Do you know someone who deserves recognition for helping build the Internet in their region or country? Or someone who made the Internet more secure through the work they've done? Or someone who made some major technical innovation that made the Internet faster or better? more
Karl Bode recently wrote an excellent article highlighting the overhyping of wireless technologies. He's right, and for the last twenty years, we've been told that a world-changing wireless technology is coming soon, but none ever materialized. No wireless technology has been a bigger flop than 5G when comparing the hype to the eventual reality. The hype for 5G was amazingly over-the-top. more
DOTZON presents the fifth edition of the Digital Company Brands study. After having introduced the study in 2018, DOTZON continued to expand and enhance the underlying data to display how companies successfully use their Digital Company Brands. The Digital Company Brand is the digital dimension of a company brand and mirrors the "digitalness "of a company. Purely digital company brands developed for the first time in the 1990s with the emergence of Internet business models. more
I'm asked at least twenty times a year how a small ISP can compete against the big cable companies. The question comes from several sources - a newly-formed ISP that is nervous about competing against a giant company, a rural ISP that is entering a larger market to compete, or investors thinking of funding a new ISP. These folks are rightfully nervous about competing against the big cable companies. more
Blockchain domain names, domains that are stored on blockchain or cryptocurrency exchanges, are part of a growing, unregulated, and decentralized internet. Right now, blockchain domains are used mostly by cryptocurrency users, but they are growing in popularity - the Ethereum name service reported over 2.2 million .eth domain name registrations in 2022. At the same time, crypto scams are also exploding, reaching a total of $3.5 billion in losses in 2022. more
New technology enables new art forms and artists Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz (K&S) began working with geostationary satellite links in 1977. Their first work was an experiment in remote dance and music. Video of dancers at The Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and an educational television center in California was transmitted to a central control studio where a composite was formed and sent back to monitors the dancers could see. more
Wolfgang Kleinwaechters Internet Governance Outlook on CircleID each year sums up the drama of internet governance as it is played out on the global stage. We assume that all players on the internet governance stage work under the premise that despite all our differences, ultimately, we are united in our quest for "freedom from fear and want" based on the quality and dignity of all human beings, as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). more
The EU is reforming its legal framework concerning geographical indications (GI) protection and has put forward provisions expanding GI protection to domain names in two recent legislative proposals concerning agricultural products and craft/industrial products. In order to support greater GI protection on the internet, both proposals mandate the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to establish a "domain name information and alert system." more
In the first article of this two-part blog series, we looked at how frequently domains were used by bad actors for phishing activity across individual top-level domains (TLDs) or domain extensions, using data from CSC's Fraud Protection services, powered by our DomainSecSM platform. In this second article, we analyze multiple datasets to determine the highest-threat TLDs, based on the frequency with which the domains are used egregiously for a range of cybercrimes. more
One of the consequences of the war between Russia and Ukraine is that Russia has largely stopped participating in many large worldwide web applications. Russia has blocked Facebook and Twitter. Other applications like Apple, Microsoft, TikTok, Netflix, and others have withdrawn from Russia. The European Union is in the process of trying to block Russian-generated content, such as the state-owned news outlets of RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik. more
A domain name consists of two main elements: the second-level domain name to the left of the dot - often consisting of a brand name or relevant keywords - and the domain extension or top-level domain (TLD) to the right of the dot. Domain names form the key elements of the readable web addresses allowing users to access pages on the internet and also allowing the construction of email addresses. more
In 2022, the Internet world was shaken by big contradictions. On the one hand, efforts to constitute a stable and secure framework for a safe cyberspace made substantial progress. The UN got a new Tech Envoy. The UN-based Internet Governance Forum (IGF) got a "Leadership Panel." The UN negotiations on cybersecurity and cybercrime produced constructive interim results. more
The recent adoption at the end of December of the new EU Directive for a high level of cybersecurity across the Union -- commonly referred to as "NIS2" - paved the way for important updates to the domain name system (DNS). Most significantly, Article 28 of NIS2 and its related recitals resolved any ambiguities about the public interest served by a robust and objectively accurate WHOIS system that permits legitimate access by third parties to data... more
Having been involved in this sector for over fifteen years now, the rate of change in the market dynamics continues to surprise me - from its early years when MarkMonitor and NetNames clearly led the space for several years, then seeing well-funded startups such as Yellow Brand Protection and Incopro challenge that, followed by a period of heavy M&A, it is now extremely diverse. more
At the beginning of 2023, the good news is that, in spite of all geopolitical tensions, the Internet infrastructure built around TCP/IP continues to carry emails, web pages, videos, and podcasts across the globe. Technically, the Internet remains robust. The bad news is that more and more digital borders will continue to affect the global nature of international digital communication... more
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) formed a new public-interest non-profit organization in 2023, allowing additional partners from around the world beyond Europe and Asia. The organization preserves the existing core process and mission of the Consortium, which is to develop open web standards with contributions from W3C Members, staff, and the international community. more
Vint Cerf Receives IEEE Medal of Honor
