ICANN has moved to reassure customers over the delay to applications for top-level domains, saying it is not the result of an attack, and will not affect data already registered.

The new generic top level domains (gTLDs) would allow brands to own suffixes, so .google might be bought by Google, for instance. Today was to have been the  last day for registration, but ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has extended this until 20 April, because of a technical problem with the registration system.

“Unusual behaviour”

ICANN’s technical staff have been working on a fix to a problem with the TLD Application System (TAS) but it was now working again, an ICANN spokesman in Europe told TechWeekEurope.

“I don’t yet have  all the details, but here is what I do know,” Brad White, ICANN’s director of media affairs told TechWeekEurope. “There was not a cyber-attack of any type.”

White went on to say that “no application data has been lost from those who have already submitted application, so it should not pose problems for existing applicants.”

ICANN is extending the deadline to give applicants the time they would have had if the system had not been shut down for diagnosis, repair and testing. An annnouncement on ICANN’s site puts it down to “unusual behavior”, and promises gTLD application will remain open till 20 April to make sure no-one misses out.

Scotland and London are understood to have applied for domains.  The UK’s registrar, Nominet, has also taken the opportunity to apply for new national domains including .wales and .cymru.

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