Law agencies call for tighter domain registration controls

Domain registration procedures could be tightened up in a bid to help clamp down on cyber crimes.

Following concerns expressed by law enforcement agencies around the world, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) investigated the issue of false or incomplete information being used to set up websites.

The not-for-profit organisation which oversees internet tasks such as managing the assignment of domain names, commissioned a report, the Draft Report for the Study of the Accuracy of WHOIS Registrant Contact Information. This uncovered the scale of the problem facing the authorities.

It found that less than a quarter of people who have registered domain names have given fully accurate information. The details of eight per cent were totally untrue.

This means that when criminals set up websites as fronts for criminal activities, such as phishing attacks or bogus online stores, the police often hit a dead end when trying to race the fraudsters.

The report, which was welcomed by the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), said that most of the "barriers to accuracy" can be tackled.

In a statement, Soca's e-Crime unit said that it had "with the support of the FBI and wider law enforcement community, engaged with Icann over the past 18 months.

"We have identified the deficiencies in domain registration processes which are exploited by organised crime to mount major attacks on industry and individuals.

"Suggested amendments to Icann's Registrar Accreditation Agreement, s ubmitted by Soca and the FBI in order to resolve many of these issues, are supported by Interpol and the G8 cyber working group.

The police organisation said it would "watch with interest" what action would be taken against the domains identified in the report.

Icann warned, however, that tightening up procedures will require co-operation among all parties involved in registering domain names. However one registrar, Gandi.net was optimisitc.

Joe White, Gandi chief operating officer said: "Most registrars vary about how diligent they are with these kinds of policies and processes. Certainly at Gandi.net we see it as a key part of our company policy to stamp out this kind of behaviour, though other registrars have looser processes.

"We see the drive to increase standards as encouraging and important as there is plenty of waste in the domain space in the form of unused or criminal domain names.

"By recommending best practice, Icann can begin to separate the willing and unwilling registrars, and focus on the standards of the latter group who will more likely be targeted by domain fraudsters.

"Registrars do have to take more care in what they allow to be registered, and there is a danger of this leading to increased domain prices if they are unable to tighten these processes without increasing their costs.

"However, everyone benefits from a better managed domain space, so this may be a fair price to pay. The good registrars are already doing this, so this won’t affect prices with them."