ICANN will notify all applicants for new domain names whether their applications could have been viewed by competitors as a result of a software bug.

The U.S. non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which operates the Internet's naming system, has been inviting Organizations to apply to own and run their own domains. However, the orgazination on 26 of April informed that the TLD application system was suspended "due to a technical issue." One day later, ICANN said that the system had a bug that allowed some applicants to see user or file names of other applicants.

ICANN said it would will notify all applicants within the next seven business days whether its analysis showed they had been affected by the technical glitch in the TLD application system.

Organizations had been careful not to reveal the domain names they were applying for, in an effort to keep their rivals away from bidding for that domain and drive up the price.

In order to make the notifications, ICANN is identifying each applicant file name and user name that might have been viewed, and who might have viewed them. To do that, the organization is reviewing internal system logs and full packet-level capture of all traffic to and from the application system from 12 January through 12 April.

Shortly after the notification process has been completed, ICANN will announce the schedule for reopening the application system and completing the application period.

"We fully understand the frustration and inconvenience caused by the continuing suspension of the application system and will provide further updates as new information becomes available," ICANN said in a statement.