ABC Radio North and West SA

Subject: internet domain name changes

Narelle Graham

This is information for those of you who have a small business and it's related to any domain names that you have. The Office of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, they got in touch, said the domain .au is coming in and it means small business owners need to take action. So, I'm going to get Bruce Billson to explain it to you. Bruce is the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. Bruce Good afternoon.

Bruce Billson

Narelle, fabulous to be with you and your listeners.

Narelle Graham

Yeah, nice to talk again. What is changing in the domain space?

Bruce Billson

Well, it's a little bit exciting and a bit of a new opportunity for people that are wanting to pursue this option, but also a change that really requires small and family businesses to protect their own interests. What it involves is, let's say, you know, I'm losing my hair, so let's say I run a salon called Fabulous Follicles and I've got a domain name Narelle, of Fabulous Follicles.com.au. What this enables is a business to grab Fabulous Follicles.au. So, ditch the com, ditch the net, ditch the asn, go straight to .au after whatever the name is that you want to put in there.

And that's an opportunity that's available now through changes, the non-government regulator that oversees domain names is introducing.

My worry Narelle is that hardly any small businesses I've met are aware this is taking place and many of their industry associations, when I've raised it with them, are aghast at how little is known about this.

But in a few short weeks, 20 September, the window where you have priority access to the abridged version of whatever you currently have as your domain name expires. And shortly after that, it's a bit of a free for all and you might find somebody grabbing your domain name minus the .com or the .net bit and just becoming, you know, fabulous follicles.au and you might not know what's going on and all of a sudden that's a vulnerability to your business, a bit of ambush marketing, pinching customers that might actually be looking for you.

And frankly, in some cases, businesses buying up those domain names so they can go back to you and offer to sell them to you for a pretty penny. So, protect your interests. Get up and about now is what I'm urging.

Narelle Graham

So, if you have a domain name, you need to think to yourself, well, do I want that on .au? Bruce Billson is my guest. What advice do you have for small businesses about these changes with the .au coming in?

Bruce Billson

Look, I would take a few minutes to just ask yourself, would I be upset if someone else had my domain name minus the .com bit in it and just went straight to the .au version? Would I be upset? Would I feel my engagement with my customers, the digital assets that I've developed, who do I think they would be compromised if I didn't have those that abridged version?

Most people I think would say Narelle, yeah, I want that. And to secure that is a few minutes and a few dollars. It's worth that investment just to protect your digital assets, to reduce the risk of squatting on your domain name, of cybercriminals trying to divert traffic away from your website, or you being faced with having to spend much, much more money down the track when someone else has got it and wants to sell it to you for a pretty penny.

Narelle Graham

So that is holding you to ransom almost.

Bruce Billson

I've seen it happen. Yeah.

Narelle Graham

Is it possible that it could lead to more scams?

Bruce Billson

Yeah, it is. I mean, that's one of the things we're trying to draw attention to. This idea of someone, a cybercriminal masquerading as somebody else in order to get access to emails, maybe harvest personal information, even cut off invoices so that they can substitute different bank account details. This is already a really challenging area that many small businesses find is quite a concern.

And the Australian Cyber Security Centre last week issued a warning saying this new domain name category is another opportunity for cyber criminals to facilitate fraudulent activity. So, they're basically saying, look, there will be opportunistic cyber criminals, they might register your .au domain name and try and impersonate your business. That's the call that the Cyber Security Centre was saying.

But we have this window of priority access until the 20th of September, where if you've got the exact version with the extra .com or .au, you can grab hold of that domain name. A few weeks after that, it's open slather and I'm trying to urge the non-government regulator to extend that priority window. They're not inclined to do so at the moment. So, I thought, what's the most useful thing I can do? Get up and about, make people aware of it, and urge small and family businesses to protect their interests.

Narelle Graham

What does a domain name cost?

Bruce Billson

While usually around nine bucks is the wholesale price. Yeah, they're not huge. Some providers, you know, like GoDaddy and others, will charge a little bit more, perhaps because they offer the service of search and then tapping into international equivalents. So that's fine. That's a path people go down. But in terms of a business, it's not your biggest expenditure to secure that. But by goodness, if you don't and someone else gets hold of it, that's a world of pain you wish you'd avoided and to avoid it, it's a little bit of time, a few dollars. Protect your interest, is what I'm urging.

Narelle Graham

And why is .au coming in, Bruce Billson?

Bruce Billson

Look, no one's ever called me sexy. Dare I say it's slightly more sexier and funkier. It's another opportunity. And for some people wanting a nice, crisp, abridged, direct domain name, it's business name.au tells you all people want to know - you're Australian based. You're pushing out your digital assets and it just takes the .com and the .net and the .asn and out of the picture.

So, it's another opportunity. That will appeal to some people. If I could quote my inner rapper, it's a little funkier, maybe, all sorts of reasons. It will float some people's boats and not others. But the thing is, if you've already invested in building a website, in your digital assets, in your online presence, yet have someone come along and just say, you know I'm might nudge my way in here and impersonate myself just by grabbing that abridged domain name. That's harm and risk, small and family businesses can do without.

Narelle Graham

Bruce Billson, thank you. Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson with a heads up for you if you've got a small business.