ICANN steps up and yanks EstDomains’ accreditation

In a move that could signal a shift in ICANN policy the organization which controls the top level domains has pulled the accreditation of EstDomains. The European hosting provider has been under fire recently from the security community for allegedly providing a safe haven for the likes of spammers, malware authors and assorted other bad types.

Apparently anti-spam activists and security experts have been trying to tell anuone who would listen for the last couple of months that TstDomains was closely linked to Intercage/Atrivo; a hosting company now out of business, but had been listed as one of the more active hosters of spam and malware. ICANN says the loss of accreditation is the result of EstDomains president, Vladimir Tsastsin, being convicted in Estonia for crimes including money laundering and credit card fraud

Be advised that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for EstDomains Inc. (Customer No. 919, IANA No. 832) is terminated. Consistent with subsection 5.3.3 of the RAA, this termination is based on your status as President of EstDomains and your credit card fraud, money laundering and document forgery conviction.

Currently ICANN is looking for another registar; or registars, to take over the hundreds of thousands of domains that EstDomains managed. Their termination will go into effect on November 12th.