On August 10, the FCC issued a press release denying the long-form applications of Starlink and LTD Broadband in the RDOF reverse auction. This is big news because these are two of the biggest winners of the reverse auction. LTD Broadband was the largest winner of the auctions at $1.32 billion, while Starlink had claimed over $885 million in the auction. more
There was a major attack launched against long-haul fiber networks outside of Paris, France, on April 27 of this year. It appears that there was a coordinated attack by vandals to cut three long-haul fiber routes simultaneously. Fibers were cut with what seemed like a circular saw, and sections of fiber were removed to make it hard to make repairs. These were backbone fibers that were shared by multiple ISPs. more
Starlink is available in 37 nations, and the price for best effort service was the same everywhere until August 3, when variable pricing with throttling became available in France. I predicted they would eventually shift from uniform to affordable pricing some time ago, but why did they do it now? Starlink first became available in the U.S. and Canada, and sales are beginning to outrun the available capacity. more
I'm writing this from Taipei, where I have lived in peace for over 10 years. Sadly I learned that during this week, intermediate-range ballistic missiles (operated by China) have flown far above the capital of Taiwan and that five of them have landed in the waters of Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This provocative live-firing drill came as a direct response from China following Pelosi's visit. more
Recently, an article I wrote for Bitcoin Magazine talked about how we can use DNS underscore scoping to better abstract Lightning addresses and even create a de facto specification that could work on any resource (like a wallet or a smart contract) across all blockchains. more
Let's take a second to look back some 50 years to the world of 1972 and the technology and telecommunications environment at that time. The world of 1972 was one populated by a relatively small collection of massive (and eye-wateringly expensive) mainframe computers that were tended by a set of computer operators working around the clock and directed by specialized programmers, trained in the obscure symbol set used by the job control systems on these computers. more
Casey Lide and Thomas B. Magee of Keller & Heckman highlight an issue that anybody building fiber on utility poles should be aware of. A recent article on their website notes that in some cases, an easement obtained for using private land to bring electric service might not automatically allow an easement for bringing fiber. more
On June 5th Elon Musk said SpaceX had nearly 500,000 customers in 32 nations and 9 languages. By now, there must be 500,000 customers, most of whom are in the U. S. and Canada, and their performance is suffering. In the first quarter of this year, OOKLA reported that the median Starlink download speed fell from 104.97 to 99.55 Mbps in the U.S. and from 106.64 to 97.4 Mbps in Canada. more
All devices that connect to the internet need unique addresses. The number of IP addresses is limited, creating a demand for addresses worldwide, particularly from the cloud computing industry. This demand has raised the value of IPv4 to levels that the internet's original developers didn't predict, in part because the internet was considered an experiment at the time. Of course, use - and so demand -- has exceeded anyone's realistic expectations. more
In the early days of Online Brand Protection (OBP), before it was commonly understood how damaging to revenue infringements could be, this was an extremely popular topic. I remember delivering webinars on the subject then and even running a couple of half-day in-person workshops for brand owners at major conferences. more
There is an interesting new trend in fiber construction. Some relatively large cities are getting fiber networks using microtrenching. Just in the last week, I've seen announcements of plans to use microtrenching in cities like Mesa, Arizona, and Sarasota Springs, New York. In the past, the technology was used for new fiber networks in Austin, Texas, San Antonia, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina. more
Over the last two years, we've all faced supply shortages on items we previously never thought could be in short supply. Most recently, the baby formula and semiconductor markets were hit. Before that, supply chain attacks on Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods showed us that an attack on one company through a singular point of compromise has the potential to disrupt an entire network of connected companies, products, partners, vendors, and customers. more
FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel has circulated a draft Notice of Inquiry inside the FCC to kick off the required annual report to Congress on the state of U.S. broadband. As part of preparing that report, she is recommending that the FCC adopt a new definition of broadband of 100/20 Mbps and establish gigabit broadband as a longer-term goal. I have a lot of different reactions to the idea. more
A network can fence its own IP addresses or block specific external ones from access. Administrators frequently block access to their own IP addresses to bar unwanted access to content. Individual IPs or blocks of IPs may also be blocked due to unwanted or malicious behavior. IP address blocking prevents a specific IP address or group of IP addresses from connecting with a server, computer, or application. more
