GoDaddy Gone: Can the Domain Giant Recover Its Reputation?

Monday has not been the best of days for GoDaddy or its millions of customers. Thanks to what appears to be a distributed denial of service attack against the world’s largest domain registrar, the company’s DNS servers are down. With them went an untold number of websites. Customers are understandably livid that their sites â€" for many, their entire livelihoods â€" are on pause. Much of the online anger is currently directed at Anonymous Own3r, the self-proclaimed security leader of Anonymous (to be clear, Anonymous is not taking any responsibility for this attack and Own3r says he is acting solely as himself). Own3r will likely soon be forgotten. Users will retrieve their websites and mail servers. The real question is, can GoDaddy retrieve its reputation? Beyond simply getting its network back online, the company is going to have to face questions about its customer service, its security infrastructure and its reliability. GoDaddy’s Toughest Test Yet GoDaddy is no stranger to PR nightmares. The company is notorious for its eyebrow-raising Super Bowl ads that have drawn negative comments from users across the world. Then there’s former CEO Bob Parsons and his infamous elephant safari. GoDaddy’s most recent brush with controversy came thanks to its temporary support for SOPA. The company faced boycotts and mass-transfers before finally agreeing to pull its support from the controversial bill. None of that had very much impact on GoDaddy’s sales. But Monday’s attack is different. DDoS attacks can happen to anyone, but the problem for GoDaddy is that it happened to them â€" and the company had, apparently, no reliable emergency plan. Surviving the Storm The main goal â€" the only goal, really â€" for a webhost is to keep its sites online. This is even more true for companies that host DNS servers, the ones that connect a domain name and IP address â€" ensuring that when you visit google.com, it directs to the right web server. It doesn’t matter how cheap your service is, or how many times you advertise during the Super Bowl. If your 10.5 million customers don’t feel comfortable buying domain names with you or recommending you to friends because you can’t be relied upon to perform basic DNS functions, you’re not going to remain the industry leader for much longer. The success of Monday’s attack gives credence to the idea that GoDaddy is not a secure place to host a site â€" and that its DNS servers aren’t trustworthy. I’m genuinely shocked that GoDaddy’s entire DNS network was capable of being taken down, despite the fact that the company has nine server facilities around the world. It’s a stark reminder of just how vulnerable networks are. For now, GoDaddy’s outward response to the incident has been limited to tweets and a few Facebook postings, none of which gave any kind of timeline for restoring service. That will have to change once services come back online. This sample tweet should give you an idea of how nonspecific the company’s response was: Update: More progress has been made. We’re still investigating and working, though. â€" Go Daddy (@GoDaddy) September 10, 2012 When the dust settles, the company will have an opportunity to be transparent about the incident, and the role its own security practices played in what happened. GoDaddy’s response to the problem â€" and how it deals with its millions of customers â€" could make or break the company’s future. SEE ALSO: 10 Celebrities That Went Down With GoDaddy The company’s new leadership (Parsons stepped down in December 2011) needs to be ready for the angry customers, additional technical problems and long-term residual costs of this situation. If the company handles everything correctly, it could be like Tylenol â€" turning a horrific situation into a textbook study of how to handle crisis management. If it falters, GoDaddy’s future could be in jeopardy. What can GoDaddy do to make up to its customers? Share your ideas in the comments.