Featured Blogs

An Update on IPv6

In the coming weeks another Regional Internet Registry will reach into its inventory of available IPv4 addresses to hand out and it will find that there is nothing left. This is by no means a surprise, and the depletion of IPv4 addresses in the Internet could be seen as one of the longest slow motion train wrecks in history. The IANA exhausted its remaining pool of unallocated IPv4 addresses over four years ago in early 2011, and since then we've seen the exhaustion of the address pools in the Asia Pacific region in April 2011, in the European and the Middle Eastern region in September 2012, in Latin America and the Caribbean in May 2014 and now it's ARIN's turn... more

Logjam, Openssl and Email Deliverability

RHEL6/Centos6 (and presumably RHEL7/Centos7) machines with the latest openssl packages now refuse SSL connections with DH keys shorter than 768 bits. Consider RHEL6 sendmail operating as a client, sending mail out to a target server. If the target server advertises STARTTLS, sendmail will try to negotiate a secure connection. This negotiation uses openssl, which will now refuse to connect to mail servers that have 512 bit DH keys. The maillog will contain entries with "reject=403 4.7.0 TLS handshake failed". more

.BANK Launches With a Bang

The 30-day .BANK Sunrise Period just concluded this week and is notable for several reasons. The .BANK TLD is highly restricted to members of the banking industry. The .BANK Registry (which also has rights to .INSURANCE, launching this fall), was founded by 24 companies and organizations from the banking and insurance industries, The Registry's founders include industry leaders such as the American Banking Association, Citigroup, Dollar Bank, Independent Community Bankers of America, JPMorgan, Visa and Wells Fargo. more

Three Things TLD Registries Must Know About China’s Domain Name Regulation

Recently there have been a number of news reports/articles that are incorrect or misleading in interpreting China's domain name management policy. James has posted an article aiming to clarify what is going to in China's domain name market. Considering the potential negative impact of those reports on the participants of this market, I supplement James's post by pointing out three things, which I believe critical for any TLD registries that hope to have a better understand of China's domain name regulation and the special action based on it. more

Ensuring a Strong ICANN Accountability Framework

The U.S. Government's decision to transition its legacy role as the administrator of the IANA functions contract to the global multi-stakeholder community is an important step in the continued evolution of the Internet. While the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) supports this transition, we strongly believe that a comprehensive accountability framework, developed, agreed to and approved by the multi-stakeholder community must be in place in advance of finalizing any IANA transition recommendations. more

Managing (in)Security Through Regulation: A Key Phase for Nation States

Not so long ago, the notion of introducing laws and other regulatory responses to address cyber security issues was regarded with significant hesitation by governments and policy makers. To some extent, this hesitation may well have stemmed from a general perception by those who do not work directly in the field that the world of cyber security is somewhat of a 'dark art'. More recently, however, there has been a substantial shift in this attitude, with proposals to regulate a range of cyber security related matters becoming increasingly numerous. more

Understanding the Threat Landscape: Cyber-Attack Actors and Motivations

The threat landscape has rapidly expanded over the past few years, and shows no signs of contracting. With major establishments in both the public and private sectors falling victim to cyber-attacks, it is critical for organizations to identify the motivations, modus operandi (MO) and objectives of adversaries in order to adequately and effectively defend their networks. Understanding the taxonomy of cyber-attacks is the first step in preparing an organization against exposure to them. more

Is Sharing the Answer to .BRAND Top Level Domain Disputes?

In opening up for the .BRAND top level domain, ICANN has artificially created a scarce resource of great commercial value. Indeed, the values of the .BRAND TLDs may be astronomical due to the investments made by the companies that own the trademarks represented in the .BRAND TLD. While the above is interesting in its own right, I will here focus specifically on how we deal with situations where more than one company has a legitimate trademark interest in a particular .BRAND TLD. more

For ccTLD Registries: 4 Steps to Guaranteed Success

The introduction of New gTLDs has increased the rate at which individuals and businesses are getting online today and we're already seeing mainstream adoption of New gTLDs. By going the extra mile to spread awareness about their extensions among the masses, New gTLD Registries are bringing attention to their value propositions and, more importantly, are sharing the idea of 'getting online' to audiences. more

Pricing & Promotions of TLDs - Is Your Billing System Holding You Back?

As the leading consulting firm to the Domain Name industry, we work with many of the existing gTLDs, ccTLDs and new gTLDs. During our engagements we do a lot of listening (as well as work) and this gives us a unique perspective on the key challenges the industry is facing. Recently, we are hearing feedback from many leading registries and registrars about their need for more dynamic pricing and promotions and their concern that there may not be enough flexibility in their billing systems to speedily handle their promotion plans. more

The Cycle of E-Mail Security

Stepping back from the DMARC arguments, it occurs to me that there is a predictable cycle with every new e-mail security technology... Someone invents a new way to make e-mail more secure, call it SPF or DKIM or DMARC or (this month's mini-fiasco) PGP in DANE. Each scheme has a model of the way that mail works. For some subset of e-mail, the model works great, for other mail it works less great. more

6 Reasons a Billing Solution Won’t Cut It for Service Fulfillment

You don't always need to dazzle consumers -- but you do need to deliver what they want, when they want it, or else risk being left behind. The crux of service activation is to provide requested services to the subscriber in the shortest possible timeframe. The rise in multi-play service offerings can sometimes make this goal difficult, with service fulfilment involving multiple back-end components, including billing, provisioning, activation, monitoring, and diagnostics, as well as different technology types. more

An Open Letter to All New TLD Operators

As many of you will know from my previous posts, I'm pretty passionate about our new TLD industry and genuinely believe we are all working towards a goal that will provide something truly special for future generations to embrace. However, speaking candidly (as is the Australian way), I think we'd all agree that there is much to do to get new TLDs into the mainstream in a timely manner. And as new TLD applicants, we all have a responsibility to work together to ensure the success of our industry for years to come. more

The Directory Dilemma - Why Facebook, Google and Skype May Win the Mobile App War

As much as I am enjoying the new Wire app, there is a fundamental dilemma that Wire faces... as well as Talko, Firefox Hello, Subrosa and every other Over-The-Top (OTT) or WebRTC application that is seeking to become THE way that we communicate via voice, chat and/or video from our mobile phones and desktops. That is: How do they gather the "directory" of people that others want to talk to? more

Electronic Frontier Foundation Tells ICANN to Delete URS from .Travel

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has just told ICANN to drop the notion of applying the Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) dispute resolution system to .Travel and other legacy gTLDs without undertaking a full Policy Development Process (PDP). In a June 12 letter, EFF stated: ICANN should not apply URS to the .travel domain, or to any additional domains, by the unaccountable means of staff inserting new conditions into the renewal of the registry operator's contract. Rather, the public policy implications of such a move demand that a full PDP be undertaken first.  more