Domain name ownership validation

• US 7,761,583 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2009
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MarkMonitor Inc.
• Original Assignee: MarkMonitor Inc.
• Inventors: Cooper, Elisa, Chen, Allen Enfant, Silver, David, Shull, Mark, Shraim, Ihab
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang; Jungwon
• Application Number:
  US12/349,042
• Publication Number:
  US 20090119402A1
• Time in Patent Office: 560 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709/225, 709/245, 709/227, 726/4, 726/2, 370/400, 713/170
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3015 Name registration, generation or assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1483 service impersonation, e.g. phishing, pharming or web spoofing detection of rogue wireless access points H04W12/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1491 using deception as countermeasure, e.g. honeypots, honeynets, decoys or entrapment

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for validating ownership of a domain name. According to one embodiment, a validating ownership of a domain name can comprise retrieving one or more domain name ownership records. For example, the one or more domain name ownership records comprise Who Is records. Validity of the one or more domain name records can be confirmed with a designated domain manager. According to one embodiment, confirming validity of the one or more domain name records with the designated domain manager can comprise authenticating the designated domain manager based on a certificate provided by the designated domain manager.

Claims

1. A method for validating ownership of a domain name, the method comprising:

retrieving with a domain name authentication system one or more domain name ownership records, each domain name ownership record pertaining to a domain name and identifying a registrant that registered for that domain;

confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records with the domain name authentication system;

in response to confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, marking the domain as valid with the domain name authentication system;

providing an indication of validity of the domain from the domain name authentication system to a client application;

periodically crawling one or more web sites with the domain name authentication system, the web sites containing the one or more domain name ownership records;

re-confirming with a domain name authentication system validity of the one or more domain name ownership records with the identified registrant based on the change in the one or more domain name ownership records; and

marking the domain as valid or invalid with a domain name authentication system based on re-confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving one or more domain name ownership records comprises domain name ownership records for a plurality of domains.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein providing an indication of validity of the domain comprises providing an indication of validity for each of the plurality of domains.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the indication of validity for each of the plurality of domains comprises providing batch information in response to a request from the client application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, determining with the domain name authentication system whether the one or more domain name ownership records are substantially complete.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records is performed in response to determining the one or more domain name ownership records are complete.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising, in response to determining the one or more domain name ownership records are not complete, marking the domain as not valid with the domain name authentication system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records comprises authenticating the identified registrant based on a certificate provided by the identified registrant.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to not confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, marking the domain as invalid with the domain name authentication system.

10. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the processor and containing therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to retrieve one or more domain name ownership records, each domain name ownership record pertaining to a domain name and identifying a registrant that registered for that domain, confirm validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, in response to confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, mark the domain as valid, provide an indication of validity of the domain to a client application, periodically crawl one or more web sites containing the one or more domain name ownership records, re-confirm validity of the one or more domain name ownership records with the identified registrant based on the change in the one or more domain name ownership records, and mark the domain as valid or invalid based on re-confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein retrieving one or more domain name ownership records comprises domain name ownership records for a plurality of domains.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein providing an indication of validity of the domain comprises providing an indication of validity for each of the plurality of domains.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein providing the indication of validity for each of the plurality of domains comprises providing batch information in response to a request from the client application.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising, prior to confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, determining whether the one or more domain name ownership records are substantially complete.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records is performed in response to determining the one or more domain name ownership records are complete.

16. The system of claim 14, further comprising, in response to determining the one or more domain name ownership records are not complete, marking the domain as not valid.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records comprises authenticating the identified registrant based on a certificate provided by the identified registrant.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records comprises authenticating the identified registrant based on the verification of one or more elements of the domain name ownership record.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records comprises receiving confirmation from a domain owner about the validity of the information in the domain name ownership record.

20. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a series of executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to validate ownership of a domain name by:

retrieving one or more domain name ownership records, each domain name ownership record pertaining to a domain name and identifying a registrant that registered for that domain;

confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records;

in response to confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, marking the domain as valid;

providing an indication of validity of the domain to a client application;

periodically crawling one or more web sites containing the one or more domain name ownership records;

re-confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records with the identified registrant based on the change in the one or more domain name ownership records; and

marking the domain as valid or invalid based on re-confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records.

21. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein retrieving one or more domain name ownership records comprises domain name ownership records for a plurality of domains.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein providing an indication of validity of the domain comprises providing an indication of validity for each of the plurality of domains.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein providing the indication of validity for each of the plurality of domains comprises providing batch information in response to a request from the client application.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising, prior to confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, determining whether the one or more domain name ownership records are substantially complete.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 24, wherein confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records is performed in response to determining the one or more domain name ownership records are complete.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 24, further comprising, in response to determining the one or more domain name ownership records are not complete, marking the domain as not valid.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records comprises authenticating the identified registrant based on a certificate provided by the identified registrant.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising, in response to not confirming validity of the one or more domain name ownership records, marking the domain as invalid.