How can I protect my domain name?

Protecting your domain name is an essential part of managing your online presence. Our different domain protection plans hides personal contact information and helps prevent accidental domain expiration, unauthorized domain transfers and vulnerabilities on your website, such as malware.

Why is protecting my domain important?

When a domain is registered, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, requires us to gather contact information for the person or business registering the domain name, known as the registrant or domain holder. This information includes name, phone number, address and other details, which is reported on the WHOIS directory. Keeping your domain contact information private helps prevent unwanted spam calls and emails, and makes sure you're in control of what information is publicly available. But it's not just about keeping your personal information private, either. We want to help you protect your domain and your entire online presence.

What kind of protection is offered?

We have three different protection plans to choose from so you can determine which option is best for you and your online presence.

• Basic Privacy Protection (or Basic Protection): Regulations vary around the globe, but ITEGY automatically hides your name, street address, phone number and email address in the ITEGY WHOIS directory for every registered domain name. Based on current ICANN regulations, your state/province, country and organization name (if you have one) will still be displayed.
• Full Domain Privacy & Protection (or Full Protection): Instead of masking your contact information on the WHOIS directory, Full Protection substitutes your contact information with proxy details. You'll get a private email address that can be used to filter, block or forward emails to your main address. You'll also get Ownership Protection to protect your domain from hijacking and accidental loss due to an expired credit card. Full Protection prevents certain domain actions from being completed without additional verification, such as transferring away, cancelling or changing contact information.
• Ultimate Domain Protection & Security (or Ultimate Security): This option includes all the features of Full Protection, along with our Website Security Basic. This product protects your domain and website with automatic malware scans and continuous security monitoring. It also monitors search engine blacklists to ensure your domain reputation is protected. If Website Security finds an issue on your site, we'll notify you as soon as it's found, along with the next steps you need to take.

Can I change my protection plan?

Yes, you can change your protection plan at any time. You can upgrade your protection plan to gain additional protection features. Or, you can downgrade your protection plan.

How can I verify domain ownership?

We recommend adding a TXT record to your DNS zone file to verify domain ownership. This is the best option to maintain your domain protection while letting you prove you own the domain name. You can also toggle your privacy settings, which will show all registrant contact information.

Related steps

• For the best security on your domains and account, we recommend setting up two-step verification.
• Make sure you turn on auto renew to continue your domain registration uninterrupted.

More info

• If you've decided to invoke Nominet's WHOIS opt-out policy, your contact information visibility will be determined by that policy, regardless of what protection plan you have through ITEGY.
• Some domain names, such as ccTLDs, may have special requirements for Ownership Protection.
• Review your domain contact information to ensure your details are accurate and up-to-date.