Chinese hackers have breached U.S. Navy contractors to steal a wide range of data from ship-maintenance data to missile plans through what is reported as the most debilitating cyber campaigns linked to Beijing. more
More than 30 million people lost their data connectivity on December 6, 2018, in the United Kingdom as O2's network suffered from a nationwide service outage. Based on several reports, the incident was caused by a human error at Ericsson, the telecoms supplier responsible for operating certain parts of the O2 network. To compensate for the downtime and tarnished reputation, the O2 management is now reportedly seeking damages of up to a hundred million pounds from Ericsson. more
The company running the new .LUXE top-level domain (TLD) recently issued an update on its progress with the innovative effort to tie the TLD with blockchain. more
According to the APWG's new Phishing Activity Trends Report released today, phishers are using new techniques to carry out their attacks and hide their origins in order to make the most of every phishing campaign. more
I find myself reading, frequently, about "interesting" exploits of IP routing. Recent history includes the redirection of Telegram traffic to Iran, Google traffic to China, and Cloudflare traffic to Nigeria -- and, per bgpstream.com, 64 events this month, 18 of them on one day. Is this expensive? You bet, both in money and in mindshare. Imagine the impact of discovering your company's name in the press. more
In recent times, I've been struggling to determine where blockchain has demonstrated its immensely promised value, delivered true market or stakeholder value, or disrupted an existing ecosystem. And thus far, what I keep coming up with is that "blockchain is truly a solution searching for a problem." Most of all, many of its enthusiasts and proponents are generally conceptual thinkers and/or snake oil salespersons who have little to no experience delivering secure, integrated, complex systems. more
Last week ETECSA began offering 3G mobile access to Cuba's national intranet and the global Internet and President Diaz-Canal tweeted the news. His tweet has received 216 comments so far and reading through them, many are effusively positive... Others were critical, noting that the prices are high relative to Cuban incomes (one said "absurd") and the technology is obsolete -- "Congratulations, but they're 20 years late." more
Abdul Rahim's Internet governance experience spans over 20 years and most recently she served on the Board of Directors for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). more
The short history of Internet Governance is full of errors, failures, and - mainly - omissions. Despite the shortcomings, we also must acknowledge the achievements of past and present internet governance efforts. In particular, ICANN and its stakeholder constituencies have delivered on the mandate of a stable, secure and resilient Internet. Working with the IANA, IAB and IETF, the operational functions of IP addresses, and the Protocol Assignment and DNS must be seen as an unqualified success. more
After several months of trials, ETECSA announced the availablity of third-generation mobile access to their national intranet and the global Internet in a televised "round table." The prices are quite steep for a typical Cuban and I suspect there would be relatively few subscribers among the 34% of the population that is not yet covered. Furthermore, many users will have to buy new phones to use the service. (There are still 1,084 second-generation mobile base stations in Cuba). more
Public Interest Registry (PIR), the nonprofit operator of the .ORG domain has announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously selected Jonathon Nevett as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective December 17, 2018. more
U.K. Parliament today released 250 pages of internal emails between Facebook and other tech companies regarding accessing user data through the social network's system. more
A new study by Microsoft researchers suggests the actual use of high-speed internet across the US is quite different than those of from the FCC. more
It looks like the smartphone party has come to an end. The slow down which began in the 2013/2014 timeframe has shifted to decline phase with fewer smartphones sold in 2017 as compared to the 2016 numbers. more
Cuba's government monopoly ISP ETECSA in October announced special home connectivity rates for some of the poorest towns in rural Cuba. The monthly charge for 30 hours of 512/256 Kbps DSL access in those towns will be 5 CUC. In other areas where home connectivity is available, the minimum monthly charge is 15 CUC for 30 hours of 1,024/256 kbps service and faster, more expensive, plans are available. more