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The SolarWinds hack affected several government agencies and tech companies in the U.S. and worldwide. The sophisticated malware attack is believed to have compromised the trusted IT management software as early as March 2020 but only came to light in December.
For most people, a domain is just an address that you type into a browser, but for businesses, domain names are the foundation of their online presence. A recent article says, "When it comes to operating a business online, the domain name is the center of everything. The domain name should ensure a frictionless and painless experience for the company, its customers, its partners and suppliers, and its employees."
Intrusion detection systems (IDSs) and intrusion prevention systems (IPSs), collectively called "intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPSs)," monitor network traffic to stave off unauthorized access. Roughly speaking, an IDS detects possible malicious network activities, while an IPS stops malicious traffic from entering and possibly damaging a network.
More recently, phishers used a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) look-alike domain in an attempt to breach several of its members' networks. Tasked to oversee 624,000 brokers in the U.S., attacking FINRA's clientele could yield a hefty sum should phishing email recipients fall for the ruse.
In our latest New gTLD Quarterly Report for the fourth quarter of 2020, we're pleased to provide a collection of articles about Q4 2020 topical registration activity, launch information, DNS abuse, .brand news and notes and industry meeting updates.
This year has seen rapid growth for eCommerce, with people turning to online shopping more than ever due to lockdowns and quarantine restrictions. Recent studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by roughly five years.
Not all of the domains that contain a company's brand are under its control. A portion of them - sometimes even the vast majority -- is typically registered by unidentifiable third parties with masked WHOIS records. Arguably, WHOIS redaction might also be preferred by the companies themselves for privacy purposes. But to which extent is this the case?
Microsoft is among the most imitated brands globally. Running the company's popular product and service names, such as LinkedIn, Office365, and Windows, on a subdomains lookup tool, we uncovered 7,900 related subdomains.
Business email compromise (BEC) attacks are arguably the most sophisticated of all email phishing attacks, and some of the most costly. From 2016-2018, BEC alone made $5.3 billion, but it's not an attack that everyone is familiar with.
The year 2020 has created an increased impetus for change - especially as companies embrace digital transformation at an accelerated pace. Cybercriminals have also upped their game, switching their attention to hot targets such as healthcare and pharmaceutical brands.