A Forever URL is one that never expires. You own it and needn't worry about forgetting to renew it. The term itself is inspired by the US Forever Stamps, which you can use even if the postal rate goes up. This article looks at the underlying mechanisms for linking such information and is aimed at a technical audience. The DNS isn't just about websites; it is fundamental to how we connect endpoints, be they websites, devices, documents etc. more
The Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for the Asia-Pacific region (APNIC) recently held its 55th meeting in conjunction with APRICOT, from 20 February to 2 March 2023, in Manila, USA. One of the critical discussions at the conference was centered on the APNIC policy that does not accept IP leasing and has a questionable understanding of its necessity. According to the APNIC policy manual, which was referenced during the meeting, APNIC allocates and assigns resources based on need, and 'leasing is not allowed' nor does it form a basis for further need. more
CDA Section 230 has been called "The 26 Words that Created the Internet". While it is obvious how Sec 230 protects the World Wide Web, it is equally important for e-mail. A recent Pennsylvania court case emphasizes this point. Dr. Thomas, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, forwarded an article about another professor Dr. Monge to an online e-mail discussion list. Dr. Monge claimed the article was defamatory and sued Dr. Thomas, the university, and many others. more
One of the biggest uses of bandwidth continues to be streaming video from the many online vendors like Netflix, Disney, Hulu, and many others. Final 2022 earnings reports show that this is an industry segment in crisis. Altogether, the losses for just these four video platforms were almost $11 billion in 2022. There are other big platforms like Apple, Google (YouTube), and Amazon that don't specifically report on the performance of the video streaming segment. more
The ongoing saga at the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC), which distributes Internet addresses in Africa, is a threat to the stability of the global Internet and emblematic of Africa's governance challenges. When you want to visit a Website, you generally use a domain name (e.g., hell.com). The domain name is then translated to an address, called a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address, which every device connected to the Internet has while it is connected. more
I have on my desk a rather small tube. It's a little under 2cm in diameter, 6 cm long, and looks like it's made from a dull white polycarbonate material. At the end, I can see a copper inner tube, and inside that, another polycarbonate layer, and then a smaller steel tube that holds a thin steel thread and some fibre optic cables. There are no layers of steel jacketing, nor any other additional wrapping at all. more
Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is calling for Caribbean policymakers and business leaders to recognise the significance of artificial intelligence technologies. Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to the ability of computer systems to do tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making. more
There was a recent article in JAMA Network Open, part of the monthly journals of the American Medical Association, that reported on a large study to quantify the benefits of using telemedicine with cancer patients. The study was conducted at National Cancer Institute - Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Florida from April 2020 through June 2021. The study wanted to quantify the cost savings for patients that were able to conduct visits via telehealth rather than drive to the cancer center. more
Caribbean islands are known for white-sand getaways, but one of the region's best-kept secrets remains buried under its picturesque beaches. That hidden treasure is the Caribbean's complex network of subsea Internet cables, worth their weight in gold because they connect these small-island nations to each other and to the global Internet. With that Internet connectivity comes the hope of a better life for millions of Caribbean citizens, and regional ambitions of global competitiveness. more
OARC held a 2-day meeting in February, with presentations on various DNS topics. Here are some observations I picked up from the presentations in that meeting... In a world where every DNS name is DNSSEC-signed, and every DNS client validates all received DNS responses, we wouldn't necessarily have the problem of DNS spoofing. Even if we concede that universal use of DNSSEC is a long time off ... more
The vision of Kenyan ISP Poa! Internet is "to bring internet to every home in Africa." Poa! offers unlimited, uncapped, 4 Mb/s fixed wireless connectivity to homes for 1,500 KSh ($11.64) per month plus a one-time installation fee of 3,500 KSh ($27.16). But wait, there's more. They provide a dual-SSID router, and the home SSID is used by trusted family members, and the open street SSID is for others. Street users get 100 MB of free data each day and are charged 15 KSh ($.16) per GB with no expiry .data if they exceed 100 MB on a given day. more
The year 2022 was a turning point. We started emerging from the covid emergency and could return to traveling and meeting our peers at industry events worldwide. But it was also a year of taking stock, with numbers returning to pre-covid levels. After two years of sky-high domain registrations, figures returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022. The domain sector shows a good mix of strength and adaptability to change compared to other industries. more
New York City has done a 180-degree turnaround on the concept of the City providing broadband to low-income households. In 2020, then-May Bill de Blasio announced a plan to bring affordable broadband to low-income households. That Master Plan said that the City would make a $157 million infrastructure investment to provide broadband to around 600,000 homes that includes 200,000 residents of public housing. more
