Phishers Using New Web-Based Technique ‘In-Session Phishing’ to Steal User Data, Researchers Warn

Security researchers have identified a new phishing attack method designed to trick users into surrendering confidential information after they have logged on to an online banking, brokerage, or other sensitive website. The technique, called In Session Phishing, can be used to inject into all major browsers legitimate looking Pop Up messages using malicious JavaScript that request passwords, account numbers, etc., on behalf of the trusted website. more

China Orders All Newly Built Residences to Install Fiber Optic Connections

All newly built residences located in counties and cities where a public fiber optic telecom network is available, have to be equipped with fiber network connections, according to new Chinese government policy from its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. "The standards will take effect from April 1, 2013, and will also require residences to offer equal connections to services from various telecom companies allowing customers to choose which service they want," reports the China Daily. more

The World’s First Treaty on AI: Our Thoughts and the Way Forward

The most contentious issue throughout negotiations was that of scope—whether the Convention would cover the private sector at all, and if so, to what extent. Leaks of the negotiations and commentary by journalists indicate that several states, primarily the United States, were keen to see the Convention not directly applying to private entities. more

How Companies Can Use the UDRP to Combat Rising COVID-19-Related Phishing

Straightforward out-of-court domain name proceeding can provide efficient relief against fraudulent websites and email. Google has seen a steep rise amid the Coronavirus pandemic in new websites set up to engage in phishing (i.e. fraudulent attempts to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and financial details). Companies in all industries - not just the financial sector - are at risk from this nefarious practice. But one relatively simple out-of-court proceeding may provide relief. more

Close to a Quarter of ZeroAccess Botnet Disabled, Reports Symantec

Symantec has disabled part of one of the world's largest networks of infected computers, according to reports today. About 500,000 hijacked computers have been taken out of the 1.9 million strong ZeroAccess botnet. The zombie computers were used for advertising and online currency fraud and to infect other machines. Security experts warned that any benefits from the takedown might be short-lived. more

Broadband Internet Crunch is Beginning to Occur

Internet demand remains at a rate which could outpace capacity within the next two to four years, according to "Internet Interrupted: Why Architectural Limitations Will Fracture the 'Net," a new report today from Nemertes Research. ...If left unaddressed, the development of next generation applications, from software to interactive video, will likely be stifled as users find Internet infrastructure incapable of efficiently delivering quality content. more

IDN ccTLD Fast Track developments

The IDN ccTLD Fast Track program is moving along rapidly, with ICANN's announcement that both the Simplified and Traditional Chinese script versions of .china have passed the string evaluation phase of the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Program. Alongside this, ICANN have also announced the release of a proposed implementation plan for 'Synchronised IDN ccTLDs' that will create the rules by which these variant IDN ccTLDs will coexist. more

No Honor Among Thieves on the Internet

Apple's Wordwide Developers Conference may have just ended, but already, the conference release of Mac's OS X 10.6 — a beta build previewed for developers — has been leaked onto torrent sites. It borders on irony: for years, Mac lovers have touted the superior security of the Mac operating system over Windows, but earlier this year, it was torrent sites — the very sites where OS X 10.6 is now being freely copied — that caused more than 25,000 Mac users to fall victim to the iServices Trojan. Some Macs never learn. more

Brussels Mandate: Community-Developed Tmch Gains Ascendancy

ICANN has tentatively agreed to proceed with the community-developed Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) model following two days of discussions at a specially organised informal meeting in Brussels last week. I believe this is an important breakthrough for the intellectual property, registry and registrar communities as it provides the best harmony between technical implementation and best practice trademark protection policy. more

Key Members of Congress Call for Permanent ICANN-US Tie

Philip Corwin of the Internet Commerce Associations reports: "In a stunning rebuke of ICANN's assertion that it had achieved sufficient accountability and professional stature to justify termination of its unique relationship with the U.S. government, the Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce as well as the Chairman of its Internet Subcommittee, along with eight other Committee members, dispatched a joint letter on August 4th to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke urging that the relationship between ICANN and the U.S. be made permanent and strengthened." more

Is Anti-Virus Dead?

Each SANSFIRE, the Handlers who can make it to DC get together for a panel discussion on the state of information security. Besides discussion of the hot DNS issue, between most of us there is a large consensus into some of the biggest problems that we face. Two come to mind, the fact that "users will click anything" and that "anti-virus is no longer sufficient". These are actually both related in my mind... more

My Top Takeaways from DNS-OARC 24

The 24th DNS-OARC meeting was held last week in Buenos Aires -- a two-day DNS workshop with amazingly good, consistent content. The programme committee are to be congratulated on maintaining a high quality of presentations. Here are my picks of the workshop. They fall into three groups, covering themes I found interesting... These presentations related to the ongoing problem of DNS as a source of reflection attacks, or a victim of attempted DDoS... more

Update on the 5G Race in the US

It's been a while since I checked in to see how the U.S. is doing in the 5G race. I haven't been following the issue since before the pandemic when the U.S. government was tossing around the idea of buying a controlling interest in Nokia or Ericsson. That idea went nowhere but led to a lot of articles in the business press. I decided to look anew after seeing recently that the FCC is estimating that it would cost U.S. carriers about $1.8 billion to replace Huawei and ZTE gear in U.S. more

Why ‘Trust Me’ is a Bad Model for Internet Governance

"Trust me" is not a model for good governance of the Internet or anything else, says Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). "With the U.S. government relinquishing control of Internet governance, ICANN -- the global nonprofit organization responsible for managing key Internet functions -- will be operating independently without serious checks and balances..." more

US Broadband Speed 15 Years Behind South Korea at Current Rate of Growth

According to research by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), from 2007 to 2009, the average download Internet speed in the United States has increased by only 1.6 megabits per second (mbps), from 3.5 mbps in 2007 to 5.1 mbps in 2009. At this rate, CWA says it will take the U.S. 15 years to catch up with current Internet speeds in South Korea, the country with the fastest average Internet connections. "People in Japan can upload a high-definition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed," says the report. more