Newtek/theSBA/Crystaltech DNS Domain Name Hijack

This hosting company lost the domains it uses for DNS/Mail/database servers

[glitterball]

Last week, Newtek Technology Service (AKA TheSBA), formerly Crystaltech, lost control of the domain names that they use for DNS, Webmail and MySQL and MSSQL Database servers: webcontrolcenter.com as well as their main website, thesba.com, and crystaltech.com.
They hurriedly sent out emails to all of their customers asking them to urgently update their nameservers because of a 'dispute' over the domain names:
[krebsonsecurity.com...]

Over a week later, their forums are not working and their facebook page has been removed.

It is still impossible to get any reply from the company, live chat always states that no agents are available and support tickets remain unanswered.

Considering the staggering possibilities in terms of security breaches here, why haven't the mainstream press picked up on this?

[engine]

I have no idea why they haven't picked up on it.

Some of the language used by newtek is strange, referring to a

“At this hour, it has become apparent that as a result over the dispute for these three domain names, we do not currently have control over the domains or email coming from them.”

Dispute is a strange term, but, I suppose it's correct.

[topr8]

ouch!
i had a server with crstaltech around 20 years ago ... great company in those days, left them when i switched from iis to apache (also seems like forever ago)
this sounds like a very serious breach i'm suprised i haven't seen it in mainstream media either!

[engine]

I wonder how far and wide this is reaching?

[glitterball]

i had a server with crstaltech around 20 years ago ... great company in those days, left them when i switched from iis to apache (also seems like forever ago)

They were once an excellent company - probably the best and fastest tech support that I've ever received. Unfortunately they have been on a downward trajectory for many years - ever since the founder sold the business. To be honest, I have stuck with them through sheer inertia, but they have become the worst company that I have ever dealt with.

[topr8]

sorry to hear that glitterball, yes i agree they were superb at that time.

[lucy24]

But wtf does “dispute” mean? Normally it’s a euphemism, similar to “Sorry for the misunderstanding” meaning either “Our company has been completely unreasonable and there’s not ### a thing you can do about it” or “I’m sorry you were distressed that we refused to kiss your ###”, depending on circumstances. Here it doesn’t seem to be either of the two.

[phranque]

dispute usually refers to trademark-based domain name disputes or abusive registrations:
[icann.org...]