Internal systems of global internet authority ICANN were hacked in late November

Global Internet authority ICANN that allocates IP addresses and domain names for the Internet has reportedly been hacked. According to The Verge, the US-administered non-profit has said that its internal systems were breached following a spear phishing attack in late November.

The unsuspecting employees gave up their credentials after they received e-mails from the organisation's own domain after it was hacked.

ICANN says the hackers accessed internal e-mails, a members-only Wiki page containing public information, the WHOIS portal (used to look up who registered a particular domain), and the organisation's Centralised Zone Data System (CZDS).

The attackers were able to breach a wide range of user information including real names, addresses, e-mails, telephones and usernames. The hackers also accessed the passwords of users. However, ICANN said that the passwords were encrypted, the report added.