--- title: "Data Breach at Registrar Could Make Phishing Emails Even Harder to Detect | DuoCircle" description: "At its core, phishing is a pretty simple exploit. Send a malicious email, but make it look like it comes from some person or some company you know and trust." image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png" canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/data-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect/" --- Quick Answer Phishing typically relies on domain spoofing, where attackers send mail from a lookalike domain a recipient can spot if they check carefully. The Web.com registrar breach changes that calculus: with millions of customer accounts exposed (no card numbers, but enough personal data to map owners to domains), attackers could potentially take control of legitimate domains and redirect visitors to malware or credential-harvesting pages. When mail comes from the genuine registered domain, From-address inspection no longer flags it. The countermeasure is real-time link-click protection that resolves and inspects every linked destination at click time, not just at delivery. Share [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fdata-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect%2F "Share on LinkedIn") [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Data%20Breach%20at%20Registrar%20Could%20Make%20Phishing%20Emails%20Even%20Harder%20to%20Detect&url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fdata-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect%2F "Share on X/Twitter") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fdata-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect%2F "Share on Facebook") [ ](https://reddit.com/submit?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fdata-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect%2F&title=Data%20Breach%20at%20Registrar%20Could%20Make%20Phishing%20Emails%20Even%20Harder%20to%20Detect "Share on Reddit") [ ](mailto:?subject=Data%20Breach%20at%20Registrar%20Could%20Make%20Phishing%20Emails%20Even%20Harder%20to%20Detect&body=Check out this article: undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fdata-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect%2F "Share via Email") ![Phishing Emails](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/11/dkim-selector-7401.jpg) At its core, _phishing is a pretty simple exploit_. Send a malicious email, but make it look like it comes from some person or some company you know and trust. One of the most frequently-used phishing tactics is **_domain name spoofing_**. [Domain name spoofing](https://www.barracuda.com/glossary/domain-spoofing) occurs when an attacker appears to use a company’s domain to impersonate a company or one of its employees. _This can be done by sending an email with a false domain name that looks like the correct domain name, or including a link in an email to what appears to be a trusted domain_. _The one advantage users have to stop this exploit is that the domain used by the attacker isn’t the real domain_. So, if you can figure that out, you can protect yourself. [![phishing scams](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/11/dkim-validation-7402.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/11/dkim-validation-7402.jpg) Now comes the problem with the data breach at the registrar. According to an article on [CPO Magazine](https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/breach-of-leading-domain-name-registrar-could-lead-to-an-explosion-in-phishing-scams/), “_Leading domain name registrar Web.com announced last week that it had discovered a **data breach** that likely involves millions of customer accounts_. This massive exposure of account information did not contain credit card numbers, but is likely to lead to an explosion of **phishing scams** as the detailed personal information can be connected directly to websites and their owners.” While not likely, it is possible that the hackers could take over control of domain names with the information they exfiltrated. Once they do that, “It wouldn’t be difficult to redirect users to a bogus lookalike site used to capture personal information and credit card numbers. _An even simpler attack would be to automatically redirect all visitors to a site that loads malware or ransomware_.” _Once a hacker takes over a domain, it’s no longer domain name spoofing because the email is actually coming from the registered domain_. They no longer have to make the email look like it comes from a trusted company because it is. ## How do you protect yourself against that? There’s only one way. With real-time link click protection. What is real-time link click protection? It’s a service offered by cloud-based [email security service](/) companies like [DuoCircle](/email/phishing-protection). _With real-time link click protection, every time someone at your company clicks on any link in an email, before they are allowed to visit that site, the software goes to that site to make sure it’s legitimate_. It it’s not, the user is **prevented from visiting the site**. [![email security service](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/11/dkim-record-check-7404.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/11/dkim-record-check-7404.jpg) That’s the only way to protect yourself and your company from phishing emails that come from compromised domains. > You don’t trust the email at all and simply check every linked to website the email contains. When you’re ready to protect your employees with 24/7 email protection with [Advanced Threat Defense](/advanced-threat-defense), head on over to DuoCircle.com. It works with any email provider, sets up in minutes and costs just pennies per employee per month. _Don’t let some other company’s data breach become your headache._ ![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) Brad Slavin General Manager General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio. ## Secure your email infrastructure Protect, authenticate, and deliver. Contact our team to find the right solution. [Contact Sales](/contact/) [Explore Products](/products/) Share this article [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fdata-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect%2F) [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Data%20Breach%20at%20Registrar%20Could%20Make%20Phishing%20Emails%20Even%20Harder%20to%20Detect&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fdata-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect%2F) [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fdata-breach-at-registrar-could-make-phishing-emails-even-harder-to-detect%2F) Copy Related Articles - [ ![AI-Generated Phishing](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2026/04/spf-record-4522.jpg) AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Phishing ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/) - [ ![spf-permerror-4555](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2023/05/spf-permerror-4555.jpg) 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/) - [ ![Email-Based Cyber-Attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2016/03/spf-record-tester-4455.jpg) 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/) - [ ![Email-based Ransomware Attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/02/email-smtp-service-7834.jpg) 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ## Related Articles [ Phishing 11m AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Apr 28, 2026 ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/)[ Phishing 5m 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting May 3, 2023 ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/)[ Phishing 4m 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Mar 29, 2016 ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/)[ Phishing 9m 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Feb 11, 2018 ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. 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