The wide availability of dangerous and addictive drugs is ravaging society. Such devastation is bringing ever-increasing attention from legislators, regulators and from families who have lost loved ones. The Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) believes that the online marketing and sales of such products should be banned immediately. We call on governments, technology platforms, and the ICANN community to act quickly and bring an end to opioid sales online. more
In 2021, the story was price. In 2022, the story was price and large block supply. Spurred by unprecedented unit pricing, the IPv4 market in North America experienced its second-best year ever in market history. Nearly double the number of IPv4 addresses were traded in 2022 compared to 2021, predominantly due to the increased flow of large block supply from twelve sellers, five of whom were first-time market participants. more
Copper Thieves in New Brunswick Impacting Bell Aliant Customers
Bell Aliant customers in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have been experiencing repeated and prolonged disruption to their internet, home phone, and TV services due to vandalism to Bell's network. more
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has adopteda 98 recommendations in the New gTLD subsequent procedures policy development process. This sets in motion the start of the implementation process for the next round of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). more
Pursuit of Sikh Separatist Prompts Widespread Internet Shutdown in Punjab, India
Indian authorities have instituted a mobile internet and text messaging blackout in the state of Punjab, which has a population of around 27 million, in an effort to capture a Sikh separatist. The ban began midday Saturday and was extended for another 24 hours on Sunday. more
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed rules and guidelines to enable satellite companies like SpaceX, T-Mobile, AST Spacemobile, and Lynk to offer satellite services directly to cell phones. more
A recent report by NS1 provides a comprehensive look at global DNS traffic trends. It reveals that public resolvers dominate the internet, accounting for nearly 60% of recursive DNS usage. Telecom giants represent nearly 9%, with Google the clear front-runner at a little over 30%, followed by Amazon Web Services at 16%. more
Amazon Announces Project Kuiper Customer Terminals with Speeds up to 1Gbps
Amazon has announced the development of a range of customer terminals for its broadband satellite network, Project Kuiper. The company's first device is a "standard" customer terminal that measures less than 11 inches square and one inch thick and weighs less than five pounds. more
SpaceX and T-Mobile to Test Satellite-To-Cell Service This Year
SpaceX and T-Mobile are set to begin testing their satellite-to-cell service this year, an executive of Elon Musk's company confirmed Monday. Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX vice president of Starlink Enterprise Sales, made the announcement during a panel at the Satellite 2023 conference in Washington, D.C. more
Internet Society CEO and President, Andrew Sullivan, recently testified in front of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law in support of Section 230. more
Suspected Chinese Interference Causes Internet Outages in Taiwan
Residents of Matsu, an outlying island of Taiwan, have been relying on a very limited internet connection for the past month after two submarine cables leading to Taiwan's main island were cut. This disruption to their lives has also caused significant implications for national security. more
Freenom, the domain name registrar famous for offering free domain names, has stopped allowing new domain name registrations. This action comes just days after the Dutch registrar was sued by social media giant Meta for allegedly ignoring abuse complaints about phishing websites and monetizing the traffic to those domains. more
China Developing Anti-Starlink Measures, Aims to Launch Nearly 13,000 Satellites
Researchers in China have proposed a plan to establish a large satellite network in near-Earth orbit to provide internet services to users worldwide and to stifle Elon Musk's Starlink project. The project, referred to as the GW constellation, would include 12,992 satellites owned by the newly established China Satellite Network Group Co more
Biden-Harris Administration Unveils National Cybersecurity Strategy
Today, the Biden Administration released the National Cybersecurity Strategy, which outlines the use of all available resources to protect the United States' security, safety, and economic prosperity. more
SpaceX Launches 1st Batch of New “V2 Mini” Starlink Satellites to Orbit With Four Times More Capacity
SpaceX is continuing to launch more Starlink satellites in an effort to increase the speed of its internet service. The tech company recently announced the launch of the V2 Mini satellites, which are designed to provide four times more per-satellite capacity than earlier versions more
From the Middle East to South Asia to Africa, shutdowns are becoming a norm of authoritarianism -- an accepted means of silencing criticism, stifling dissent, and controlling the population. Governments are increasingly using digital tools to surveil, censor, and manipulate information, as well as amplify their own propaganda. more
Dish Network Confirms Network Outage Was a Cybersecurity Breach Impacting Customers and Employees
The satellite television provider, Dish Network is currently dealing with a cybersecurity incident that has affected its internal networks, customer support systems, and websites such as boostinfinite.com and dish.com. It is currently investigating the incident and has confirmed certain data was extracted from its IT systems as a result. more
