WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange seemed to imply in a recent interview that Bank of America would be the major bank about which WikiLeaks planned to release a vast amount of potentially damaging information early next year. Forbes security columnist Andy Greenberg has his doubts, but Bank of America, in any event, seems to be taking no chances. According to Domain Name Wire, BoA has been quietly buying up “hundreds” of domain names related to how they or their executives “suck” or “blow.”
For example, the company registered a number of domains for CEO Brian Moynihan: BrianMoynihanBlows.com, BrianMoynihanSucks.com, BrianTMoynihanBlows.com, and BrianTMoynihanSucks.com. Just to be sure, it also picked up the .net version of these names and some .orgs as well.
I count hundreds of such domain name registrations on December 17 alone. They were registered through an intermediary that frequently registers domain names on behalf of large companies.
Some of the other names are for CFO Charles Noski, Chairman of the Board Charles Holliday, and board member Charles Rossotti (who is also Senior Advisor, The Carlyle Group).
A WHOIS lookup on BrianMoynahanSucks.com reveals that it was registered by MarkMonitor, Inc, a “global leader in enterprise brand protection.”
According to Fox Business reporter Charlie Gasparino, Bank of America has set up a “war room” to attempt to contain potential fallout should WikiLeaks decide to leak info on the bank; Assange said ominously of the bank about which it had the documents — still not 100% confirmed to be BoA — that “if its management is operating in a responsive way there will be resignations.”
(Domain Name Wire via Finextra via Boing Boing)
