55 Days Remain Until the 10th Internet Governance Forum in Joao Pessoa, Brazil

On behalf of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) I would like to extend the official invitation from the United Nations Secretary-General which cordially invites and encourages all stakeholders to participate in the upcoming 10th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum, being held this year in the beautiful coastal city of João Pessoa, Brazil. more

Reducing Unreachable ICANN Registrations

Recently ICANN published a report on inaccurate registration data in her own databases. Now the question is presented to the world how can we mitigate this problem? There seems to be a very easy solution. ... The question to this answer seems simple. To know who has registered with an organisation. This makes it possible to contact the registered person or organisation, to send bills and to discuss policy with the members. more

4G on the Moon

This post is a little more lighthearted than my normal blog posts. An article in FierceWireless caught my eye talking about how Nokia plans to establish a 4G network on the Moon. The primary purpose of the wireless technology will be to communicate between a base station and lunar rovers. 4G LTE is a mature and stable technology that can handle data transmission with ease... more

Global Content Removals Based on Local Legal Violations - Where are we Headed?

From the Internet's earliest days, the tension between a global communication network and local geography-based laws has been obvious. One scenario is that every jurisdiction's local laws apply to the Internet globally, meaning that the country (or sub-national regulator) with the most restrictive law for any content category sets the global standard for that content. If this scenario comes to pass, the Internet will only contain content that is legal in every jurisdiction in the world... more

Defining KPIs to Measure the Success of Your AI Strategy

KPIs are industry-specific and should be aligned carefully with your AI strategy. My course at UC Berkeley drills down heavily on how to define success when implementing your AI strategy, and measurement, like anything else, is the top priority. One technique that can potentially be used in your organization as you embark on your AI strategy is to use the SMART method for KPIs. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Sensitive. more

NIS2 Article 28 Guidance: A Positive Step Toward Reducing DNS Abuse Across Europe

The European Union (EU) has set a high bar by tackling domain name system (DNS) abuse head on via government regulation and seems to have successfully resisted attempts to water down DNS stewardship obligations. Recent guidance from a key European Commission cooperation group (the NIS Cooperation Group) handling sections of the Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) intends for a robust implementation of Article 28, which will go a long way toward helping to mitigate some of the longstanding problems that persist in the DNS. more

Trademarks and Domain Names Composed of Common Terms

The lexical material from which trademarks are formed is drawn from the same social and cultural resources available to everyone else, which includes domain name registrants. Since trademarks are essentially a form of communication, it is unsurprising that a good number of them are composed of common terms (dictionary words, descriptive phrases, and shared expressions) that others may lawfully use for their own purposes. 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

US-China Tech War Threatens Global Internet Infrastructure: China Plans $500 Million Subsea Cable Rival

Chinese state-owned telecom firms plan an extensive undersea fiber-optic internet cable network to link Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The cable, to be named EMA (Europe-Middle East-Asia), would cost approximately $500 million to complete and be manufactured and laid by China's HMN Technologies Co Ltd, a fast-growing cable firm whose predecessor company was majority-owned by Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. more

The Maturing Domain Industry

Day one of the Digital Marketing and gTLD Strategy congress is happening in London today. As we inch ever closer to new gTLDs actually launching on the Internet, business models and marketing approaches are becoming clearer and better defined. This was evident in today's presentations and workshops, with applicants and current TLD operators alike showing much greater depth of thought into how these namespaces might actually be of use to Internet users. more

Routing Without Rumor: Securing the Internet’s Routing System

The Domain Name System has provided the fundamental service of mapping internet names to addresses from almost the earliest days of the internet’s history. Billions of internet-connected devices use DNS continuously to look up Internet Protocol addresses of the named resources they want to connect to - for instance, a website such as blog.verisign.com. Once a device has the resource’s address, it can then communicate with the resource using the internet’s routing system. more

Bluetooth-Based Attack Vector Dubbed “BlueBorne” Exposes Almost Every Connected Device

Security firm, Armis Labs, has revealed a new attack vector that can target major mobile, desktop, and IoT operating systems, including Android, iOS, Windows, and Linux, and the devices using them.

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Recommendations for Adding Cybersecurity Intelligence to the Smart Grid

Over the last few years, there has been an increased effort to modernize the U.S. electric grid. Building a "Smart Grid" has been central in the effort to help utilities better manage their resources, minimize power outages and reduce energy consumption. However, adding more electronic devices and sensors to the grid's network has made it a prime target of cyberattacks, like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which if successful, could cause wide-spread disruption of services affecting many other sectors. more

Time to Act as Apple Sets Wheels in Motion for Shorter Certificate Life Cycles

You may have read our previous blog about the pending reduction of digital certificate life cycles to just 90 days. This past weekend, the issue gained momentum at the Certification Authority Browser Forum when more detail was discussed following the proposed ballot to set a timeline for shorter lifetime certificates by Apple. This creates real urgency for organizations of all sizes to seriously consider and implement automation into their certificate life cycle management. more

VoIP Services Market Nears $50 Billion Mark

Market research firm Infonetics Research this week released VoIP and UC Services and Subscribers, a market share and forecast report that includes two Business VoIP Service Provider Scorecards that will be published later this year, and an IP Centrex Provider Tracker highlighting deployments by provider, region, service, and platform. more