Cyber-Thieves Hijack Domain Name

WhoAmI.com? Good question.

For years, the Internet name WhoAmI.com has belonged to Solid Oak Software, a Santa Barbara firm that makes the CyberSitter Web filtering software program so that parents can shield their children from pornography and other unsavory content.

But last week, Solid Oak President Brian Milburn received a mysterious e-mail from Network Solutions, which registers Internet domain names, confirming his request to have the company change the contact information on their Internet name account--even though he had made no such request.

By Monday, WhoAmI.com was apparently registered to somebody in Serbia. The next day, the registration was changed again to a person in Albania. Milburn spent hours on the phone and online with Network Solutions, but to no avail.

“We were just totally befuddled,” said Milburn, who uses WhoAmI.com to operate a Web site where people can post their personal profiles for free.

WhoAmI.com was finally restored to its rightful owner by Friday. Network Solutions discovered that Solid Oak wasn’t the only victim. A handful of other Internet names were also apparently hijacked by the same hacker, Network Solutions said, although it declined to reveal more details because the matter is still under investigation.

Milburn suspects the hijackers were out to gain control of the WhoAmI.com name so they could quickly sell it at a steep profit. He said he has received several unsolicited offers to sell the Internet name for as much as $50,000.