.Bank – Enhance Your Website Security
.Bank – Enhance Your Website Security
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) approved a program which opened up thousands of new generic top level domains (gTLDs) in addition to the existing ones such as .com and .org. With the release of the gTLDs a coalition of Banks, insurance, and financial services companies partnered and were granted the authority to create the fLTD Registry Services in order to regulate and operate the . Bank (and .Insurance) domains.
The .Bank domain is designed to add additional levels of security to protect the consumer, as well as, the institutions. The safeguards which have been established are designed to assist in mitigating the risks associated with cybersquatting, spoofing, and phishing. Some of the added security associated with the .Bank domain includes:
- Mandatory Verification and Re-Verification of Charter for Regulated Entities – Assurance that only valid banking and financial services members are awarded domains.
- Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) – Ensures users are landing on the valid site and not misdirected to malicious sites.
- Email Authentication – Provides protection to assist in mitigating against spoofing, phishing, and other malicious email threats.
- Multi-Factor Authentication – Assists in ensuring that changes to the registration data are made only by authorized registered entities.
- Enhanced Encryption – Ensures the security, integrity and confidentiality of communication over the internet to prevent such risks as data tampering and eavesdropping.
- Prohibition of Proxy / Privacy Registration Services – Conceals the full disclosure of domain registration information so bad actors can’t hide.
- .Bank DNS Name Servers – The domain names are required to use designated DBS servers to ensure compliance with technical requirements.
In addition to the added security, the .Bank domain can assist in boosting an institution’s corporate brand. Urls associated with .com are generally difficult to come by, resulting in institutions settling for unique and sometimes difficult web addresses. Due to the registration requirements with the .Bank domain, such issues are generally not an issue.
The security enhancements with .Bank pose a benefit for consumers and the institutions; however, it doesn’t come without risks both financial and reputational. Financially, the registration of a .Bank domain is generally more expensive than the traditional .com domains. Reputationally, institutions will need to educate the consumers of the benefits of the .Bank domain. The biggest change to the consumers will be the change in web address. For example from abcbank.com to abc.bank. While the .Bank domain poses some reputational risks and the additional extra security, the benefits to the bank and consumer should be considered. Institutions should look to integrate the .bank domain into their environment. When implementing, careful planning and integration should be taken into account. At a minimum, the institutions should consider reserving the naming rights to their domain.
For additional information regarding the .bank domain refer to: https://www.register.bank/success-stories/ or contact Jeffrey Johns at jjohns@fosaudit.com.
.Bank – Enhance Your Website Security | Jeffrey J. Johns