Vinton Cerf, widely known as the "Father of the Internet," has been awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor in 2023 for his contributions to the development of the Internet architecture and for his leadership in its growth as a critical infrastructure for society. more
U.N. Cybercrime Convention Enters Critical Stage
Negotiations for a U.N. cybercrime convention have reached a critical stage at the fourth round of discussions in Vienna. Delegates from over 150 states have met for over 100 hours to discuss the proposed convention, which has been met with skepticism from some states, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders more
ChatGPT, the newly released language model, has quickly gained popularity and is used for various tasks, from automation to music composition. While having useful features like fast and easy-to-use code examples, it also has the ability to create sophisticated malware without malicious code. more
Public Interest Registry, the non-profit that runs the .ORG domain has launched a new top-level domain (TLD), .GIVING, to streamline online fundraising and donating for mission-driven organizations and philanthropic-minded individuals. more
Iran has disrupted mobile internet access for some three hours on 19 January 2023. Real-time NetBlocks metrics show that mobile networks were disrupted for three hours on Thursday morning, while fixed-line services were largely unaffected. more
After a prolonged legal process involving multiple hearings and months of consideration, an independent review panel (IRP) determined that ICANN had violated its own bylaws and articles of incorporation through its decision to remove price caps on certain top-level domains (TLDs) and that this decision was therefore invalid. more
In light of Tuesday's Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipeline explosions, Datacenter Forum is updating its programme. Ask Tonsgaard Hjordt Brüel (Strategic Consultant, Rambøll), who has been tasked by the Nordic Council of Ministers to analyse the supply, security, and pricing of Nordic energy sources will share his preliminary findings at Datacenter Forum Copenhagen this week. 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, the rate of domain name sales, deletions and registrar transfers seem to be gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels. 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
Sponsored byCSC
Sponsored byIPv4.Global
Sponsored byVerisign
Sponsored byWhoisXML API
Sponsored byVerisign
Threat actors have been targeting Zoom and its users since the platform's launch, and it's easy to see why -- the latest stats show it accounts for 3.3 trillion annual meeting minutes worldwide. It's not surprising, therefore, that cyber attackers trailed their sights yet again on the communication app. more
Cyber espionage group Cloud Atlas has been trailing its sights on critical infrastructure operators in countries suffering from political conflict since its discovery in 2014. Aptly nicknamed "Inception," the group's tactic of going after nations with bigger problems than cybersecurity seems to be working, as evidenced by successful intrusions over the years. more
As far back as September 2022, Trend Micro reported that threat actors began exploiting chat apps Comm100 and LiveHelp100 to launch supply chain attacks. In a bid to help potential targets curb the problem, they publicized nine indicators of compromise (IoCs), specifically command-and-control (C&C) server addresses. more
The COVID -- 19 pandemic saw a surge in internet traffic by as much as 60%1.Because of the greater adoption of digital technology by businesses, and the need to support a hybrid onsite-offsite workforce that's persisted, we don't expect to see internet traffic slow down to what was once considered "normal." more
As a New Year treat, Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) researchers decided to look back at some of the most newsworthy cybersecurity incidents in 2022 - the Revolut Data Breach, the series of attacks launched by Lapsus$, and a newly detected PayPal phishing tactic. more
As an age-old digital threat, phishing just continues to grow in sophistication over time, as DarkTortilla showed. Cyble Research and Intelligence Labs (CRIL) published a technical analysis of the threat specifically targeting Cisco and Grammarly. Are there other potential threat vectors, though? more
Today the i2Coalition is announcing that Neha Naik, Vice President of Channel Partnerships at Radix; Jesse Asklund, Chief Experience Officer of cPanel / WebPros; Ursula Baum, Associate General Counsel at Newfold Digital; and Suzanne Law Marisa, US General Counsel for OVHcloud, have joined the Board of Directors of the organization. more
Earlier this month, ReversingLabs published a report on the current state of software supply chain security. They stated that the volume of such attacks using npm and PyPI code have increased by a combined 289% in the past four years. The research also cited two npm attacks as evidence -- IconBurst and Material Tailwind. more
For roughly US$100, threat actors can purchase RedLine Stealer, a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) program first detected in March 2020 that continues to wreak havoc to this day. The malware can steal information from infected devices, including autocomplete and saved information on browsers. more
WithSecure recently unveiled a malicious campaign dubbed "Ducktail," which trailed its sights on Facebook business owners and advertisers. Believed to be run by Vietnamese operators, Ducktail uses malware to steal data from victims and hijack vulnerable Facebook business properties. more
Stealth is a typical goal for most threat actors when launching malware and other attacks. The better hidden a malware is, the more effective an attack becomes. And that is what fast-rising data stealer Aurora is gaining notoriety for. more
DEV -- 0569, a threat actor Microsoft has been monitoring, was recently observed deploying Royal ransomware via pages posing as legitimate software download sites and repositories, among other stealthy tactics. He has so far used fake download sites for Adobe Flash Player, AnyDesk, Zoom, and TeamViewer in phishing emails and domains. more
Like in many countries, Australia has been experiencing an increase in cybersecurity incidents. The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) received over 76,000 cybercrime reports during the 2021 -- 2022 financial year, an increase of nearly 13% from the previous year. more
WhoisXML API's IP intelligence now includes Regulatory Compliance IP Data Feeds available as separate IP geolocation and IP netblocks files. These data feeds are filtered to only provide the IP geolocation and ownership data of IP addresses from sanctioned or restricted locations as specified by different regulatory authorities. more
A World-Renowned Source for Internet Developments. Serving Since 2002.