Researchers Use Social Graphs to Detect Spammers, Attackers

A project named S-GPS or Spammer Global Positioning System, by Microsoft researchers uses spammer identification rather than spam identification to identify zombie-based spammers. more

Internet Groups Inaugurate First of Three Cyber Security Facilities

ICANN and internet exchange firm Packet Clearing House (PCH) have joined forces with Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) to launch the first of three facilities designed to boost the adoption of Domain Name System Security (DNSSEC) among country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs). The three new facilities, located in Singapore; Zurich, Switzerland (still under construction) and San Jose, California, provide cryptographic security using the recently deployed DNSSEC protocol. more

Measuring World IPv6 Day - First Impressions

The RIPE NCC took active measurements of World IPv6 Day participants before, during and after World IPv6 Day (in cooperation with CAIDA). We selected 53 participants and performed periodical A and AAAA DNS lookups and HTTP fetches from 40 servers worldwide. For HTTP, we fetched data over IPv4 and IPv6. These provide important control points... more

ICANN Approves New gTLD Program; Applications Accepted January 2012

In what can best be described as a historic decision, today the ICANN Board overwhelmingly approved the new gTLD Program with a vote of 13 to 1 with 2 abstentions. Applications for new gTLDs will be accepted from January 12, 2012 to April 12, 2012. Experts believe that there will likely be hundreds of new applications submitted during this first round. more

End of Cybersquatting? The gTLD Advantage

On the other hand, major dot brand generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) are for internal and controlled sub registrations, they would not be open to first come public offerings and therefore it makes no sense for IBM to plan advance purchase of ibm.canon, as Canon, owner of their own gTLD dot canon, unless mutually agreed between two brands, would have no incentive to sell such a registration to a cyber squatter or to anyone else for that matter. more

Minding the GAC and the Heckler’s Veto

ICANN meetings sometimes congeal around a single theme. In San Francisco the theme was captured on clever t-shirts bearing the iconic symbol of the London Underground with the words, "Mind the GAC." Here was a succinct and timely plea for the ICANN Board to pay serious attention to the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC)'s concerns about new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs), rather than to risk undermining the long-term viability of the multi-stakeholder model. more

Bring a Responsible Closure to the New gTLD Process - The Home Stretch

Over the course of the last year, the ICANN Board and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) have constructively worked through a long list of their differences contained in the GAC scorecard. As we near the finish line with Monday's scheduled ICANN Board meeting to approve the Applicant Guidebook, there remains a small handful of issues that will hopefully be resolved in a similar responsible manner during Sunday's ICANN Board/GAC consultation. more

Ensuring Last Minute GAC Safeguards

In light of some changes contained in the most recent Applicant Guidebook as well as some of the proposed contractual provisions contained in the recent IANA Statement of Work, there is a potential growing justification to make some necessary last minute changes to the legal terms and conditions contained in Module 6 of the Applicant Guidebook. Specifically, the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and its individual members have a clearly defined role in the new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) process... more

IPv6 Day a Couple of Days After

June 8th IPv6 World day came and went without any major glitches, let alone disruption of the internet, and witnessed varying traffic fluctuations depending where on the net observations were made. From a Tata Communications AS6453 perspective, a global tier 1 IP wholesale network, data gathered by a number of probes gave an interesting pulse on what happened in some major international arteries of the internet. more

Patient Care Suffers When Data Security is a Budgetary Concern

According to a recent Homeland Security News Wire article, nearly 8 million patient medical records were compromised over the course of the previous two years due to data security breaches. As more hospitals and patient care providers move to store patient data electronically -- primarily as a cost savings effort -- the risk and exposure of our private medical information increases while our individual control over this information diminishes. more

INET New York - Remote Participation Details

The Internet Society (ISOC) will present an INET Regional Conference today June 14 2011 at the Sentry Center in NYC. The theme is "It's your call. What kind Of Internet do you want?". The distinguished line up of speakers will include 'Father of the Internet' Vint Cerf, World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners Lee, and Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the U.S. Department of Commerce Lawrence Strickling. more

Response Policy Zones (RPZs): Use as a Blocklisting Process

Gradually it seems the word is spreading about a new blocking methodology to interrupt the ability of end users to click and visit phishing sites - thereby having their personal information/credentials at risk. This is the DNS Response Policy Zones. DNS RPZs allows companies that run recursive resolvers to create a zone that will not resolve specific domains. more

Deceptive Assurances of Privacy?

Earlier this week, Facebook expanded the roll-out of its facial recognition software to tag people in photos uploaded to the social networking site. Many observers and regulators responded with privacy concerns; EFF offered a video showing users how to opt-out. Tim O'Reilly, however, takes a different tack... O'Reilly's point - and face-recognition technology - is bigger than Facebook. more

M-Commerce Market in China and Globally

M-commerce (mobile e-commerce) incorporates a range of mobile-driven applications, including payments for parking and theatre tickets (m-payments) to mobile banking (m-banking). M-commerce is a broad field incorporating a large variety of services and business models. In 2011, according to Gartner Group, over 15 billion apps are expected to be downloaded worldwide via app stores. They also estimated app store revenues alone reached over $5 billion in 2010 (incorporating revenue generated from both apps purchases and advertising). more

Editorials Against PROTECT-IP

First the Los Angeles Times, now the New York Times have both printed editorials critical of the PROTECT-IP bill. Both the LAT and NYT support copyright - and announce as much in their opening sentences. That doesn't mean we should sacrifice Internet security and stability for legitimate DNS users, nor the transparency of the rule of law. more