What is ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized, non-profit corporation that has responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions. These services were originally performed under U.S. Government contract by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and other entities. ICANN now performs the IANA function.

As a private-public partnership, ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to developing policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes.

N-CAP

N-CAP is an At Large Structure within ICANN's North American Regional Atlarge Organization.  Darlene Thompson presently acts as Secretariat to the NARALO.  Each of the five regional RALOs elect two people from ALSs to act on the At Large Advisory Council (and 5 others are nominated in) for a total of 15 who are to bring matters of grassroots concerns to ICANN.  As an ALS, N-CAP is under an obligation to keep its member community informed on various ICANN issues.

THE FOLLOWING TOPICS MAY BE OF INTEREST:

SSAC Advisory on Fast Flux Hosting and DNS

Cyber-criminals and Internet miscreants use Fast Flux hosting to frustrate anticrime efforts aimed at locating and shutting down web sites used for illegal purposes. Fast flux hosting supports a wide variety of cyber-crime activities (fraud, identity theft, online scams) and is considered one of the most serious threats to online activities today. One variant of fast flux hosting, "double flux", exploits the domain name registration and name resolution services.

SAC 025 describes the technical aspects of fast flux hosting and fast flux service networks and explains how the DNS is exploited to abet criminal activities that employ fast flux hosting. The Advisory discusses current and possible methods of mitigating fast flux hosting at various points in the Internet and identifies those methods that SSAC considers practical and sensible.

APWG Global Phishing Survey

IPv6 Article

An Illustrated Guide to the Kaminsky DNS Vulnerability

Beginner's Guide to IP Addresses

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are the unique identifying numbers that all computers and devices connected to the Internet depend on to communicate with each other. When the pool of available unallocated addresses for IPv4, the original IP addressing system, completely depleted this year, the Internet began a transition to IPv6, a newer Internet Protocol system. This highly readable guide, created in cooperation with ICANN's At-Large community, helps the individual user understand IP addresses and the transition from IPv4 to IPv6.

Beginner's Guide to Domain Addresses

A domain name can become where other people find you on line, and adds to your online identity. Although domain names are a big part of the Internet, understanding how these names work (and the ins and outs of obtaining them) can be mystifying at first. This highly readable guide, created in cooperation with ICANN's At-Large community, helps the individual user understand and use domain names.