Microsoft recently has made an interesting purchase by taking over Corp.com two months after the domain was up for sale at USD 1.7 million.

The tech giant hasn’t disclosed the sum of the deal. However, it is believed that that Corp.com domain was problematic for Microsoft’s clients due to a ‘namespace collision’ issue that appeared when domain names for exclusive use by internal company network overlap with regular internet domains.

More about the issue

It was learnt that due to the collision, an unending number of emails, passwords, and other type of sensitive data from a large number of Microsoft Windows PCs at major enterprises across the world was being sent out to the Corp.com domain for years.

About the deal and more

Brian Krebs on April 7, 2020, broke the news of the transaction. Mike O’Connor, ex-owner of Corp.com, told Krebs that he “hoped that Microsoft would purchase the domain as a large number of confused Windows PCs made constant efforts to share sensitive data with Corp.com.”

Microsoft added that the acquisition aimed at protecting the privacy of its customers.

Mike O’Connor, a Wisconsin resident, didn’t do much about the domain since he purchased it 26 years ago. However, on April 6, 2020, the information about the sale to Microsoft was announced, keeping the deal amount a secret.

Microsoft added in its statement and said, “To help in keeping systems protected we encourage customers to practice safe security habits when planning for internal domain and network names.

“We released a security advisory in June of 2009 and a security update that helps keep customers safe. In our ongoing commitment to customer security, we also acquired the Corp.com domain.”

Jake Moore, a cybersecurity specialist at ESET, added expert comments on the deal and explained that domains are highly sought after by threat actors with an aim to add value to phishy communications. In case this domain was used unethically, the repercussions could be massive with the potential to cause a massive misunderstanding along with a series of potential consequences affecting a huge number of Microsoft customers.