Google Drops Out of Pentagon’s $10B Cloud Competition, Says Deal May Clash With Its AI Values

Alphabet Inc.'s Google has announced that it will not compete for the Pentagon's cloud-computing contract with an estimated value of $10 billion; says the project may conflict with its corporate values on artificial intelligence. more

Google Signs Memoranda of Understanding With Four Cuban Organizations

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel addressed the first annual meeting of Cuba's IT professional society, the Unión de Informáticos de Cuba. In his talk, Díaz-Canel announced that four Cuban organizations - the Havana City Historian's Office, the University of Computer Sciences (UCI), Infomed, Cuba's medical network, and the Ministry of Culture had signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with Google. more

Pen Testing the US Cyber Strategy

If it's not an era of intense faith in the multilateral system, somewhere among the Trump Administration's anonymous adults in the room there is a believer, and the Internet might be the better for it. Evidence for the existence of this fifth columnist lies in the US National Cyber Strategy, launched last month under the commander-in-chief's unprepossessing signature, which looks to provide security for America's connected economy. more

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s Meeting With Tech Company Executives

While Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel was in New York to address the United Nations, he met with members of Congress and executives from the agriculture, travel and information and communication technology (ICT) industries. The ICT meeting was at Google's New York office and ten other companies attended. In addition to Díaz-Canel the Cuban ministers of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment and Communications were at the meeting. more

Thankful for a Domain That Gives Back

Thanksgiving is just around the corner in Canada. It's a time of year when the harvest is in, the weather grows colder and families gather to give thanks for all they have. It is in this moment of gratitude that I want to highlight one of the most valuable and unique offerings in our industry: the ways in which country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) give back. Canadians who choose to use a ccTLD, which for us is .CA, help contribute to investments in the internet community. more

Entire Broadband Industry Sues California Over New Net Neutrality Law

Lobby groups representing U.S. broadband industry today filed a lawsuit against California to stop the state's new net neutrality law. more

The Diet Pill Security Model

The information security industry, lacking social inhibitions, generally rolls its eyes at anything remotely hinting to be a "silver bullet" for security. Despite that obvious hint, marketing teams remain undeterred at labeling their companies upcoming widget as the savior to the next security threat (or the last one -- depending on what's in the news today). I've joked in the past that the very concept of a silver bullet is patently wrong... more

Remedies for Cybersquatting: New gTLD Domain Names

In the discussions proceeding the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) publishing The Management Of Internet Names And Addresses: Intellectual Property Issues (Final Report, April 30, 1999) that ultimately led to the ICANN implementing the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) (1999) commentators considered three remedies to combat cybersquatting: suspending, cancelling, and transferring infringing domain names. more

US Department of Justice Sues California Over Its New Net Neutrality Law

The U.S. Department of Justice on Sunday night filed a lawsuit against California over the new net neutrality law after just an hour the bill was signed. more

IPv6 Security Considerations

When rolling out a new protocol such as IPv6, it is useful to consider the changes to security posture, particularly the network's attack surface. While protocol security discussions are widely available, there is often not "one place" where you can go to get information about potential attacks, references to research about those attacks, potential counters, and operational challenges. more

ICANN - A Catalyst for Development

In 1998 the idea of "Newco," ICANN's informal predecessor name, was dreamlike. It was so new, so unprecedented, that it was constantly being referred to as an "experiment." It was not every day that one came across an organization conceived by one nation (e.g., the U.S.), that was available for globally shared ownership. One that was defined, in large part, by international participation. more

Facebook Security Vulnerability Allowed Attackers to Steal User Access Tokens Affecting 50 Million

Facebook alerted users today that its engineering team on Tuesday had discovered a security issue affecting almost 50 million accounts. more

Security Experts, Privacy Advocates Hopeful Rollout of 5G Can Eliminate Surveillance Vulnerabilities

Security experts and privacy advocates see the rollout of the new 5G wireless network as a possible solution to eliminate surveillance vulnerabilities that allow spying on nearby phone calls. more

The Security Talent Gap Is Misunderstood and AI Changes It All

Despite headlines now at least a couple of years old, the InfoSec world is still (largely) playing lip-service to the lack of security talent and the growing skills gap. The community is apt to quote and brandish the dire figures, but unless you're actually a hiring manager striving to fill low to mid-level security positions, you're not feeling the pain -- in fact, there's a high probability many see problem as a net positive in terms of their own employment potential and compensation. more

The Emergence and Consolidation of a Jurisprudence of Domain Names

One of the fallouts of disruptive inventions is the need for new laws to counter their unexpected consequences. As it concerned the Internet, these consequences included a new tort of registering domain names identical or confusingly similar to trademarks and service marks with the intention of taking unlawful advantage of rights owners. Prior to 2000 the only civil remedy for "cybersquatting" or "cyber piracy" was expensive and time-consuming plenary actions in courts of competent jurisdiction under national trademark laws. more