Unknown Hackers Compromise ICANN Systems

According to ICANN the agency for managing the worldwide system of TLDs (top-level domains), anonymous hackers lately hijacked its critical computers while gained admission into one specific PC which contained data files for finalizing particular domain-names, published threatpost.com dated December 17, 2014.

It was during November 2014 that the assault seemingly occurred while its discovery by ICANN officials happened this month. An e-mail of spear-phishing kind was the tool for the intrusion wherein the fake message was dispatched to employees who thought it arrived from someone inside ICANN only. And when many staff members responded to the particular e-mail their credentials easily got compromised.

After this, it was also easy for the attackers to acquire admission into ICANN's Centralized Zone Data System which is a system to let users oversee zone files. There's some good precious information in these zone files, such as domain-names, those domains' name server labels along with those very servers' IP addresses.

While there has been little direct impact of the breach on routine Web-surfers, the hack did aid the attackers to garner secret information with which other targets could be hijacked.

Authorities from ICANN stated that letters were being sent to each and every account-owner, suggesting they should alter their passwords while do all that were needful for safeguarding their other accounts from being hacked into using the same sensitive particulars.

The perpetrators have also stolen data from the national advisory committee ICANN GAC WiKi; however, as per the organization, merely index page of the staff along with the profile page of one person were accessed. Any non-public data didn't get exposed.

Plentiful concerns remain regarding ICANN potentially getting attacked again later, considering the internet policy's present state together with the clash which's occurring over different Internet management operations' transition from the United States federation.

During March 2014, Washington stated that the government mightn't continue working with the organization, headquartered in Los Angeles, unless one fresh system made sure there was a reliable Internet-addressing protocol.

ICANN is thinking about proposing such a system in 2015 and placing it before the Commerce Department of the US government.

» SPAMfighter News - 12/25/2014