News Briefs

Record Number of Malware Variants Detected in Q4 of 2014, Retail/Service Most Targeted

During the 4th quarter of 2014, a record number of malware variants were detected -- an average of 255,000 new threats each day, according a recent report by Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG). The group further reports that the number of unique phishing reports submitted to APWG during Q4 was 197,252 -- an increase of 18 percent from the 163,333 received in Q3 of 2014. more

ICANN Appoints Cyrus Namazi as VP of Global Domains Division

ICANN has appointed Cyrus Namazi for its newly created position of Senior Vice President of the Global Domains Division (GDD). more

CENTR Announces Public Release of the Code for Its Domain Crawler Project

This open-source initiative is designed to systematically gather and analyze data on new domain registrations, with the goal of enhancing transparency and fostering innovation across the European domain landscape. more

U.S. Health Agency Suffers From Cyberattack, COVID-19 Disruptions by Foreign Actors Suspected

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) is reported to have suffered from cyberattacks on its computer system believed, by those familiar with the incident, to be a disruption and disinformation campaign aimed at undermining the response to the coronavirus pandemic. more

Google Announces Nomulus, Open Source Top-Level Domain Name Registry

Google today announced the release of Nomulus, a new open source cloud-based registry platform that runs Google's top level domains (TLDs) and now available to everyone. more

New Research Predicts 1B Mobile Cloud Computing Subscribers by 2014

Over the next five years, the number of mobile cloud computing subscribers worldwide are expected to grow rapidly, "rising from 42.8 million subscribers in 2008, (approximately 1.1% of all mobile subscribers) to just over 998 million in 2014 (nearly 19%)," according to the latest study by ABI Research. "From 2008 through 2010, subscriber numbers will be driven by location-enabled services, particularly navigation and map applications. A total of 60% of the mobile Cloud application subscribers worldwide will use an application enabled by location during these years,” says senior analyst Mark Beccue. more

Released: Planning Guide/Roadmap Toward IPv6 Adoption Within the US Government

On behalf of the Federal CIO Council, US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced today the release of the "Planning Guide/Roadmap toward IPv6 Adoption within the US Government". This document defines the Federal Government's Internet Protocol version (IPv6) direction, building upon requirements set forth in OMB Memorandum 05-22. It was developed by the CIO Council's IPv6 Working Group, in partnership with the American Council on Technology / Industry Advisory Committee, in consultation with and review by the Federal CIO community. more

NANOG 95: From Faster Fibre to Route Leaks, Operators Face Old Problems with New Tools

The NANOG 95 conference spotlighted breakthroughs in fibre optics, wireless technology, routing security, and quantum computing, offering a forward-looking assessment of internet infrastructure and its vulnerabilities, as reported by APNIC's Geoff Huston. more

US Department of Homeland Security Issues Emergency Directive Ordering Agencies to Audit DNS Records

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a rare "emergency" directive ordering federal agencies to audit all DNS records within ten days. more

Average Daily Malware at All Time High, Spam Lowest Since 2008

McAfee, Inc. today unveiled its McAfee Threats Report: Third Quarter 2010, which uncovered that average daily malware growth has reached its highest levels, with an average of 60,000 new pieces of malware identified per day, almost quadrupling since 2007. At the same time, spam levels decreased in volume this quarter, both globally and in local geographies. Spam hit a two year low this quarter while malware continued to soar. More than 14 million unique pieces of malware were identified in 2010, one million more than Q3 2009. more

DDoS Attack Size Breaks 100 Gbps for First Time, Up 1000% Since 2005

"2010 should be viewed as the year distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks became mainstream as many high profile attacks were launched against popular Internet services and other well known targets," reports Arbor Networks in its just released Sixth Annual Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report. According to the report, the year also witnessed a sharp escalation in the scale and frequency of DDoS attack activity on the Internet. The 100 Gbps attack barrier was reached for the first time while application layer attacks hit an all-time high. Service providers experienced a marked impact on operational expense, revenue loss and customer churn as a result. more

Domain Name Registrations Reach 209.8 Million, 2.2 Percent Increase over 2010 Q4

The latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by Verisign reports 4.5 million domain names were added to the Internet in the first three months of 2011. According to the report, the first quarter of 2011 closed with a base of more than 209.8 million domain name registrations across all Top Level Domains (TLDs), or a 2.2 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2010. Registrations grew by 15.3 million, or 7.9 percent year over year. more

The .ORG Acquisition Delayed Following California’s Attorney General Letter to ICANN

ICANN has delayed the decision for the sale of the .ORG registry, pushing the issue off for another month following a last minute letter from California's attorney. more

Verizon, AT&T Speeds Slow After Unlimited Data Plans Launch

Verizon and AT&T re-introduced their unlimited data plans earlier this year, and as a result, studies show that the providers' 4G speeds and overall speeds have fallen due to increased data demand on their networks. more

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites for Global Cellular Coverage

SpaceX successfully launched 21 satellites, including the first six Starlink satellites equipped with "Direct to Cell" capabilities. These advanced satellites aim to offer seamless global access to texting, calling, and browsing for mobile network operators worldwide, eliminating dead zones with a space-based cellphone tower. more