Supreme Court Declines to Hear Wikimedia Foundation’s Challenge to NSA Surveillance
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the Wikimedia Foundation's appeal of a lower court's decision to dismiss their lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA). more
The complicated events surrounding the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC) were brought to light this week by ARIN's President and CEO John Curran during a recent presentation followed by a report today by Simon Sharwood of The Register. more
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted in 2016 and has since become the global standard for privacy regulation. The GDPR has been a watershed moment in tech regulation, requiring companies to ask for consent to collect data online and threatening hefty fines if they don't comply. more
A new network of European telecommunication satellites will be active from 2024, following the green light by European Parliament. The Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite project is aimed at providing a secure communications infrastructure for EU government bodies and agencies, emergency services and European delegations around the world. more
On Friday, GoDaddy revealed that it had suffered a multi-year security compromise that allowed unknown attackers to steal company source code, customer and employee login credentials, and install malware that redirected customer websites to malicious sites. more
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We've seen threat actors abuse almost all Windows OS applications in their campaigns, disguising malware as macros, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations to trick users into opening and executing them. Most recently, they've been spreading malware in the guise of OneNote documents to cause mayhem. more
Carding or the theft and consequent selling of credit and other payment card information to users has long been a problem. And with the ease of obtaining hosts for carder forums and communities and hiding their tracks online, the threat has become even bigger. more
As all initial-access threats go, SocGholish is among the trickiest. It often comes disguised as software updates, deceiving victims into downloading a malicious payload that could eventually lead to more lethal cyber attacks. In fact, researchers at ReliaQuest found evidence that an initial SocGholish malware distribution was intended to deploy ransomware. more
Radix today shared its bi-annual premium report for the second half of 2022, giving a complete overview of the premium domain sales across its new TLD portfolio from 1st July to 31st December 2022. more
Security researcher Dancho Danchev discovered a portfolio of domains and IP addresses used by known threat actors in ransomware campaigns. The said portfolio consists of 62,763 domain names and 810 IP addresses. We analyzed a sample of these malicious properties using TIP and found that: more
Today, Verisign released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the fourth quarter of 2022 closed with 350.4 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains (TLDs), an increase of 0.5 million domain name registrations, or 0.1%, compared to the third quarter of 2022. Domain name registrations have increased by 8.7 million, or 2.6%, year over year. more
The launch of the 'next' round of new generic top-level domain (gTLDs) program has experienced significant delays since the 2012 round, resulting in frustration for prospective applicants and undermined trust in the multistakeholder governance model. more
The Hive Ransomware Group has had more than 1,500 victims across more than 80 countries worldwide. They attacked hospitals, school districts, financial firms, and critical infrastructure until the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) disrupted their operations. Have we seen the fall of the group's entire infrastructure? more
Radix, the operator of top-level domains .Store, .Online, .Tech, .Website, .Space, .Press, .Site, .Host, .Fun and .Uno, has earned a reputation as one of the most innovative and effective marketers in the domain industry. Today the company shared results from a 3-month creators.store campaign they launched in November that provided further proof of that. more
Here are a few observations on the state of the IPv4 marketplace during 2022. All the statistics here exclude transfers of IPv4 addresses involved in mergers and acquisitions. more
Targeting governments the world over in cyber attacks is not a novel concept. Doing that using mobile apps, however, is quite new as a tactic. And that's what Cyble researchers reported as Gigabud RAT's modus operandi - trailing its sights on citizens of Thailand, the Philippines, and Peru who use government-owned institutions' mobile apps. more
In November 2022, eco's topDNS Initiative invited about 30 experts, including representatives of three different Directorate Generals by the EU Commission, to a workshop in Brussels to work together on a secure future for the DNS (Domain Name System). The topDNS Initiative has now published its 28-page final report. more
Putting on a mask on malware has always worked to trick users into downloading them, and the threat actors behind Batloader banked on just that. Trend Micro researchers tracked and analyzed Batloader-related developments toward the end of 2022. more
Taking control of victims' accounts is typically the end goal of many cybercriminals, and they never cease to come up with wily ways to do so. Bleeping Computer researchers recently spotted hackers spreading malware mayhem through Google search ads supposedly pointing to open-source software download sites. more
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