The Internet hints at the much larger possibilities of open connectivity in enabling discoveries such as the web but for the physical world. The ideas themselves go to a deeper level of thinking about how we build systems and how we can enable the future. This post is aimed at people building systems and devices which can be interconnected to create systems and meta-devices. more
The DNS Abuse Institute (DNSAI), the entity created by Public Interest Registry (PIR), today announced the launch of NetBeacon, a centralized DNS Abuse reporting service. NetBeacon was developed in collaboration with CleanDNS, an anti-abuse solution developer, which has donated the development and technology behind NetBeacon. more
The latest CENTRstats Global TLD Report has been released, covering the global status and registration trends in all top-level domains (legacy gTLDs, new gTLDs and ccTLDs), with a specific focus on the European ccTLD market. According to the report, domain name sales, deletions and registrar transfers slowed down for European ccTLDs over 2021; however, demand for new domains is still outpacing deletes, keeping growth in the positive. more
CENTR, which represents European national top-level domain name registries (ccTLDs) such as .si or .eu, has published its comments on the European Commission's DNS abuse study, calling out some of the "misleading analysis and unfortunate conclusions in the study." more
New research paints a rapidly deteriorating picture of the Internet in Ukraine since Russia's invasion. Published by BroadbandNow, the research analyzes internet access and quality in Ukraine over the past six weeks beginning February 1st. more
A letter sent to ICANN and IANA by a Ukrainian representative to ICANN’s Government Advisory Council (GAC) asks for urgent and strict sanctions against the Russian Federation in “the field of DNS regulation.” The letter urges ICANN to permanently or temporarily revoke Russia’s top-level domains “.ru”, “.рф” and “.su” and to shut down DNS root servers located in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. more
Join the upcoming discussion today on the past, present and future of the Internet in Afghanistan in the context of the Middle East. Panelists will address the national and international challenges and opportunities Afghans face in the changing environment of global Internet governance and sanctions laws. more
CENTR has published the latest edition of its CENTRstats Global TLD report, a quarterly publication that presents statistics and trends in domain name registrations of European country-code domains and the wider global market. more
Google Cloud has landed its muchly anticipated subsea cable, Grace Hopper in Bude, Cornwall. The 16-fiber pair Google-funded cable will connect New York (United States) to Bude (United Kingdom) and Bilbao (Spain). more
CENTR has just published the latest edition of its CENTRstats Global TLD report, a quarterly publication that presents statistics and trends in domain name registrations of European country-code domains and the wider global market. more
Colonial Pipeline, which accounts for close to half of the United States East Coast's fuel, has shut down its operations due to a cyberattack. The incident, believed to be the largest successful cyberattack on oil infrastructure in the U.S., was disclosed over the weekend. more
A multi-year investigation into 2017 net neutrality rulemaking finds 18 million fake comments were filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and half a million fake letters were sent to Congress. more
SpaceX on Tuesday disclosed that it has received 500,000 preorders for its Starlink satellite internet service and that it anticipates no technical problems meeting the demand. more
New Zealand's .nz operator, InternetNZ, on Wednesday disclosed a vulnerability against authoritative DNS servers. The vulnerability called TsuNAME was first detected in February 2020 in the .nz registry and found that it could be exploited to carry out Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks across the world. more
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, approved permissions today to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for conducting trials for use and applications of 5G technology. more
Internet service was down for nearly 900 customers in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, over the weekend after beavers chewed through a crucial fiber cable, resulting in "extensive" damage. According to a statement from the area's telecom provider, Telus, the outage also affected some cable TV customers and caused disruptions to local cell phone services. more
The US Department of Defense gave a small unknown Florida company control to millions of its dormant IP addresses, minutes before President Trump left office. According to reports, the unknown Florida company, Global Resource Systems LLC, initially obtained control of 56 million Pentagon-owned IP addresses on January 20 and later increased to near 175 million IP addresses. more
The celebrated security researcher, Dan Kaminsky, widely known for his work on discovering cruicisl DNS security flaws, Sony Rootkit infections and pupular talk at the Black Hat Briefings. more
ISPs in the U.S. saw a significant surge in both downstream and upstream traffic, increasing at least 30% and as much as 40% during peak business hours and as much as 60% in some markets, according to a new report from the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG). more
Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit operator of the .org top-level domain, today launched the DNS Abuse Institute, a centralized effort to combat DNS Abuse. In its news release, PIR said the Institute "will bring together leaders in the anti-abuse space to fund research, publish recommended practices, share data, and provide tools to identify and report DNS Abuse." more
Despite several groundbreaking technical achievements over the past nine years, Google's parent company Alphabet has decided to end the Loon project. The company said the road to commercial viability has proven much longer and riskier than hoped. more
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Agent Tesla, an infamous data stealer, has been plaguing Internet users since 2014. Much has been revealed about the malware, but the world didn't come to know about one of its more adept campaign perpetrators -- Hagga -- until last year. more
Months after TikTok launched its marketplace in September 2021, several users have raised concerns about the authenticity of the products they purchased. The complaints mainly pertain to beauty products, such as sunscreens, lip glosses, and makeup brushes. Aside from being ripped off, consumers may be exposed to more danger. more
A group of researchers recently discovered a new Android banking Trojan they called "Revive" since threat actors designed it to restart if it stops working. Once a device is infected, hackers can intercept messages, including online banking one-time passwords (OTPs). Revive also enables attackers to steal login credentials since it can read and store everything the user types on the infected device. more
Scammers and counterfeiters are always on the lookout for quick gains. And the more expensive the fake item, the bigger the possible gain. It’s no wonder then why they’re looking to mimic the world’s most popular luxury jewelers. more
The Koobface Gang gained notoriety from 2008 to the 2010s for spreading malware via Facebook and other social networks. Believe it or not, the gang amassed millions of dollars from their online scams while hiding in plain sight in St. Petersburg, Russia. After being publicly identified in 2012, the gang members shut down their operations. more
Aoqin Dragon, like the mythical character it's named after, has recently been unearthed after nearly a decade of flying under the cybersecurity community's radar. Now believed to have been active since 2013, the advanced persistent threat (APT) group has targeted various organizations in the government, education, and telecommunications sectors. more
For US$2,500, threat actors can employ Matanbuchus, a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) package found delivering Cobalt Strike beacons through phishing and spam messages. Cobalt Strike is a powerful security tool that threat actors are increasingly using as a reconnaissance and post-exploitation weapon. more
Threat actors are increasingly impersonating businesses in phishing attacks. In May 2022, 52% of business email compromise (BEC) scams impersonated third-party organizations, exposing businesses to supply chain attacks. more
Conti ransomware surfaced as far back as 2020. Believed to have been created by Russia-based cybercriminal group Wizard Spider, it has been involved in a multitude of double extortion campaigns over the years. more
As technology advances, so does the world of espionage. That has given birth to several companies, such as Cytrox, that specialize in creating spyware. Predator, along with other applications of its kind, has been advertised as legal spyware-for-hire. more
The Brand Registry Group (BRG) is the global association of companies and organisations working together to champion the use of .brand top-level domains and includes some of the world's most recognised consumer and B2B brands. more
Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit organization behind .ORG and leading provider of mission-driven domains, today announced its .ORG family of domains now includes: .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION, and .GIVES. Following PIR's acquisition of .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION and .GIVES, the TLDs are now officially available through PIR. more
Two cyber threats recently caught the attention of WhoisXML API researchers, primarily since parts of their infection chain hide behind legitimate services. This tactic is tricky for security teams because blocking the domains involved means blocking legitimate applications, too. more
Cyber attackers typically use newly registered domains (NRDs) in their campaigns to evade detection, particularly since the implementation of privacy protection in WHOIS records. But some also use aged domains like the SolarWinds hackers to render a sense of legitimacy to their pages. more
Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the first quarter of 2022 closed with 350.5 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, an increase of 8.8 million domain name registrations, or 2.6%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. more
Radix's .Online Domains recently announced the closure of their Instagram-led contest, #FempowerOnline. Launched on March 8th, the social media contest leveraged International Women's Day and invited aspiring women entrepreneurs to share business ideas for women-centric domain names on .Online. more
Phishing emails impersonating Maersk, one of the largest container shipping companies, targeted more than 18,000 people since the beginning of the year. The email address imitated the legitimate company’s email address but led to a phishing page designed to look like Maersk’s shipping portal login page. more