The private agency that acts as a gatekeeper for the Internet on Wednesday said that hackers tricked their way into its computers.<\/p>\n
A “spearfishing” attack aimed at US-based nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) hooked staff members with emails crafted to appear as though they were sent from peers using “icann.org” addresses, according to a blog post.<\/p>\n
“The attack resulted in the compromise of the email credentials of several ICANN staff members,” ICANN said.<\/p>\n
It appeared that the attack commenced in November. Typically, spearfishing attacks dupe people into clicking on links to what appeared to be legitimate email log-in pages but aren’t or open attached files booby-trapped with viruses.<\/p>\n
The ruse won hackers ICANN email user names and passwords, giving the intruders control of accounts and keys to reaching deeper, according to the blog post.<\/p>\n
User names and passwords were used this month to access a Centralized Zone Data System, where hackers could get hold of files about generic top-level domains as well as names, addresses, passwords and other valuable information about users, according to ICANN.<\/p>\n
Hackers were also said to have used compromised passwords to get into an ICANN wiki page; its blog, and a Whois index of registered owners of web addresses.<\/p>\n
The blog and Whois did not appear to have been tampered with, according to ICANN, which provided no insight into who was behind the attack.<\/p>\n
ICANN believed that security enhancements made earlier this year limited how deep hackers could dive into its computers. More defense measures have been instituted since the hack, according to ICANN.<\/p>\n
The organization’s chief security officer is Jeff Moss, who founded the notorious annual Def Con gathering of hackers in Las Vegas and has the hacker name Dark Tangent.<\/p>\n
ICANN, which is in charge of assigning Internet domain names, is expected to break free of US oversight late next year.<\/p>\n
Washington said in March it might not renew its contract with the Los Angeles-based agency, provided a new oversight system is in place that ensures the Internet addressing structure is reliable.<\/p>\n
The agency plans to submit a proposal on oversight to the US Department of Commerce next year.<\/p>\n
Sony hacker woes not over yet<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n