Registry Lock

Registry lock is an effective and preventive step that helps to increase the security of your domains. Are your domain names really safe? A number of common mistakes might occur, which can result in the permanent loss of your domain names. The security of domain name registrations is therefore an increasing concern for both domain name registrants and registrars. Owners of multiple domain names are particularly at risk.

The registry-lock is one of the terms included in the protocol between the registry and the registrar. A registry lock is a status which is set by the official registry of a domain name for its security. Certain country code top level domains and the .com and .net domains employ these status codes. Status codes have many uses. They can be applied to find why your domain isn't working and whether it is locked to prevent unauthorized domain transfers. Status codes are also used to suggest the possibility of a domain being dropped. The registry lock will lock your domain name or record at the registry level and prevent it from being transferred, deleted or modified by any third party. However, the domain can be renewed during the period of registry lock. In the status of registry lock, the domain will be included in the zone, provided it is assigned to at least one name server. Registry lock is a situation that is not very common, but may be imposed when there are domain name disputes or during Redemption period.

When the registry lock is not activated, a registrar can freely modify or delete a domain. This means that the registry-lock gives added security to the domain names. The official registry must remove the registry lock status for the registrar to be able to modify the domain. If a domain name is in a registry lock status, the process of server transferring, server deleting and server updating are prohibited.

Registrars themselves sometimes put locks on domain names as an additional security to avoid unauthorized transfer of domains away from their systems. More often this feature is enabled by default.