“The DNS redirect was a result of an attack on ICANN’s registrar’s systems,” according to an official ICANN statement. “A full, confidential, security report from that registrar has since been provided to ICANN with respect to this attack.”

Although the organization that oversees the Web’s top-level domain naming ICANN did not name the registrar explicitly, a WHOIS search finds that Register.com manages the redirected domains and the primary icann.org and iana.org domains, Computerworld reported Monday.

Turkish hackers rerouted traffic two weeks ago to some of the domains used by ICANN and subsidiary organization IANA concurrent with ICANN?s announcement of new top-level domains.

Individuals who attempted to go to the affected sites were redirected to a site with the hackers’ message to the ICANN: “You think that you control the domains but you don’t! Everybody knows wrong. We control the domains including ICANN! Don’t you believe us?”

Since the attack, ICANN has been working on an internal review of its security procedures and making improvements where necessary.

The fee is applicable once the level of deletions exceeds 10 percent of a domain name registrar’s net new registrations in that given month, says ICANN.

As part of its FY09 Budget, the ICANN board of directors will decide on June 26 whether to adopt this anti-domain tasting provision, which was first proposed in March.

The act of domain name tasting exploits the fact that individuals or companies can register a domain and keep it for up to five days. During this time, opportunists can test domains to see if they generate more in advertising revenues than the cost of their annual registration fee, and if they don’t, return it for a full refund.

Network Solutions says the practice is “abusive” and has urged the ICANN board to adopt the non-refundable fee so there is no longer any financial incentive to engage in the practice.

However, this may be seen as hypocritical to many, considering that earlier this year Network Solutions adopted the controversial practice of registering on its own behalf any domain searches performed on its site.

Network Solutions has long been criticized for engaging in front-running – the practice where an individual registers a domain name for the purpose of tasting, immediately after someone else has conducted a search for that domain.

On Wednesday, RegistryPro, the .pro registry operator, and a property of Hostway, said Wednesday that ICANN had voted unanimously to approve the expanding the “scope and availability” of the domain.

The change may raise some concerns for existing customers of the domain, which has up to this point been marketed based on its association with “professional integrity” and its very limited eligibility.

Previously, the domain’s use had been limited to accountants, engineers, lawyers and medical professionals, in just a few countries. Acquiring a domain had involved a lengthy manual vetting of credentials, including the submission of written documentation of credentials.

Perhaps realizing that the limitations on ownership limited its own ability to profit from operating the registry, RegistryPro says the qualification process has been greatly simplified as well.

The .pro domain is now available “to any professional or professional entity holding credentials from a certifying governmental authority anywhere in the world.” Though the company says the limitations that do still exist maintain “the exclusive nature of the TLD.”

To qualify for a pro domain now, the registrant must simply fill out a registration form with the type of certification they hold, the name of the organization that certified them and the license number.

RegistryPro has also lifted some restrictions that made it difficult to obtain a 2nd level domain, and led many registrants to operate for 3rd level domains, such as .med.pro. The new terms of service eliminate additional requirements for 2nd level domains.

Despite lifting most of the limitations on ownership and “removing the principal hurdles that have previously challenged the adoption of the TLD,” RegistryPro seems intent on maintaining the air of exclusivity previously associated with the domain, perhaps to appease existing customers who might feel the new regulations diminish the value of their existing .pro domains.

At Register.com, one of the relatively few registrars offering the extension, a .pro domain costs $350 per year, along with a $100 non-refundable registration fee.

“Our position all along has been we don’t want to become an unrestricted, general use TLD,” says RegistryPro general manager Catherine Sigmar, in a press release. “That’s why we’ve developed the new Terms of Use Agreement.”

Sigmar encourages existing .pro customers to contact their registrars with questions about how the changes might impact them.

The company plans to re-launch the domain July 14.

The lawsuit was filed by consumer law firm Kabateck Brown Kellner over Network Solutions’ controversial practice of locking up domain names as soon as they were searched for on its website, preventing other companies from selling it and forcing consumers to pay Network Solutions’ pricier fees, says the law firm.

ICANN was also named in the lawsuit because its policies facilitated Network Solutions’ actions and the organization was failing to prevent front-running from happening in the future, says Kabateck Brown Kellner.

“Imagine if you asked a car dealer if they had a black convertible and were then forced to buy the car from them. Would you get a good deal?” says Brian Kabateck, lead counsel in the class action and Kabateck Brown Kellner’s managing partner. “Each time someone asks Network Solutions about a domain name, the firm creates a monopoly for itself, forcing consumers to pay the price they demand.”

The Registrar Data Escrow program is an ICANN initiative designed to protect consumers from losing control of their domain names in the off change their registrars lose their accreditation or go defunct. It requires all registrars to deposit a copy of their registration databases each week, with high-volume registrars depositing incremental updates daily, says the organization.

Go Daddy says that although it had already been actively backing up its domain customers’ data, escrowing with ICANN provides an additional layer of security, while also setting a good example for the registrar community.

“By getting industry leaders, such as Go Daddy, on board early in the process, our testing with large volumes of data is streamlined,” says John Boruvka, vice president of Iron Mountain’s Intellectual Property Management services. “Go Daddy’s participation has been key to ICANN’s rollout of the Registrar Data Escrow program.”