First Thefts of Internet Domains in Korea

Feb 20 (JoongAng Ilbo) - Internet Plazacity, a Korean partner of the NSI in the USA, the internet registration and management company, announced that "internet domains 'www.pr***.com', belonging to Ms. Park (32) and 'wmp3.com,' owned by Mr. Ko (29) have recently changed hands to overseas entities. The registration and ownership of these domains had changed without any notification to the original owners," its report of February 20 noted.

After the investigation of the case of Park and Ko, NSI announced that their stolen domains were estimated to be worth over thirty million won, and were currently owned by an Indian and an American via a third party.

With the increasing value of domains, there are a growing number of domain registrations. Several cases of hacking into domain registration sites and viewing relevant information have occurred. However, this is the first time that an entire domain has been stolen.

Park and Ko registered the domains to the NSI at the end of last year, and paid $70 for the exclusive two year right to open internet venture companies.

The hackers who attacked the domain sites found out important registration information including the email address and security numbers of the original owners. With this information they were able to fabricate this personal information and resell the changed domain owners to third parties.

Park did not pursue the case due to lack of evidence, since she did not retain the email address and invoice received from the NSI when she first registered her domains. Ko is currently discussing the case with the NSI to regain the proprietary rights to his stolen domain.