intermediateLegal
Domain Hijacking
The unauthorized theft of a domain name through account compromise or social engineering.
By DomainGlossary EditorialLast updated Mar 25, 2026
Domain hijacking is the unauthorized transfer of a domain name away from its rightful owner, typically through social engineering attacks on registrar support staff, phishing the domain owner's account credentials, or exploiting registrar vulnerabilities. Unlike RDNH (which is a legal tactic), domain hijacking is illegal. High-value domains should use registrar lock, two-factor authentication, and registry-level locks to prevent hijacking.