A string of Bermudian-registered internet domains crashed over the weekend when the renewal of internet service providers fell through, according to the registrar.

Bermuda Network Information Centre, which handles the registration and renewal of “.bm” domains, said that the problem on Sunday affected ISP providers such as Logic, NorthRock and Internet Bermuda.

However, Bermuda NIC said that the renewals were processed the same day, with domains restored.

The registrar said that it had migrated over to a new internet platform in December.

The move has caused “severe difficulties” for some NIC clients managing domains, a source said, with problems in account access and domain renewal.

A client, who requested not to be identified, said that the migration had hindered their ability to log in and reset domain passwords.

The client stated that domain renewal at present has to be carried out by phone, including providing credit card details, which they called inefficient and “worryingly insecure”.

They also said that it had taken several calls to renew just one domain, which was “unsustainable” when overseeing several domains.

The client called the lack of a secure online platform for fundamental tasks “a major setback in our digital era”.

Residents took to social media on Sunday, noting that the Bermuda Weather Service and some online banking functions were unavailable — although sites were said to have gone back up later in the day.

According to a BWS notification, the organisation was notified at 1.22am on Sunday that its domain name had expired.

The island experienced a similar issue seven years ago, after Bermuda NIC started its new website in 2016, allowing domain names to be registered for $100, with a $65 one-year renewal.

Several businesses on the island lost e-mail and had their websites go offline in January 2017, reporting that they had not been notified of the impending expiration of their domains.

The Royal Gazette sent questions to Bermuda NIC on the lapse in renewal that affected internet providers on Sunday. No response was received by press time.

However, the NIC client said that problems with Bermuda NIC's new platform surfaced immediately after its transition.

The source said that the domain-renewal procedure had been hampered by the requirement for manual handling, with the need to call repeatedly to reach a staff member for renewing a domain.

The Royal Gazette was told that the registrar’s decision to move to a new platform was made independently of the cyberattack on the Government’s IT systems on September 20.

The source said that the move, originally scheduled for August 1 but delayed, had been planned to improve service.

The NIC client said that they had contacted Bermuda NIC regarding challenges with its new system — adding that the registrar’s responses mainly focused on “temporary solutions and assurances of resolving the issues” without giving specifics.

The client said that while their roster of Bermuda domains did not go offline over the weekend, it was only averted because they had spent a few days contacting Bermuda NIC in advance so that the domains were renewed.

They said that the process should be automatic, with the registrar holding credit card details on file.