DNS

Evolving the Internet Through COVID-19 and Beyond

As we approach four months since the WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic, and with lockdowns and other restrictions continuing in much of the world, it is worth reflecting on how the Internet has coped with the changes in its use, and on what lessons we can learn from these for the future of the network. The people and companies that build and operate the Internet are always planning for more growth in Internet traffic. more

Trump Admin Ramping Up Attacks on GDPR – Says It Helps Cybercrime, Threatens Public Health

While the EU is boasting about the success of its flagship privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the U.S. administration is ramping up attacks on the system, saying it provides cover to cybercriminals and threatens public health. more

Building a New Era of Trust on the Internet

Since Tim Berners-Lee first introduced us to the world wide web, we have seen several major phases of its growth. From the early years -- where researchers and open Internet pioneers led the way; to the dot-com boom; to the era of social media domination; the web has come a long way. While the pandemic circling the globe has undermined many critical systems and institutions of our society, I believe it also has the potential to strengthen is the resolve of the Internet community... more

A DNS View of Lockdown

At NANOG 79 earlier this month Craig Labowitz from Nokia Deepfield presented on the impact on the COVID-19 pandemic on Internet use. The approach to the analysis used real-time streaming telemetry from Communication Service Provider (CSP) backbone and aggregation routers, and the data analysis covered content provider networks in North America, Europe and parts of Asia. more

Technology Adoption in the Internet

How are new technologies adopted in the Internet? What drives adoption? What impedes adoption? These were the questions posed at a panel session at the recent EuroDiG workshop in June. In many ways, this is an uncomfortable question for the Internet, given the Internet's uncontrolled runaway success in its first two decades. The IPv4 Internet was deployed about as quickly as capital, expertise, and resources could be bought to bear on the problem... more

Hundreds of “George Floyd” and “Black Lives Matter” Domain Names Appear in the DNS

Trending news and global events impact domain registration behaviors. We observed a slew of coronavirus-themed domain name registrations, for example, as early as January. George Floyd's death, which sparked several Black Lives Matter movements, is no different. Three days after George Floyd died, our data feed started detecting George Floyd-themed domain names... We retrieved all domain names that contain the strings "eorge," and "lackliv" from 28 May to 7 June and found 402. more

9th Registration Operations Workshop (ROW), June 16th, 2020, Online

The Registration Operations Workshop (ROW) was conceived as an informal industry conference that would provide a forum for discussion of the technical aspects of registration operations in the domain name system and IP addressing. The 9th ROW will be held online on Tuesday, June 16th, 2020 at 13h00-16h00 UTC. more

The Impact of a Pandemic on Cyberattacks and Business Continuity Plans

A new survey of security and IT leaders by csoonline.com sheds light on how organizations across industries are dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, how prepared they were when the pandemic first hit, how vulnerable they are, and what the long-term impact on companies may be. Unsurprisingly, the survey found there has been an increased number of employees working from home. more

CircleID Launches the First in a Series of Community Dialogues on COVID-19 and the Internet

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the rapid migration of the world's workforce and consumer services to virtual spaces, has amplified the Internet governance and policy issues including infrastructure, access, exponential instances of fraud and abuse, global cooperation and data privacy, to name but a few. The need for practical, scalable and efficient solutions has risen dramatically. more

COVID Domain Registrations Surged in March

The Internet and the domain name system (DNS) have become the mainstay of the new COVID sheltered world. Afilias looked at registrations in the unrestricted domain name space, with a special focus on the popular .INFO, .PRO, .MOBI and .IO domain name extensions. The data shows that the number of website and domain registrations related to COVID and Coronavirus in these extensions is flattening after a surge in March. more

Call for Participation – ICANN DNSSEC and Security Workshop at ICANN68 Virtual Policy Forum

If you are interested in speaking at the ICANN 68 DNSSEC Workshop, please send a brief (1-2 sentence) description of your proposed presentation to [email protected] by 29 May 2020. This online workshop will be Monday, 22 June 2020, from 02:00 – 04:30 UTC (10:00 – 12:30 Kuala Lumpur) We are doing something new this time and would like to get a feel for attendance for this virtual meeting. more

3 Reasons It’s Crucial to Review Your Domain Lock Portfolio Now

Just as we started the new year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's (CISA) issued an alert. On January 6, 2020 , they warned of domain name system (DNS) hijacking and other cyber threats that may be used by nation-state threat actors to disrupt business activity and take control of vital internet assets. A familiar refrain heard in 2019 now repeating in 2020. more

ICANN Org’s Multifaceted Response to DNS Abuse

While the March report from ICANN's Domain Abuse Activity Reporting system show a general reduction in second-level gTLD domain names identified as being used in phishing, malware distribution, and botnet command and control, it has been widely reported that criminals are taking advantage of the global COVID-19 pandemic by launching malicious online campaigns. There have also been numerous reports of spikes in the use of COVID-19-related domain names for DNS Abuse. more

Remote Work Demands Encryption

Now that we are all working from home (WFH), the need for encryption must also increase in priority and awareness. Zoom's popular video conferencing solution got in hot water because they promised "end-to-end" encryption but didn't deliver on it - prompting some organizations to ban it from use altogether. Encryption protects confidential information from being exposed in transmission, providing a secure way for the intended recipient to get the information without snooping by others. more

Mobilizing the Internet Community for Coronavirus Pandemic Communications

The Coronavirus pandemic has profound impact on every aspect of every person's life. We all have turned to the Internet to stay informed on this one subject. Unfortunately, the Internet community is not equipped to organize the Internet around one subject. Governments and businesses are reorganizing their websites daily to make new paths to new coronavirus information on many topics suitable for their many audiences. more