dotDB is NOT shutting down. Emails were sent out, apparently, to dotDB registered users claiming that dotDB was shutting down. However, a statement on the dotDB website (see above) claims that a spammer sent out those emails claiming that the website and service was shutting down. dotDB is the most advanced tool for researching domain names, according to their website. I actually use the tool regularly and recommend it.
“We would like to clarify that some of our users have received an email from a spammer stating that dotDB is shutting down. This is absolutely not true. Please just ignore the fake announcement and Reset your password if you haven’t done so after January 28.” That is the statement that is on the dotDB website.
I have a few questions about this:
- How did the spammer get ahold of the list of registered users?
- If the spammer got ahold of the list of registered users and was able to send out emails, then was this a data breach?
- dotDB is asking users to change their passwords if they haven’t done so by January 28th. Was there a data breach?
Those are only a few questions that I have, as there obviously was some way that the “spammer” got ahold of the list of registered users and was able to send out the email. That’s why I got the email, shown below.
If there was no data breach, then I suspect it’s probably possible that they were considering shutting down, thus the email was sent out. However, they were able to, for some reason, change that plan of shutting down. And they’re saying that it was a spammer and that you should change your password. It’s a good idea to change your password anyway, but am I the only one that’s confused here? If I get any information that explains any of this, I’ll update this post.