct, so I'm really confused now.

That sounds like a 'Time To Live' issue.
Whenever you change your domain details there is a short period where some areas of the internet have the new configuration and some have the old configuration. It is caused by the 'time to live' setting which tells domain servers how often to check that the details for a domain have not changed (normally a few hours). The Internet domain name system is all about caching domain data to reduce load on core servers, this setting defines how long that cache lasts for a given domain.

 

[INTJMom]

That sounds like a 'Time To Live' issue.
Whenever you change your domain details there is a short period where some areas of the internet have the new configuration and some have the old configuration. It is caused by the 'time to live' setting which tells domain servers how often to check that the details for a domain have not changed (normally a few hours). The Internet domain name system is all about caching domain data to reduce load on core servers, this setting defines how long that cache lasts for a given domain.

Ok.
I suspected it was something like that.
Does anything have to be done about it,
or when it goes live on the new server will it just go back to normal?

 

[Bushranger]

Without knowing the specifics I can't answer that concretely.
Generally it is a matter of setting up the new server and putting it in place, changing the DNS records through whatever group has been delegated control of your domain (often your hosting company), then just waiting until all of the traffic is hitting the new server instead of the old one.

 

[Synarch]

Ok.
I suspected it was something like that.
Does anything have to be done about it,
or when it goes live on the new server will it just go back to normal?

If you made changes to the DNS or nameserver designation, it can take some time to propagate through the 'net. Thus, some people will see something different.

 

[INTJMom]

So we don't have to do anything special to "take it back"?
When it's set up on the new server, it will eventually take everyone to the correct page again?
We don't have to take it away from GoDaddy?

 

[Synarch]

So we don't have to do anything special to "take it back"?
When it's set up on the new server, it will eventually take everyone to the correct page again?
We don't have to take it away from GoDaddy?

1. Is this a domain renewal situation? See when the domain expires by going to: Domainname.com - Domain Name - Reserve Your Place In Cyberspace with DomainName.com Domain Name Registration Services!

2. If it's just a nameserver change, you can check dnstools.com.

 

[Synarch]

Shouldbe: Whois lookup and Domain name search[insert domain name]

 

[Bushranger]

Who did you register the domain through? If it was a hosting company, who did they register it through? This will be the registrar mentioned in the details you will get from the sites mentioned by Synarch.
It will probably be godaddy.

If you are changing from one hosting company to another, have you already terminated your contract with the old hosting company? If you have, they probably abandoned control of the DNS records and decommissioned the server. Searches for the domain might then return the domain registrar, because the hosting company is no longer supplying an address for the domain.
The state of the server and the data it contained would then depend on the policies of that company.
If this is what has happened, You need to contact the old hosting company and find out what has happened and get the information you need to administer your domain details (you'll need this when setting up the DNS for the new server at the new hosting company).

If this is not the case then I don't know, maybe something broke somewhere.

All of that is conjecture based on my tenuous assumptions. Call your web host, ask them what they think is happening, don't make accusations, tell them what you saw, on what computer, where and when. You may be able to check their web site and see if they listed any service outages (I've had hosting companies disappear from the net for a few hours, their entire data centres falling off the net).

 

[INTJMom]

1. Is this a domain renewal situation? See when the domain expires by going to: Domainname.com - Domain Name - Reserve Your Place In Cyberspace with DomainName.com Domain Name Registration Services!

2. If it's just a nameserver change, you can check dnstools.com.

According to that first link, the domain name expires in 2010.

I'm getting the right website at home, though my boss is getting a blank screen.

I'm going to run adware tomorrow.
I think it's AOL messing us up.
That's the only common denominator on all 3 computers.

 

[INTJMom]

Who did you register the domain through? If it was a hosting company, who did they register it through? This will be the registrar mentioned in the details you will get from the sites mentioned by Synarch.
It will probably be godaddy....

You're right.
The new webmaster looked it up and found out we're currently registered with GoDaddy.
So now the scary thing is that I read a bunch of posts today written by people complaining that GoDaddy sold their domain to someone else even though they were still using it!

But whatever... only on machines running AOL.

 

[INTJMom]

Who did you register the domain through? If it was a hosting company, who did they register it through? This will be the registrar mentioned in the details you will get from the sites mentioned by Synarch.
It will probably be godaddy.

If you are changing from one hosting company to another, have you already terminated your contract with the old hosting company? If you have, they probably abandoned control of the DNS records and decommissioned the server. Searches for the domain might then return the domain registrar, because the hosting company is no longer supplying an address for the domain.
The state of the server and the data it contained would then depend on the policies of that company.
If this is what has happened, You need to contact the old hosting company and find out what has happened and get the information you need to administer your domain details (you'll need this when setting up the DNS for the new server at the new hosting company).

If this is not the case then I don't know, maybe something broke somewhere.

All of that is conjecture based on my tenuous assumptions. Call your web host, ask them what they think is happening, don't make accusations, tell them what you saw, on what computer, where and when. You may be able to check their web site and see if they listed any service outages (I've had hosting companies disappear from the net for a few hours, their entire data centres falling off the net).

Thank you for all your help!