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Gardai probe cyber attack on Dot IE

Wednesday, October 10 17:28:52

The Gardai have been called in after there was a cyber-attack that saw two top dot ie sites redirect users to an allegedly fraudulent site in Asia.

The IE Domain Registry confirmed that there was a "security incident" yesterday that led to Google and Yahoo's Irish websites which redirected users to a server in Asia.

The attack was temporary and both sites are operating normally.

"There was an unauthorised access to a Registrar's account which resulted in the change to the DNS nameserver records for the two .ie domains. The IEDR worked with the Registrar to ensure that the nameserver records were reset and corrected promptly. Simultaneously, the IEDR commenced an investigation and analysis, with the assistance of external security experts," a statement said.

Based on the results of the investigation and the recommendation of security experts, the IEDR has temporarily brought external web-based systems off-line in order to perform additional analysis.

However, the Whois service and the IEDR's API are fully operational which means that Registrars accounting for over two thirds of .ie domains are largely unaffected by this interruption. Public access to .ie websites or email is also unaffected.

Gardai have been notified and IEDR has requested that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation conduct an investigation into this external attack on the .ie namespace.

"The steps the IEDR is taking is to ensure the safety, security and resilience of the .ie domain and the IEDR will continue to provide further updates on this web page as additional information becomes available," it said.