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Council discusses switching city website from .org to .gov to reduce spoofing risk
Summary
Councilmembers discussed moving the city’s public website from a .org domain to .gov to make spoofing and phishing more difficult; staff noted .gov domains require verification that the entity is a government and will not eliminate phishing but can reduce a common spoofing vector.
A short discussion at the Snellville work session addressed cybersecurity and the city’s public-facing domain. Councilmembers raised moving the city website from a .org address to a .gov domain to reduce the ease with which bad actors can create spoofed websites.
Staff explained that .gov domains require a vetting process to confirm the requester is a government entity and that obtaining a .gov address would make it harder for malicious actors to impersonate the city by registering a similar domain name. Staff cautioned that switching top-level domains will not completely eliminate phishing or malware risks and that other email and cybersecurity best practices remain necessary.
Why it matters
Staff said council members and city officials have received scam emails and invoice requests that appear to come from local addresses; a more restrictive top-level domain can make domain-spoofing harder but is only one element of a broader cybersecurity posture. "If your email address was a .gov, that would be harder for them," a councilmember observed during the discussion.
Next steps
Staff indicated they will research the administrative steps and costs required to move to a .gov domain and report back with feasibility and any recommended next steps. No formal council action was taken at the work session.
