ICANN to transfer 281,000 domains to new registrar
The Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said Tuesday it will transfer about 281,000 domains that formerly were managed by a registrar whose right to issue new addresses was revoked last month.Estonia-based EstDomains was de-accredited Oct. 28 after it emerged that its president had been convicted of credit card fraud, money laundering and document forgery. ICANN rules allow it to end accreditation agreements with any registrar whose director is convicted of financial crimes.
ICANN said in a statement that it will transfer the domains to an accredited registrar, India-based Directi Internet Solutions, which will notify customers and provide transfer instructions. Registrants will not be charged for the transfer, expected to be complete by Dec. 1.
ICANN chose Directi after putting out a request for domain managers which might be interested in "a bulk transfer of the names formerly managed by EstDomains."
The revocation of EstDomain's license made waves within the IT security community because the company was known to manage domains controlled by cybercriminals. They used the URLs to host malware, such as rogue anti-virus software, drive-by downloads, malicious codecs and botnet command-and-control centers.
While Directi has been criticized for doing the same, the company has made strides in recent months to cleanse its image. In October, Directi said it suspended 175,547 abusive domains, a majority of which were names registered through resellers.
"Directi's strengthened abuse team continues to review complaints and revoke privacy protection for abusive domain names," said a company blog post. "Where reports of abuse emerge from security community blogs or forums, Directi [is] now proactively making searches for such comments and investigating any issue that may involve Directi or a reseller."
