The Make Use Of Domain Is Back!

After a hairy stressful 24 hours, we have finally managed to regain control of the MakeUseOf domain!

We would like to thank everyone who have offered their help to us today. Your support, ideas, suggestions and funny emails have really helped us get through a difficult day. We are also deeply appreciative of everyone who took the time to blog and tweet about the situation. We believe that it was those blog posts and tweets that pushed GoDaddy to move faster that they normally would have done. So you should feel proud!

Our priority now is to get MakeUseOf back on its feet quickly and start publishing again, beginning tomorrow.

Oh and we are not with GoDaddy anymore as our domain was released to another account.

Get ready for your MakeUseOf posts starting again tomorrow!

Update: Aibek is planning to do a recap post outlining all the details. What happened? How we got the domain back? How to prevent it from happening to you?

Tagged:

Mark O'Neill

Mark O'Neill is the managing editor of MakeUseOf.com

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If you have any questions related to stuff mentioned in the article or need help with any computer issue, just ask it on MakeUseOf Answers.

  • http://www.thewindowsfix.com The Windows Fix

    Great work guys…I can only imagine the chaos you guys have been through in the last 24-48 hours. Now, I can get back to reading the hundreds of incredible posts you have here.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Enjoy!

  • http://linkyt.com Alex

    Glad to hear everything’s ok… I was having withdrawal symptoms for a bit there :P

  • steven gilholy

    Hey at least its good exposure for the site. I did not even know about it until it was on digg.com earlier now , here I am. Good to see you got it back though I would consider moving the domain from godaddy ;) .

  • http://www.atmaxplorer.com sylv3rblade

    You’re back hurray!
    Lesson learned.
    Don’t use a public email (gmail) for domain releated stuff
    Don’t use goDaddy (yay you’re not with them anymore).

    Cheers

    • http://wiredearthblog.com Ryo

      Don’t read such crappy comments.

      GMail is the best Mail-Service you can get. If you don’t know what you are talking about…hush.

      • http://www.atmaxplorer.com sylv3rblade

        Huh?
        Did you even read my comment? I was pointing out the folly of using free email services for such important stuff like your domain.

        Now who’s comment is crappy again?

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      GoDaddy has some problems with support. I’ll explain it in detail in my next post. Nonetheless as I realized only later they also offer addiional security layers that you won’t find with other registrar. It’s not free but still very handy. I will make sure to write about in my uplcoming article.

  • http://www.shankarganesh.com/ Shankar Ganesh

    Great news. You guys should really do something about the cracker.

  • http://LinkMoney.org Rich Hill

    We felt your pain. This could happen to anyone. We need better security methods for transfers AND if there is a 3 day waiting period then the hosting companies should be forced to abide by that rule.

    Thanks for keeping us advised and we are SOOOO glad you got it back.

    MakeUseOf is so very helpful to everyone.

    Rich Hill

  • Shaun J

    I just checked to see if the site was back, and I’m glad justice was served. I’d never heard of this site until I saw an article on Digg about the URL being hijacked. I’m glad you guys got your domain back, and now that I know the site exists, I’ll probably start visting it because it sounds like a good concept. So, look at it like this, your site getting hijacked earned you at least one new visitor.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Welcome to MakeUseOf then :-)

  • http://potpourri4u.blogspot.com Siba

    it ws a surprise to a regular reader like me when it dint open ystrday

    its gr88 u r back

  • http://geekai.com ELSHIMI

    I’m glad you guys are back. Keep up the good work.

  • http://Walyou.com Tal Siach

    Yes! great news! glad to see you guys back up! All the best!

  • http://www.freshtechtips.com/ Rajeev Edmonds

    Great to see that domain is back with you guys. We all are waiting for fresh posts.

  • http://thetechhub.com anoj

    Good to see you back .. :)

  • http://www.rahulhackingarticles.wetpaint.com/ rahul

    hav checkd the page almost 50 times ..
    thanks u are back..
    hope all the previous posts and comments are safe!
    Cheers makeuseof

  • http://www.dishtracking.com Anish K.S

    i got the Hacked news from another blog.

  • http://www.techpavan.com Pavan Kumar

    That’s a really great news. You are one among the very few who blog only useful stuffs and never bother about nonsense news which hits for one day and falls the very next day…

    Happy come back :)

  • http://en.onsoftware.com Elena

    I’m glad you’re back!! I read you blog everyday (in fact it’s in my Google Reader) and I was very surprised I couldn’t access it in the last few days. I had no idea what was going on!!

    It’s good, really good you’re back :)

    Now you left me worried…. I also have my domain names with GoDaddy…. uhmm… :/

  • http://smartadvise.info ShriNagesh

    Congratulations. Great to see the blog back on track. Thats was quick considering godaddy’s service speed. Wonder if you are probing into the situation.

  • http://crenk.com Steven Finch

    Good to see you have the site back up and running. Bloody GoDaddy!!!

  • holycow

    u know ur website is pretty special when someone takes the time to hack into it, and from what i have been reading holds it for ransom.

    freakin cool!!!!! your website was held hostage…………..

