Google Leaks Whois Data for Over 282,000 Protected Domains

If you are using Google Apps, registered your domain name through Google and using WHOIS Privacy, continue reading. You’re information might be open.

“Private information belonging to 282,867 domains registered through the Google Apps system became publicly available, exposing it to risks ranging from spam to identity theft.

Google Apps offers business organizations the possibility to purchase domain names from one of Google’s partners, benefits consisting in easy setup and management of the associated services.

Only records of renewed domains have been leaked. The domains have been registered through registrar eNom and security researchers said on Thursday that the number of records leaked represented about 94% from a total of 305,925.”

Continue reading: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Google-Leaks-Whois-Data-for-Over-282-000-Protected-Domains-475710.shtml

Keep in mind, this issue is specific to a domain name registered and renewed through Google Apps. If you are using Google Apps service and you’re domain name is registered with other domain name registrar you’re not affected.

I am using Google Apps for personal and business use, my domain names are registered somewhere else, and I don’t use the WHOIS Privacy Protection. The reason behind it is to promote my business to everyone. My business postal address, email address and phone number are listed without privacy protection because this is where you will find my business contact information if you need assistance. Of course, using the Contact Us page in our website is the preferred method.

Every year, I re-assess the needs of WHOIS Privacy Protection  for my domain portfolio and as of this time the risk is low. Other business owners preferred to use WHOIS for security reasons.

According to NeedName.com, ID Protect is a tool to shield your information against phishing attack, domain identity theft, spammers and scammers.

Here’s a captured WHOIS information courtesy by Softpedia.com