Domain name owner details leaked thanks to Google flaw

Thousands of people who have registered domain names have had personal details compromised, including phones numbers and addresses.

The information has been leaked online due to a flaw in  software that went undetected for over two years.

Google Apps users have been affected by the flaw, which was found by security researchers at Cisco Talos. Even though it was only recently uncovered, the issue has been present since 2013. The vulnerability affects buyers who are due to renew their domain names and who registered with eNom, the domain registrar.

It affects individuals and firms that elected to choose the WHOIS option. The details in the database are now available online.

The UK appears to be safe, however, due to how the WHOIS records work differently here compared to in the US. The head technology officer at registry firm Nominet, Simon McCalla, said that, to his company’s knowledge, no Nominet customers have been affected.

He commented:

“Our WHOIS differs significantly from the situation in .com – we publish much less information in the .uk WHOIS. Only the contact name and address of domain registrants are published, and private individuals can opt out of having their address published for free.”

There have been worse leaks in recent times, but the fact that such flaws can be found in a company as tech savvy as Google highlights how fragile personal data is in today’s information age. Google Apps customers have a reason now to be less confident in the company, and that’s a situation that all businesses need to be vigilant of. Protecting data means maintaining customer confidence, which shows the importance of the IT security recruitment policy in business today.