Internet addressing agency loses its own addresses
Last Updated: Friday, July 4, 2008 | 8:55 AM ET
The Associated Press
Related
The non-profit agency in charge of the internet's addresses recently lost track of its own.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said it happened on June 26 when an internet registration company it oversees got fooled into transferring the domain names to someone else.
The attack was quickly noticed, and ICANN's domain names were restored within 20 minutes. However, because many internet directories retain information for a day or two, visitors could have been redirected to an unauthorized site for longer.
ICANN said Thursday that new, unspecified security measures should prevent such attacks in the future. The organization also said it was reviewing other security procedures.
The domain names hijacked were ICANN.com and IANA.com — for the ICANN subdivision known as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Visitors to those addresses are normally redirected automatically to the organization's main sites at ICANN.org and IANA.org, neither of which was affected by the attack.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Greece passes new austerity deal amid rioting
- Greek lawmakers have approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the debt-crippled nation from bankruptcy, after riots in Athens and other cities left stores looted and burned and more than 120 people hurt. more »
- Quebec town 'heartbroken' after killing of woman, sisters
- A small Quebec town is in mourning Sunday after a Quebec man was charged with killing his nieces and his mother, who were found dead in their family home. more »
- Houston autopsy results withheld by police
- Whitney Houston was found in a hotel bathtub but it'll take weeks to determine precisely how she died, a Los Angeles coroner's official says. more »
- Hit and run victim's family fears accused will walk
- The family of a young mother killed in a hit and run is outraged that the case against the alleged driver is among thousands in B.C. at risk of being thrown out because of a huge court backlog. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Ancient Antarctic lake may harbour microbial life
- If scientists find microbes in a frigid lake 3.2 kilometres beneath the thick ice of Antarctica, it will illustrate once again that somehow life finds a way to survive in the strangest and harshest places, and it will offer hope that life exists beyond Earth. more »
- B.C. killer whale habitat protection ruled a legal duty
- The federal minister of fisheries has no discretion when it comes to protecting the critical habitat of B.C.'s southern resident killer whales, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled. more »
- Create-your-own-app product to launch in Moncton
- A Moncton entrepreneur is hoping to revolutionize the way mobile applications are created by launching a new product that allows people to develop their own app within minutes. more »
- Game developer seeks $400K, makes $1M in a day
- Videogame studio Double Fine went on the website Kickstarter to raise $400K US in a month to develop a new game. They reached that target in a matter of hours. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 10, 2012 3:17 PM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 11: Inside the Mind of a Neandertal Feb. 10, 2012 4:01 PM Can we get inside the mind of a species that's been dead for 30,000 years? A new book, How to Think Like a Neanderthal, suggests we can. The authors reconstruct a creature like us in many ways, but with important differences.
Latest Features
- Adele wins best album, best record Grammys
- Houston autopsy results withheld by police
- Quebec town 'heartbroken' after killing of woman, sisters
- Northern lights viewed from space
- Greece passes new austerity deal amid rioting
- Pop queen Whitney Houston dies at 48
- Manitoba man dies after falling off moving SUV
- Doors blocked in fatal Manitoba trailer blaze
- Former Stanley Park petting zoo goats feared slaughtered
