The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has devised a solution to manage some of the problems name collisions can cause for new generic top-level domain (gTLD) applicants.
ICANN’s proposals follow a study that emerged in August called Name Collision in the DNS that detailed the risks of domain names residing in private internet networks clashing with publicly available gTLDs.
After several meetings, the organization will offer applicants two options to deal with the security concerns.
In the study, the vast majority (80 per cent) of gTLDs were deemed low risk, while 20 per cent displayed “uncalculated” risk and two were high risk – .home and .corp.
ICANN has now reviewed the report and proposed a New gTLD Collision Occurrence Management Plan for dealing with prospective name collisions. The organization said it will continue to conduct further studies to create a framework for assessing the problem and any measures to mitigate domain collisions.
The applications for .home and .corp have been stopped and will remain that way until further notice.
Applicants can proceed with their gTLD but they must first block all second-level domains that appear in the report until ICANN comes to its conclusion.
The plan directs ICANN staff to conduct an additional study which will include appropriate parameters and processes to assess both probability and severity of harm resulting from the occurrence of any clashes.
Some examples of these parameters include the number and type of DNS requests and queries, the diversity of query source and appearances in internal name certificates.
The organization’s plan also features an outreach campaign that helps any potentially affected parties identify and manage the origins and causes of name collision occurrences in their networks.