A lot of companies have been applying through ICANN’s domain application system to secure web addresses of their choice. However, ICANN recently had to close down its top-level domain application system. This was because of a security issue that may have revealed the data of the applicants to other applicants.
ICANN was quick to respond to the security problem but apparently wasn’t aware of the extent of it. As soon as the issue was traced, ICANN publicly stated that no data leak had occurred and that “it should not pose problems for existing applicants.”
However, a day later, ICANN’s COO Akram Atallah gave a statement which was apparently an attempt to explain the shut down of the application system. According to him the security issue ‘has allowed a limited number of users to view some other users’ file names and user names in certain scenarios.’
He further stated that the only reason ICANN took down the system was to protect the data of existing applicants since if the website was allowed to stay alive, more applicants would’ve been able to access other’s data. ICANN would do good if it is able to tell the companies whose data have been viewed without permission so that they can ready themselves for any consequences. Moreover, ICANN has promised updates regarding this problem as seen as any new development happens, so you can keep tabs on them on their site.
