DNS Notify

Someone tidies up the domain settings on a Friday, and all weekend the company email goes somewhere else. The website still loads, so nobody notices. The settings behind a domain decide where its website and email go, and DNS Notify checks them, the domain's DNS records, on a schedule. When one differs from the value you approved, you get an email showing the old value next to the new one.

Setup starts with a scan of the domain, after which you tick the records worth watching. The checks go straight to the domain's own nameservers, which hold the original records, so a stored copy elsewhere cannot hide a change. Accepting a planned change makes it the new value to compare against.

Checks run every 5 to 60 minutes, depending on how many domains are active, the methodology page says. The service also notices when the domain moves to other nameservers and when its SSL certificate or registration nears expiry.

Some events stay on the domain's timeline without an email: a renewed certificate, say, or a change that reverts. All alerts arrive by email, and a lookup that fails four runs in a row triggers one. DNS Notify works from public data alone, so your DNS provider login stays with you and the service can only watch the records.