Nameserver Change Detection

Don’t let your website get hijacked or moved without your knowledge

A nameserver is like an online phone book. It sits in between your website address (URL) and the IP address of your server. When someone types in your URL, the nameserver it’s connected to will route that user to the server and show them the correct website.

What happens if my nameserver changes?

Given that a nameserver sits in the middle of a URL and your server, changing the nameserver by accident can mean that someone typing in your URL will not find their way to your website. At best, they will get an error message and go elsewhere. At worst, they will end up on another website which could be malicious or harmful to their computer.

Essentially, it’s a very bad thing if your nameserver changes when it’s not meant to.

How can a nameserver change?

A nameserver change could be a complete accident and an honest mistake. For example, a new web development agency may change the nameserver or a web admin may change it and not realise the impact. It can also be changed by hackers who want to redirect traffic elsewhere for malicious purposes.

Either way, it can happen far more often than you’d expect. This is why it’s important to keep a close eye on it and monitor for changes. This means that you’ll know if it changes and you’re not expecting it to.

If it does change and your website breaks, you can immediately flag the problem to your web developers and administrators so that they can take a look and fix the problem. Timing is really important because the longer that this goes unnoticed, the more harm it could cause to users or the company.