ICANN vs. Verisign, what’s the dif­fer­ence?

When it comes to the man­age­ment and ad­min­is­tra­tion of the internet, there are many different parties involved, each of which are re­spon­si­ble for carrying out various tasks. Two or­ga­ni­za­tions that are es­pe­cial­ly relevant for internet users in the U.S. are ICANN and Verisign. We’ll explain what they do and what dif­fer­ences there are between the two.

What is ICANN and what does the or­ga­ni­za­tion do?

ICANN (Internet Cor­po­ra­tion for Assigned Names and Numbers) is a Los Angeles-based non-profit or­ga­ni­za­tion that is re­spon­si­ble for the al­lo­ca­tion and main­te­nance of internet addresses. The or­ga­ni­za­tion was initially developed under the name IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. While IANA still exists, it is now one of many de­part­ments that make up ICANN.

In order to un­der­stand the dif­fer­ence between Verisign and ICANN, it’s important to first look at what ICANN does. ICANN’s main function is managing top-level domains (TLDs) and the domain name system. The or­ga­ni­za­tion’s scope of influence is vast as it is re­spon­si­ble for co­or­di­nat­ing all existing web addresses. To this end, the or­ga­ni­za­tion ensures that only one version of each domain exists and that domains are clearly iden­ti­fi­able and can be accessed via a web browser. The or­ga­ni­za­tion, however, does not actively authorize web addresses.

Domain name man­age­ment

Of­fi­cial­ly, ICANN is re­spon­si­ble for managing all TLDS; but their scope of influence varies depending on the TLD. As a result, ICANN has more control over some TLDs than others. ICANN primarily co­or­di­nates the al­lo­ca­tion of un­spon­sored generic top-level domains (gTLDs), which include well-known domain ex­ten­sions such as .com, .net and .org. It is also re­spon­si­ble for managing new generic TLDs like .web or .shop. Ul­ti­mate­ly, ICANN is tasked with the ac­cred­i­ta­tion of these domain ex­ten­sions as well as es­tab­lish­ing the al­lo­ca­tion criteria.

DNS operation

The DNS is a cor­ner­stone of the internet. It trans­lates web addresses, like www.ionos.com, into IP address that computers can un­der­stand. The domain name system is struc­tured in a hi­er­ar­chi­cal manner and comprises numerous in­ter­con­nect­ed DNS servers. At the top are the DNS root servers, which serve as the starting point for searches through the DNS hierarchy.

Across the globe, there are hundreds of root servers, which can only be accessed via 13 IP addresses. While all of these addresses are managed by ICANN, they are operated by different or­ga­ni­za­tions (uni­ver­si­ties, companies and gov­ern­ment entities). These or­ga­ni­za­tions typically take on all re­spon­si­bil­i­ties related to operating the servers, which include covering the costs of the servers, main­tain­ing the hardware and software, and selecting server locations.

Domain name reg­is­tra­tion through ICANN partners

Au­tho­rized ICANN partners, which are commonly referred to as domain name reg­istries (often simply as reg­istries) or NICs (network in­for­ma­tion centers), handle domain reg­is­tra­tions. Each top-level domain (TLD) is managed by a single registry. For example, the Public Interest Registry oversees the top-level domain .org. It’s important to note that a single registry can manage multiple TLDs. Verisign, for instance, is re­spon­si­ble for TLDS like .com, .net and .tv.

Registry operators that have been au­tho­rized by ICANN manage both the Whois server and some of the name­servers for the TLDs that they are re­spon­si­ble for. While a Whois lookup service provides in­for­ma­tion about domain avail­abil­i­ty and domain owners, name­servers maintain records for all domain names as­so­ci­at­ed with a TLD, including their cor­re­spond­ing IP addresses. By main­tain­ing these records, name­servers ensure that domains can be accessed.

What is Verisign?

Verisign is a global provider of domain name registry and internet in­fra­struc­ture services. Head­quar­tered in Reston, Virginia, Verisign is re­spon­si­ble for managing some of the world’s most rec­og­nized domain names. In addition to being the au­thor­i­ta­tive registry of top-level domains like .com, .net, .edu and .gov, the company also operates 2 of the 13 internet root servers.

The company, which was es­tab­lished in 1995, also offers domain registry services for in­ter­na­tion­al­ized domain names including fully localized domain names in Japanese, Korean and Hebrew. Verisign works together with around 2,000 ICANN-ac­cred­it­ed reg­is­trars and provides a Whois lookup service for the different top-level domains that they manage. To secure an internet address with any of its TLDs, customers can apply to either a registrar or directly to an official website of their chosen domain.

What is the reg­is­tra­tion process for domains from Verisign?

When reg­is­ter­ing a web address that contains a TLD offered by Verisign, the reg­is­tra­tion process may vary depending on which domain registrar you decide to use. Generally though, the steps are as follows:

1. After checking the avail­abil­i­ty of a domain with a domain checker, enter the domain you want in the form provided by the registrar. You’ll also need to provide some in­for­ma­tion about yourself, which is passed on to Verisign as part of the domain reg­is­tra­tion.
2. The domain name you have selected is then entered into Verisign’s database. The personal in­for­ma­tion you provided is used to identify you as the domain owner. The domain name is then assigned a cor­re­spond­ing IP address.
3. After the reg­is­tra­tion request has gone through, in­for­ma­tion about your web address is passed on to ICANN. ICANN manages the domain name system (DNS), which, when domains are entered into a browser, locates hosts and accesses the cor­re­spond­ing website. Once ICANN enters the domain you have chosen into the DNS, it will be activated. Upon ac­ti­va­tion, the domain can be used anywhere in the world.

The il­lus­tra­tion below should help to give you a better idea of how this works:

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ICANN vs. Verisign

ICANN is re­spon­si­ble for almost every­thing related to domain operation. Its primary task is to ensure that every domain that exists resolves to a valid IP address. This is only possible if the DNS is func­tion­ing properly, and each domain name only occurs once worldwide. In order to ensure that these two things happen, ICANN has delegated the necessary steps for these tasks to numerous other or­ga­ni­za­tions. One of their partners is Verisign, which manages multiple domains including .com, .net and .gov.

ICANN and Verisign have very different roles when it comes to operating and managing domains. ICANN primarily es­tab­lish­es rules, delegates tasks and assumes ultimate re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for the suc­cess­ful func­tion­ing of domains worldwide. On the other hand, Verisign offers domain registry and internet in­fra­struc­ture services. The table below provides a quick com­par­i­son of Versign and ICANN.