Documentary Looks at 60 Hudson Street, World’s Most Concentrated Hub of Internet Connectivity

In a new documentary, filmmaker Ben Mendelsohn, takes a look at New York City's 60 Hudson Street as one of the world's most concentrated hubs of Internet connectivity. "Set in the dense, mixed-use neighborhood of Tribeca, the building's nondescript brick exterior conceals several network interconnection facilities where huge amounts of data are exchanged," writes Mendelsohn. The short documentary titled, "Bundled, Buried & Behind Closed Doors," takes a look at the history behind the building and a peak at the hidden infrastructure within. more

Duqu Reported as Precursor to a Future Stuxnet-Like Attack

Virus researchers at Symantec Corp. have revealed a variant of the Stuxnet worm, named Duqu, that is found to be stealing information about industrial control systems. Symantec reports: "Duqu's purpose is to gather intelligence data and assets from entities, such as industrial control system manufacturers, in order to more easily conduct a future attack against another third party. The attackers are looking for information such as design documents that could help them mount a future attack on an industrial control facility... Parts of Duqu are nearly identical to Stuxnet, but with a completely different purpose." more

Battle for .eco Top-Level Domain Not Over Yet

Sources recently had reported that Al Gore had dropped his bid to win control of the proposed new Top-Level Domain (TLD), leaving the door open for a rival Mikhail Gorbachev-backed consortium. But according to a report from Adam Vaughan in the Guardian, the company that Gore's Climate Reality group was working with remains in the running. "Despite losing the vice-president's backing and switching off its campaigning website, Dot Eco LLC tells me it's hopeful of winning a tussle with its main public rival, the Canadian company Big Room, which is supported by Gorbachev's Green Cross." more

SEC Asks Companies to Disclose Cyberattacks

I came across an interesting article on Reuters today: "U.S. securities regulators formally asked public companies for the first time to disclose cyber attacks against them, following a rash of high-profile Internet crimes..." This is a pretty big step for the SEC. Requiring companies to disclose when they have been hacked shifts the action on corporations from something voluntary to something that they have to do. The question is do we want to hear about everything? more

Innovating with New gTLDs

One of the primary purposes of the ICANN New generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) program is to foster innovation in the DNS industry and the wider Internet. While having a desirable TLD string that users can relate to is a good starting point, gTLD applicants may want to bolster their value propositions by offering innovative services and differentiate their TLDs from others. Defining the services to be offered is so central to a gTLD that it should be part of the initial strategy of any prospective applicant. more

DDoS Attacks: What’s in Store for 2012?

According to Kaspersky Lab, 2011 has seen "numerous DDoS attacks with a variety of motives," many of which will "go down in the annals of cybercrime." As we look ahead to 2012, it's worth examining some of those motives to see what they portend. more

ICANN to Manage Internet Time Zone Database

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today announced that it has taken over operation of an Internet Time Zone Database that is used by various major computer systems. ICANN agreed to manage the database after receiving a request from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The database contains time zone code and data that computer programs and operating systems such as Unix, Linux, Java, and Oracle rely on to determine the correct time for a given location. Modifications to the database occur frequently throughout the year. more

Skype Now Officially Part of Microsoft

Microsoft formally announced the closure of its acquisition of Skype originally announced on May 10, 2011. Microsoft and Skype have declared to remain focused "on their shared goal of connecting all people across all devices and accelerating both companies' efforts to transform real-time communications for consumers and enterprise customers." more

Federal Cybersecurity Best Practices: FISMA Continuous Monitoring

Studies have found only limited, insufficient agency adherence with FISMA's (Federal Information Security Management Act) continuous monitoring mandates. One survey found almost half of federal IT professionals were unaware of continuous monitoring requirements. A recent GAO report found that two-thirds of agencies "did not adequately monitor networks" to protect them "from intentional or unintentional harm." more

Facebook and Apps vs. Domains

This debate never got heated during the NewDomains.org conference in Munich last month. One might speculate that it was largely because most in the audience and on the panel, support and believe in the existence of both. There is no need to make a direct either/or comparison. What sets Facebook and Apps apart from existing popular Top-Level Domains (TLDs) is the concept of a closed environment in which users can interact with the technology and each other in a dedicated space. more

Supercookie Debate Offers a Transparent Opportunity

Recent articles in the press have outlined how sites including MSN and Hulu are now using an advanced version of the old cookie file to track user behavior. These "supercookies" are very hard to detect and delete, and can track user behavior across multiple sites, not just one. These tricky little trackers have lawmakers pressing the FTC to investigate, and the IAB scrambling to defend industry practices. more

Paper on Civil Society Involvement in ICANN

A paper titled, "Civil society involvement in ICANN: Strengthening future civil society influence in ICANN policymaking," written by Robin Gross, examines the historical role that civil society has played at ICANN in policymaking. more

Visibility of Prefix Lengths in IPv4 and IPv6

Internet routes are specified for an address prefix. The shorter the prefix, the more general the route. A shorter prefix covers more address space and thus a bigger part of the Internet. Very long prefixes cover few addresses and are used for local routing close to the destination address. In general, it is not necessary to distribute very long prefixes to the whole Internet, because a more general, shorter prefix is sufficient to direct packets in the direction of the destination. more

The Internet of Things and User-Generated Internet Energy

One of the key factors in the transformation of the telecommunications industry was the fact that, thanks to the internet, end-users were suddenly able to become active participants in generating content for both private and public use. Companies such as Google, Amazon, eBay, Skype and Apple, followed by a number of national and international social media companies, all became involved in these new developments, and they became the great game-changers of the industry. Telecoms companies were caught off guard... more

IGF Nairobi - Success of the Multi-stakeholder Model

A funny thing happened in Nairobi last week... I showed up for an Internet Governance Forum (IGF) panel discussion on the use of the Internet during times of political and social unrest, and a truly multi-stakeholder dialogue broke out. It turned out to be my favorite session during an incredible IGF week that, thanks to our Kenyan hosts, exceeded every expectation. The session, formerly known as "The Internet in the Post-Revolution Phase – Challenges of Political Engagement and the Safety of Citizens" was cancelled for reasons unknown. Perhaps it was a conflict of schedules, or maybe the topic was deemed by the organizers or certain governments to be too sensitive for the official agenda. more