Industry

New CSC Research Indicates Launch of Threads by Instagram is Already a Growing Target for Fraud and Brand Abuse

On July 5, 2023, Meta's Instagram released "Threads" -- an online social media and social networking service offering users the ability to post and share text, images, and videos, as well as interact with others and join public conversations through posts, replies, reposts, and likes. more

Celebrating One Year of .online

Last year this time, one of the most awaited new gTLDs, .ONLINE entered general availability followed by a successful launch. With 10,000 registrations in the first 10 minutes and 38,000 in the first 24 hours, it was one of the most sought after extensions by customers globally. more

Investigating the UNC2975 Malvertising Campaign Infrastructure

Mandiant's Managed Defense Threat Hunting Team recently published an in-depth study of the malware distributed via what they have dubbed the "UNC2975 malvertising campaign." Users who have been tricked into clicking poisoned sponsored search engine results and social media posts ended up with computers infected with either the DANABOT or DARKGATE backdoor. more

Internet Infrastructure Leaders Join Movement of Companies Verifying Their Technology for DNSSEC

A trio of Internet infrastructure leaders joined a growing movement of companies testing their technologies with Verisign following a landmark achievement in Internet security. As Verisign has now deployed Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in .net, Arbor Networks, Infoblox and RioRey, have completed testing of their technology solutions in the Verisign DNSSEC Interoperability Lab. more

Fishing for QR Code Phishing Traces in the DNS

Threat actors have been seen yet again abusing a technology meant to make things easy for all of us -- QR codes -- in one of the most commonly utilized cybercriminal activities - phishing. The rise in QR code phishing isn't surprising given that according to several studies, as much as 86% of the entire global population use their mobile phones for all kinds of transactions, including financial ones. more

AusRegistry International Appoints Former ICANN Manager Donna Austin

AusRegistry International announced today it has appointed Donna Austin to the role of Senior Domain Name Industry Consultant, in a move that reinforces the organisation's mission to establish an industry-leading position as a provider of Domain Name Registry Services. more

IPv4 Prices Decline Amid Surge in Large Block Supply

A recent influx of /16 IPv4 address blocks has sent ripples through the secondary market, triggering a notable decline in average sale prices for the largest address sizes. According to data from IPv4.Global's March 2025 report, average prices for /16 blocks have fallen from nearly $50 per address in mid -- 2024 to just over $24 by March 2025. more

Religion, Tech and Automotive Sectors Get the Luck of the Draw in New Top-Level Domain Program

The global governing body for the Internet (ICANN) held a Prioritisation Draw on Monday to determine the order in which evaluation results will be released for the 1930 new Top-Level Domain (TLD) program applicants. more

.TECH Gets Its Big Hollywood Break

Marketing and Advertising genius, Sheeraz Hasan, known for successfully creating huge social media amplification for Fortune 100 companies through celebrity endorsements and social media influencers, has announced the launch of his latest venture on a .TECH domain. more

New .BET Domain Now Available to the Public

Afilias, a leading domain registry operator, announces public availability today for the new "dot BET" or .BET top level domain; .BET is being launched to support the burgeoning gaming industry making it easier for consumers to find betting sites. more

Cybersecurity During the Busiest Shopping Days of the Year

The holiday season is just around the corner, and with that, shoppers are starting to make their lists. According to an Adobe Report, the 2020 holiday season exceeded $188 billion in online sales in the United States alone, an increase of 32% compared with 2019. more

DNS Deep Diving into Pig Butchering Scams

New kids on the cybercrime block, pig butchering scams, have been making waves lately, and it is not surprising why. Scammers have been earning tons from them by being able to trick users into investing in seemingly legitimate business ventures but losing their hard-earned cash instead. more

Attack Surface Reduction: Scrutiny of the Top Payment Processing Companies

Almost every transaction on the Internet is riddled with risks, and the use of online payment processing platforms is no exception. With more people opting to transact online and use digital wallets, threat actors have much to gain by targeting online payment processing platforms. more

Did We Miss ICANN’s Reply?

On July 29, the Non-Commercial Users Constituency (NCUC) and Public Interest Registry (PIR) sent out a joint letter to ICANN asking it to consider the interests of the end-users as core to its policies in Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) implementation... As of today's date, August 21, 2008, we have yet to receive even an acknowledgement of receipt of our letter... more

NewDomains.org 2013: Why You Should Be There

Afilias is proud to be a Diamond Sponsor of the 2013 NewDomains.org event, running 28-29 October 2013 in Munich. The timing of the event couldn't be better since ICANN has now taken a giant step forward in the new gTLD program with the delegation of several new TLDs - two in Russian, one in Chinese and one in Arabic. more