Don’t ignore those ICANN emails you’ve been getting

Chances are you bought your website a few years ago and haven’t really thought about your domain registry since then. If you’ve been getting emails from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) you should know they are legitimate and if you ignore them, your site could be taken down!

What are these emails about?

These emails are sent because you’re the owner of your site and ICANN is verifying your contact information and ownership. More often than not these emails include a simple link you click to verify and you’re done! These emails won’t come directly from ICANN – they will come from your domain provider who is working with ICANN, so you might see them come from GoDaddy, Domain.com, or any other domain provider you work with.

If you host with GoDaddy and get an email from support@domain.com, it could be a scammer! Only click on links from email accounts you trust or reach out to your domain provider to see if the email is legitimate. Or better yet, give your domain provider a call and speak with a customer service representative directly.

But I’ve had my domain for years, why now?

These emails come out if you’ve registered a new domain, made any changes to your registrant information with WHOIS, or if your current information is incorrect or outdated. WHOIS shows the contact and ownership information of all domains.

It’s also important to have a secure record of your site’s information like your domain provider and currently listed contact info on WHOIS. ICANN works toward making the Internet a more secure and safe place so take the two minutes to verify your information and keep your site up and running.