Domain Names

Threat Actors Might Be Interested in Elon Musk’s Twitter Purchase, Too

The Internet has been abuzz with talks about Elon Musk buying Twitter since he made an initial offer of US$44 billion on 14 April 2022. The even bigger news? Twitter accepted the offer despite some employees' qualms about Musk's future plans for the company. more

Through the Spyglass: NSO Group Spyware Pegasus in Focus

The NSO Group has been known for targeting dissident journalists and bloggers notably with its proprietary spyware Pegasus. In November 2021, for instance, Apple sued the NSO Group for its alleged surveillance and targeting of its device users. more

Sinkholing May Not Spell the End for Malware Hosts and Botnets

Sinkholing has long been employed as an effective cybersecurity solution to curb the spread of dangerous malware. Remember the infamous WannaCry ransomware outbreak in 2019? Security teams put a stop to the threat through sinkholing. more

We Don’t Want to Spoil Mother’s Day but These Domains Might

We're supposed to spoil our mothers on Mothers' Day, but with various scams out there, you may end up losing money or with a malware-infected device. WhoisXML API researchers found more than a thousand digital properties that could be used in Mothers' Day scams. more

Cybersecurity and the Environment: 4 Reasons Why They Are Well-Suited

Earth Day 2022's theme is Invest in Our Planet, collectively putting our governments, businesses, and people in charge of how they should be investing in our planet so it's here for generations to come. Last year, during the COP26 in Glasgow, diplomats of almost 200 countries reached a deal to fight against climate change. more

Expanding the Conti Ransomware IoCs Using WHOIS and IP Clues

On 9 March 2022, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added 98 indicators of compromise (IoCs) to their Conti ransomware alert page. WhoisXML API researchers examined these flagged domain names for recurring characteristics to uncover more artifacts. more

HermeticWiper: Another Threat Targeting Ukraine at Large

HermeticWiper, also known as "IsaacWiper" or "Sandworm," which wipes the data on computers, rendering them useless, has reportedly affected hundreds of Ukrainian users since it surfaced. While a few cybersecurity specialists have publicized indicators of compromise (IoCs) related to the ongoing campaigns, we found more connected web properties that users may need to steer clear of to avoid becoming the next victims. more

Operation Dream Job: Same Tactics, New Vulnerability and Domains?

Operation Dream Job, a malicious group first seen in 2020, involves threat actors spoofing job hunting sites to lure people. It resurfaced in February 2022, this time exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome more than a month before the flaw was detected and a patch was made available. more

What Are the DNS Artifacts Associated With APT36 or Earth Karkaddan?

APT36 or Earth Karkaddan is an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor group targeting various government entities, most especially those based in India. The web properties they use for campaigns include only a few domains and IP addresses along with related malware hashes as indicators of compromise (IoCs). more

Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief: 341.7 Million Domain Name Registrations in Q4 2021

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the fourth quarter of 2021 closed with 341.7 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, an increase of 3.3 million domain name registrations, or 1.0%, compared to the third quarter of 2021. more