News Briefs

Iranian Influence Operation Worldwide Significantly Larger Than Previously Identified

An apparent Iranian influence operation targeting internet users worldwide is reported as significantly larger than previously identified, Reuters reports. more

How the Internet Grew in 2009

Internet 2009 in numbers as reported by Royal Pingdom: In 2009 there were 90 trillion emails sent; 100 million new email users; 24 percent increase in spam; 47 million new websites; 8 percent increase in domain names with the total reaching 187 million; 18 percent increase in overall Internet users with the worldwide total reaching 1.73 billion; and new zombie computers created reach 148,000 per day. more

EFF: Internet Went All Out in Support of Net Neutrality

Yesterday's "Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality," resulted in more than 3.4 million emails to U.S. Congress and more than 1.6 million comments to the Federal Communications Commission. more

FCC Confirms Tom Wheeler as the New Chairman

The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed Tom Wheeler to be chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The former wireless industry lobbyist, nominated by President Obama back in May, will be replacing acting chairwoman Mignon Clyburn, who stepped in for former FCC chief Julius Genachowski when he left five months ago. more

Russia Hacker Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison by U.S. Federal District Court

A 32-year-old Russia man was sentenced on Friday to 27 years in prison for computer hacking crimes that is reported to have caused over $169 million in damages to small businesses and financial institutions. more

In a Rare Meeting, Huawei Founder Addresses Concerns Over Tech Giant Spying for Chinese Government

In a rare meeting, Ren Zhengfei the founder of the Chinese tech giant Huawei assured foreign reporters that his company would refuse to disclose secrets about its customers and their communication networks. more

Massive Data Breach Hits HCA: 11 Million Records Compromised

In what is currently the largest healthcare industry data breach, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) has confirmed the theft of 11 million patient records. HCA, one of the country's most prominent healthcare providers, believes the breach originated from an external storage system used for email automation. more

The Digital Strategy and DotOps Congress (Amsterdam, September 2014)

Momentum has announced that the upcoming Digital Strategy & DotOps Congress will be held in Amsterdam, September 18-19, 2014. The group says that it has completely updated the program agenda for this 5th installment in Momentum's Digital Strategy and gTLD Congress series. more

Microsoft’s Brad Smith Calls for a ‘Digital Geneva Convention’ to Protect Civilians

In a blog post published today on Microsoft's website, company President and Chief Legal Officer, Brad Smith, has raised concerns over escalating cyberattcks over the past year and the need for a Digital Geneva Convention. more

U.S. Government Officials Raise Concerns Over Intel’s Long Delay Informing Government on Chip Flaws

Latest reports suggest Intel Corporation did not inform U.S. cyber security officials about the so-called Meltdown and Spectre chip security flaws until they were leaked to the public six months after Intel was notified about the problem. 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

KRACK Attack Can Affect All Modern WiFi Networks, Researchers Have Disclosed

Security researchers Mathy Vanhoef and Frank Piessens have detected a major vulnerability in the WPA2 protocol that secures all protected Wi-Fi networks. more

Arbor Networks: Internet Architecture and Operations Facing Perfect Storm

According to the latest Infrastructure Security Report by Arbor Netowrks, the Internet architecture and operations is about to face a perfect storm with the convergence of issues including IPv4 to IPv6 migration, implementation of DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and to 4-byte ASNs (used for inter-domain routing on the Internet). "Any one of these changes alone would constitute a significant architectural and operational challenge for network operators; considered together, they represent the greatest and potentially most disruptive set of circumstances in the history of the Internet, given its growth in importance to worldwide communications and commerce," says the report.
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Overview of the Global Domain Market, Afnic Study

Afnic, the French Network Information Centre and manager of the .fr TLD, today published its report on the global domain market in 2016. more

Trump Administration Doubles Down on Surveillance

The White House has expressed its full support on the need for permanent reauthorization of Section 702, created "to address an intelligence-collection gap that resulted from the evolution of technology in the years after FISA became law in 1978." more