A domain hijack is the unauthorized takeover or redirection of a domain’s control. Instead of simply breaking into a website, an attacker may compromise the registrar account, registry delegation, DNS records, or related administrative workflows so they can reroute traffic, impersonate services, or block the real owner from managing the domain.
This matters because domain control underpins email delivery, website identity, and certificate issuance. If an attacker can alter authoritative DNS or delegation, users may be sent to fake infrastructure while browsers and mail systems still appear to be contacting a legitimate name. Defenders reduce the risk with strong registrar authentication, registry locks, change monitoring, protected recovery channels, and careful DNS governance. In attacks, domain hijacks are often used for phishing, traffic interception, and certificate abuse; in defense, they are treated as critical trust failures because they can undermine every service tied to the name.