8chan Website Pushed Offline Over Ties to the Mass Shooting in El Paso

The notorious social networking website 8chan was taken offline on Monday afternoon following discontinuation of support from various service providers to the platform over its links to the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. more

What’s in Your DNS Query?

Privacy problems are an area of wide concern for individual users of the Internet -- but what about network operators? Geoff Huston wrote an article earlier this year concerning privacy in DNS and the various attempts to make DNS private on the part of the IETF -- the result can be summarized with this long, but entertaining, quote. more

Terahertz WiFi

While labs across the world are busy figuring out how to implement the 5G standards, there are scientists already working in the higher frequency spectrum looking to achieve even faster speeds. The frequencies that are just now being explored are labeled as the terahertz range and are at 300 GHz and higher spectrum. This spectrum is the upper ranges of radio spectrum and lies just below ultraviolet light. more

Facebook, Privacy, and Cryptography

There has long been pressure from governments to provide back doors in encryption systems. Of course, if the endpoints are insecure it doesn't matter much if the transmission is encrypted; indeed, a few years ago, I and some colleagues even suggested lawful hacking as an alternative. Crucially, we said that this should be done by taking advantage of existing security holes rather than be creating new ones. more

OneWeb Fails in Latest Attempt to Get Russian Approval for Its Worldwide Internet Coverage Plan

Russian State Commission for Radio Frequencies has denied the global satellite communications company OneWeb to use a certain band of radio frequencies in Russia that the company seeks as part of its plan to launch hundreds of satellites into orbit to provide worldwide internet coverage. more

Close to 200K Phishing Domains Discovered in a 5-Month Span, 66% Targetted Consumers, Akamai Reports

Between December 2, 2018 and May 4, 2019, 197,524 phishing domains were discovered, 66% of which directly targeted consumers according to the latest State of the Internet report by Akamai. more

In the 5G Era, at Least 20 Million U.S. Homes Will Rely on Wireless for Broadband

There now can be no doubt that fixed wireless, mostly 5G, will be a viable business in the right locations. Today's wireless has enormous capacity, enough to supply the broadband needs of a significant population. It's better than most DSL and a workable alternative to cable in many locations. Traffic demand is falling, with Cisco predicting the U.S. will fall to 31% growth in 2021. more

Cuba Claims New Regulations Expand Internet Access to Homes and Businesses, But Here’s the Downside

New Cuban regulations regarding private WiFi networks went into effect yesterday, and the New York Times and others proclaimed that "Cuba expands Internet access to private homes and businesses." Yes, Cubans can legally import and install WiFi routers in their homes, small cafes, B&Bs, etc., but these regulations will make little difference in Internet access. more

A Seattle Woman Charged With Capital One Data Theft Affecting 106 Million People

Major US bank Capital One Financial Corporation confirmed Monday evening that unauthorized access was made by an outside individual who obtained "certain types of personal information" on credit card products and Capital One credit card customers. more

Namecheap Files ‘Request for Reconsideration’ Against ICANN’s Removal of .ORG Price Caps Decision

One of the largest domain name registrars, NameCheap, on Monday filed a Request for Reconsideration with regards to ICANN's recent decision to remove historical price caps for the .org top-level domain (TLD) from the Public Interest Registry (PIR) contract. more

Gartner Says Worldwide IaaS Public Cloud Services Market Grew 31.3% in 2018

The worldwide infrastructure as a service (IaaS) market grew 31.3% in 2018, reaching $32.4 billion, up from $24.7 billion in 2017, according to Gartner, Inc. more

A 60% Rise Reported on Malware Designed to Harvest Consumers’ Digital Data, aka Password Stealers

A significant rise has been detected in the use of malware aimed at harvesting consumer data, known as password stealers. more

Nominet, the .UK Operator Says Its Domain Dispute Resolution Service Has Saved £180 Million to Date

Nominet, the company responsible for operating Britain's .UK top-level domain, on Tuesday, released its 2018 annual summary of domain name disputes based on its Dispute Resolution Service (DRS), which the company says allows .UK disputes to be settled quickly. more

Open Access for Apartment Buildings

San Francisco recently passed an interesting ordinance that requires that landlords of apartments and multi-tenant business buildings allow access to multiple ISPs to bring broadband. This ordinance raises all sorts of regulatory and legal questions. At the most recent FCC monthly meeting, the FCC jumped into the fray and voted on language that is intended to kill or weaken the ordinance. more

Equifax Announces Comprehensive Consumer Settlement for the 2017 Data Breach

Equifax has announced a comprehensive resolution for its 2017 cybersecurity incident that includes a fund of up to $425 consumer fund. more