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."
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.
Cyber espionage is a type of cyber attack that aims to steal sensitive and often classified information to gain an advantage over a company or government. The 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) revealed that several hundreds of incidents across industries in the previous year were motivated by espionage.
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.
Elections and other events related to the government typically drive a great amount of Internet activity. Considering the domain name space, we found 4,197 subdomains related to the U.S. elections and the government in general.
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.
A year after KPMG migrated all their webpages under home.kpmg, the Brand Registry Group interviewed them to talk about the impact. In the interview, KPMG shares how planning and communication are key in changing to a .BRAND domain name. Their experience ties in nicely to CSC’s three-phase .BRAND approach.
Cybercrime is first and foremost financially motivated. Cybercriminals look for lucrative targets, including social media networks with hundreds of millions of monthly active users. We put this perspective to the test by analyzing the domain attack surface of three of today's largest social media platforms.
Just as no man is an island, no company can perform core functions without other organizations' help. This fact is highlighted in today's age of outsourcing, partnership, and third-party connections. Unfortunately, threat actors have also found a massive opportunity in these relationships.