Biden Administration Bans Kaspersky Software Over National Security Concerns

The Biden administration is set to prohibit the sale of Kaspersky Lab's antivirus software in the U.S., citing national security risks due to the company's ties to the Russian government. more

FCC Proposes Over $200 Million in Fines Against Four Largest Wireless Carriers

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has proposed fines against the country's four largest wireless carriers for apparently selling access to their customers' location information without taking reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to that information. more

Law as Unusual: Quantum Computing’s Five-Dimensional Challenge to the Legal Establishment

Quantum computers are coming, and the American Bar Association's SciTech section is beginning to consider the legal implications. This raises the question, will the legal profession be able to adopt emerging quantum technologies on a tech-business as a usual basis? Or will the developments flowing from quantum mechanical theory present a categorical challenge to the legal-industrial complex? more

SpaceX Starlink Beta, Phase Two

According to an email, Starlink has moved into the second phase of its beta program, nicknamed the "better than nothing beta," which feels a bit like monopoly hubris to me. It may be better than nothing, but it is not as good as the initial beta, which was free. Participants will pay $99 per month for the service and pay $499 for a terminal, including a tripod and WiFi router. I wonder what the difference is between these "beta testers" and "customers." more

Probability of ROI and Tighter Network Security by Blocking Malicious Subdomains

Failing to block a stealthy malicious host from making connections to your network could cost your company millions of dollars, a damaged reputation, and severe losses in sensitive private data. Threat intel teams have faced on-going problems: Expensive feeds that are slow to catch new threats; Chasing false positives in alerts wastes time and money; and Vendors selling a new appliance for every ill. Would 100% of your users Spot the Bot? more

Models for Muni WiFi Completely Neglect Technology Evolution

Modern travel means interminable waits, but it's a good time for reading. I finally read Wireless Pittsburgh: Sustainability of Possible Models for a Wireless Metropolitan-Area Network by Jon M. Peha, published in February as a working paper of the New America Foundation. The good news: it's full of interesting cost estimates and projected subscriber take rates based on specific demographics in Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and Philadelphia... The flaws in this study...
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The Start of Something Big: ICANN Announces Planning for Round Two of New gTLDs

ICANN has published a short paper in advance of its 65th meeting in Marrakech which starts on 23 June 2019. Entitled, "ICANN Org's Readiness to Support Future Rounds of New gTLDs," it describes ICANN's working assumptions for "policy implementation and operational readiness for a subsequent round of new gTLDs". The document is necessary for ICANN to move forward with essential preparations for the next round. more

The Rise of WiFi Sensing and Its Implications for Home Security and Surveillance

It's incredibly hard to keep things private in the new digital age. There are far too many stories circulating about people who talked to a friend on the phone or texted about something and almost instantly got hit with ads for the subject of the conversation. And that happens without malware - no telling what information you're giving out if your devices have been infected with malicious software that is spying on you. more

A Cynic’s View of 2015 Security Predictions - Part 2

Every year those in the security industry are bombarded with various cyber security predictions. There's the good, the bad and the ugly. Some predictions are fairly ground breaking, while others are just recycled from previous years -- that's allowed of course if the threats still stand. In part one of my predictions I looked at the malware threats, so let's take a look at big data and the cloud for part two. more

Beyond Telco 2.0 and Quadruple Play

One of the great challenges has been to conceive a business model for next generation telephone companies. This is constrained by their limited core competences which do not match well with many of the opportunities that lie in entertainment and complex/customised bundles for consumers. Frost & Sullivan, a leading firm of industry analysts, notes the enthusiasm of service providers to offer connectivity, entertainment and information services, within a digitally connected world... more

The .Corp, .Home & .Mail Quandary

On 24 August, fifteen applicants for the .corp, .home, or .mail (CHM) new gTLDs sent a letter to the ICANN Board asking for action on the stalled process of the their applications. This points to the answer for the question I asked in march of this year: Whatever happened with namespace collision issues and the gTLD Round of 2012. As the letter from the applicants indicates, ICANN has done little to deal with issues concerned with namespace collisions in the last 2 years. Is it now time for action? more

Spammer Convicted on Wire Fraud Charges - United States v. Diamreyan

Earlier this year Okpako Mike Diamreyan was found guilty of wire fraud. The district court recently denied his motion for judgment of acquittal. Diamreyan "was charged with devising a scheme to defraud known as an 'advance fee.'" As the court describes it, this is a "scam . . . where a person asks an individual to pay an advance fee in order to obtain a larger sum of money, which the individual [victim] never receives." ... Two things about the case struck me... more

Facebook and PGP

Facebook just announced support for PGP, an encrypted email standard, for email from them to you. It's an interesting move on many levels, albeit one that raises some interesting questions. The answers, and Facebook's possible follow-on moves, are even more interesting. The first question, of course, is why Facebook has done this. It will only appeal to a very small minority of users. Using encrypted email is not easy. more

ION Conference At USENIX LISA This Week Features IPv6 and DNSSEC Sessions - Will Be Livestreamed

If any of you are attending the USENIX Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference in San Diego this week, the Internet Society's "Internet ON" (ION) Conference is co-located with LISA12 and will take place tomorrow, December 11, 2012, from 1:30 - 5:00 pm US Pacific time. more

Thoughts on World IPv6 Day

As I'm sure you've heard by now, June 8, 2011 is World IPv6 Day. On that day, several major content providers will turn on IPv6 on their public-facing services for a 24-hour period and see what happens. For some time, there's been concern that turning on IPv6 on a web site's main URL would cause unacceptable levels of breakage. Nevertheless, forward-looking organizations realized that they needed to start deploying IPv6. more