News Briefs

Governments Pushing for Greater Control Over Geographic TLDs

Governments are toying with the idea of asking ICANN for greater powers over gTLDs that match their geographic features," Kevin Murphy reporting in Domain Incite. more

Increasingly Aggressive Russia, Cyberwarfare a Growing Threat to UK, Says MI5 Chief

"In the first newspaper interview given by an incumbent MI5 chief in the service's 107-year history, Andrew Parker said that at a time when much of the focus was on Islamic extremism, covert action from other countries was a growing danger. Most prominent was Russia," Ewen MacAskill and Paul Johnson reporting in The Guardian. more

NIST Publishes Guide for DNS-Based Email Security, Draft Open for Public Comments

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has invited comments on a draft practice guide to help organizations improve email security and defend against phishing, man-in-the-middle, and other types of email-based attacks. more

UK Raises Cybersecurity Spending to $2.3 Billion

Britain's finance minister on Tuesday announced government's new five year National Cyber Security Strategy, almost doubling the funding from its 2011 plan to 1.9 billion-pound ($2.3 billion). more

US DMCA Rules Updated - Now Legal to Hack Devices, Cars, Video Games, If Done in ‘Good Faith’

The U.S. government has released an updated version of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), adding a list of new exemptions that will protect cybersecurity professionals from prosecution over reverse-engineering of products for research purposes. more

New Technique Detects and Eliminates Abusive Domains at Time of Registration

A team of researchers from Princeton University and the University of California has developed a machine-learning algorithm named PREDATOR that can accurately establish domain reputation at the time of domain registration. more

Controversial Chinese Cybersecurity Law Gets 3rd Reading

The controversial Chinese cybersecurity law that has been sparking objections amongst foreign governments and business groups reached a step closer to approval today as parliament held the third reading of the draft bill. more

Experts Concerned Over Looming Security Risks of Ultrasonic Cross-Device Tracking

In the upcoming Black Hat London presentation, security researcher from University College London, Vasilios Mavroudis and colleagues are going to describe and demonstrate the practical security and privacy risks that arise with the adoption systems enabled with ultrasonic cross-device tracking (uXDT). more

Teenager Arrested for Launching Accidental DDoS Attack on 911 Systems via Twitter

Cyber Crimes Unit of Maricopa County, Arizona went into full force on October 23, after reports of serious disruptions into the emergency 911 system for the entire Phoenix metro area. more

How .eco Domain Was Won, Vancouver Team Behind the TLD

In the high-stakes world of internet domains, .eco was a dream green prize -- and is now finally going online, Lisa Johnson reporting in CBC News. more

ICANN Update on Cargo Ship Fire that Destroyed Equipment Bound for ICANN57

ICANN has confirmed that all equipment destroyed in the fire are replaced and now in Hyderabad. On September 1, a fire caused by an explosion aboard the cargo ship docked in Hamburg, Germany which contained all of ICANN's technical equipment being transshipped from Helsinki to Hyderabad for the upcoming ICANN57 meetings next week. more

FCC Approves New Privacy Rules Restricting Data Collection by Broadband Providers

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission today voted 3-2 to approve rules requiring broadband Internet Service Providers to provide customers more control over the use of their personal information. more

Google Fiber Pauses Operations Until Further Notice

Access, the Alphabet internet division containing Google Fiber, is laying off about nine percent of its staff and "pausing" fiber operations while looking for alternate ways to deliver internet service to new cities. more

No Apparent Financial or Political Motivation Behind Dyn DDoS Attacks, Says Intelligence Firm

In an after-action analysis of the Mirai botnet attacks on Dyn, business intelligence firm, Flashpoint has assessed with "a moderate degree of confidence" that the perpetrators behind the attack were most likely not politically motivated, and most likely not nation-state actors. more

U.S. Senator Inquiring Into Friday’s Crippling Cyberattack

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, has released a letter asking three federal agencies for information on the tools available that prevent cyber criminals from compromising consumer products, such as Internet of Things (IoT) devices. more