  • http://www.jeffro2pt0.com Jeffro2pt0

    Congrats on successfully retrieving your domain back. The blogosphere was starting to get a bit worried there.

  • Bev Montenaro

    Glad to see you back … rumour was rife ! I have all my domains with GoDaddy and all my email accounts are GMail. I’m looking forward to a post from MakeUseOf on how to avoid something like this happening/thebest alternatives and maybe some cool tools that can help.

    Would love to be kept updated on what is happening to the idiot who’s behind all this.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Stay tuned! I am working on the article.

  • Illegal.Alien

    Yah!!!!! w000t!!! Domains back! Hopefully you guy can make sure it doesn’t happen again =[

    Shame someone we go to all that trouble for 2k.

  • http://www.techzoomin.com TechZoomIn

    Good to hear that you got it back…

  • http://jb84.wordpress.com Jonathan

    w00t!

  • Jaspal Mehta

    Its nice to see that you get your domain back. When I read the article on digg.com regarding the hijacking of the domain I was surprised with it that why the real owners do not know about this.
    Infact I am happy with all your efforts to get your domain back. I am also having a domain with GoDaddy.com, I am too thinking to change from GoDaddy.com.

    Should I change my hosting provider???

  • Simon Slangen

    Great to be back online… Let’s roll! ^^

  • http://www.orangeinks.com Louie

    Great to see you guys again! Now back to work and keep those tips comin. :D Woot!

  • http://www.thecomputerladyonline.com Wendy

    I’m glad we’re back – WooHoo! See what a whole community of people can accomplish!

    Wendy (Makeuseof Contributor)

  • Peter Friedrich

    You said you are not with goDaddy.com anymore – may i ask who you guys are with now? i might consider switching too, since i am with goDaddy at the moment….

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      We are not with GoDaddy because our domain was already on ENOM when GoDaddy contacted them. It was easier to leave it there instead of moving back to GoDaddy. Now, we are still looking into the issue, GoDaddy has problems with tech suppor but it doesn’t mean ENOM is better. What I am trying to figure out now is who provides more security features. When talking to GoDaddy rep. after the incident they actually told me that they have an additional one of a kind service that can be added on top of your domain subscription and can prevent someone moving your domain from GoDaddy. I am going to look into it very soon and let you know.

      • Holly

        You should try Moniker. Best security around, almost paranoid. I use them only with my most precious domains :) as is a real pain if you deal with a lot of domains.

        • http://davezan.com Dave Zan

          You should try Moniker.

          Although they seem to have customer service issues, I do agree they have good security. I have a few domain names with them, although I have some with other registrars to give me a “feel” of them.

          The important thing is to keep both your email and your computer as secure as possible. Registrars can keep your account as secure as possible, but only if you do your part as well.

          I hope this doesn’t happen to any of you. But if it does, contact your registrar right away.

  • David

    Glad everything worked out OK. What`s the position re. law enforcement coming down hard on the scumbag that did it? Another country but they should do something about it, especially as you know who the alleged culprit is!

  • Shamza

    It was a shock to see makeuseof.com vanish :-( Please, please, make sure that your domain is secure and this never (ever!) happens again.

    • http://makeuseof.com Aibek

      Thanks for kind words, we will do our best!

  • http://www.jamespoole.org.uk James Poole

    Great to see you guys back

    Seen alot of tweets about the domain, ive had similar problems with Godaddy

  • ConspiracyTheory

    How do we know you are the real owners of the domain? After all, you’re not with GoDaddy anymore. Isn’t that exactly what the supposed domain-napper did?

    Maybe it was all a big ploy to take over the domain and pacify everyone into thinking it was fine. Meanwhile drive-by viruses infect our computers!

    Argh time to format my PC and destroy all evidence!

  • http://www.techcityinc.com Umar

    its good to see u guys back!

  • Yunio

    gosh, and I thought I had forgotten the URL… glad you are back!

  • Hentai Kamen

    Yeah your back! Now lets get that bastard that stole your site and beta the crap outta him to teach him a lesson!

  • refugiatul

    It’s good, really good you’re back

  • http://blog.the-conference.org Mocona

    Glad to see you back !! I was so worry about you…

  • http://mytruesolutions.blogspot.com/ Madhav Tripathi

    Good news of today!

  • http://sarugu.com Albert

    It’s really good you’re back.

    and again you need to do one think to prevent your blog.

    20 years old, Ankit Fadia taking course on Ethical hacking. He teaches about computer security, hacking, how to prevent your computer and email accounts. It is really useful. If you have time try to purchase his books and prevent your blog yourself. You can get idea about, how hackers doing in the hell…

    India going to rock after 2 years with this Ethical Hackers. me too… :)

    Right now I’m in semester exam. after 18th November I’ll in that Ethical hacking course.

  • Schvenn

    Welcome back!
    I hope they nail the jerk who caused this.
    The question is though, was he able to gain access to anything else that may compromise viewer’s information, such as e-mail addresses?
    Not likely, since a domain hosting and server information are separate entities, with separate security measures.
    It makes you sit up and take notice, though.

  • Lilly

    WooHoo!..I know I’m late with this but, WooHoo!!!