ICANN Board Approves Sweeping Overhaul of Top-level Domains

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has just approved the relaxation of the rules for the introduction of new Top-Level Domains -- a move that could drastically change the Internet. The new decision -- some calling it of historic importance and others predictable -- will allow companies to register their brands as generic top-level domain names (TLDs). For instance, Microsoft could apply to have a TLD such as '.msn' and Apple apply for '.mac'. more»

68,000 Open Recursive DNS Servers Behaving Maliciously; "This is a crime with few witnesses"

Reported today: "Researchers at Google Inc. and the Georgia Institute of Technology are studying a virtually undetectable form of attack that quietly controls where victims go on the Internet." The Georgia Tech and Google researchers estimate that as many as 0.4%, or 68,000, open-recursive DNS servers are behaving maliciously, returning false answers to DNS queries. Unlike other DNS servers, open-recursive systems will answer all DNS lookup requests from any computer on the Internet, a feature that makes them particularly useful for hackers. They also estimate that another 2% of them provide questionable results. more»

CERN's Grid 10,000 Times Faster than Broadband

CERN, The European Organization for Nuclear Research, has been working on an Internet replacement called The Grid that's 10,000 times faster than broadband. At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, "the grid" will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds... more»

Google Blocking 1 Billion Messages a Day; Calls 2007 Spam and Virus Attacks Worst in History

With Google's recent Postini addition, it now reports to be processing email for more than 35,000 businesses and 12 million end users, and blocking around 1 billion messages per day... "We saw a peak of activity in October 2007 where volume was a 263 percent increase from September 2006 and Postini blocked 47 billion spam messages, more than 320 Terabytes of spam (now that's a lot of spam). The average unprotected email user would have received 32,000 spam messages in their in-boxes so far this year. Talk about lost productivity. In fact, Nucleus research estimates unchecked spam can cost a company up to $742 per user." more»

Report on Best and Worst Anti-Phishing Domain Registrars

The performance of registrars in decommissioning domain names connected to fraud scams is all over the map. A "brandjacking" report released last month by MarkMonitor is the first to include a list of the top 10 best and worst lists of registrar performance in revoking domain names connected to phishing scams. more»

Federal Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Network Solutions and ICANN

A Los Angeles firm today announced a federal class action lawsuit against Network Solutions (NSI) and ICANN over the NSI's practice of locking up domain names as soon as they are searched for on its website, which means the party searching can buy the name only from Network Solutions. more»

Taking Down Spammers via Legalization, Regulation and Economics

Gadi Evron at ZDNet discussing spam fighting via legalization, regulation and economics. He provides with case studies on where this worked, analyzing the underline causes. "Next door to our offices was a spam operation with roughly 30 employees. One day they weren't there anymore... It seems that whenever a certain wide-audience requirement is very costly, or illegal, snake-oil fraudsters will pick it up and create an underground economy for it. It is possible our next step in fighting spam should be to research and list these underground economies taking advantage of people by the use of spam, and fight the underline cause, the clients who traffic and sell the illegal goods, playing the economic game..." more»

Law Expert Suggests Business-Funded Domain Name Protection Groups

John Mackenzie, an intellectual property and technology law expert at Pinsent Masons, says businesses should band together to tackle the multi-million dollar cybersquatting industry pro-actively. "What is really needed and what may occur is a trade organization pushing a policing function whose only purpose is to chase these people," said Mackenzie, saying that it could be similar to business-funded copyright protection groups such as the Business Software Alliance. more»

Sinowal Trojan May Be One of the Worst Crimeware Ever Created

A sophisticated cybercrime group that has maintained an especially devious Trojan horse for nearly three years has stolen login credentials of close to 300,000 online bank accounts and almost as many credit cards during that time, according to reports released today by RSA FraudAction Research Lab. The spyware is called Sinowal Trojan, also known as Torpig and Mebroot. RSA reports that their findings are based on data collected on this Trojan over the course of almost three years -- including information regarding its design and its infrastructure. Findings indicate that this may be one of the most pervasive and advanced pieces of crimeware ever created by fraudsters, say RSA experts. more»

First in Domain Squatting Cases: Dell Charges Typosquatters as Counterfeiters

In further development of Dell's lawsuit, reported today on WebProNews: "Forget about trademark infringement; computer manufacturer Dell wants to make a statement in its lawsuit against domain registrars. A successful counterfeiting charge would entitle Dell to claim damages of up to a million dollars per violation, a substantial increase over the federal limit of $100,000 per domain infringement." more»

Google Controlling Direction of Next-Generation Wireless Network?

Google announced last Friday that it would apply to bid in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's auction of 700 megahertz band wireless spectrum. "If it wins, it could build a wireless network for that spectrum on its own, or partner with others to build and operate such a network. Either way, Google could put its brand on millions of mobile devices that use the network." more»

The Next Billion Users: What Will it Mean to The Internet?

With more than a billion internet users worldwide, doubling that number, which should happen within the next decade, will obviously have a profound effect on the network, technology, the computer software industry, access to knowledge, and our environment. Understanding the effect of another billion internet users starts with considering the origin of those users. Although some will reside in North America, Europe, and other developed countries that close their domestic digital divides, the majority of the growth will undoubtedly come from the developing world. more»

Study Finds 90 to 95 Percent of All Email in 2007 Spam

The study, based on an analysis of more than one billion daily email messages sent to its more than 50,000 customers worldwide, found a staggering percentage of all email sent in 2007 was spam, increasing from an estimated 85 to 90 percent of email in 2006. From the report: "This growing proportion is even more significant when compared to 2004, when the federal CAN-SPAM Act, which set parameters for sending unsolicited email and defined penalties for spammers, went into effect. At that time spam was 70 percent of all email. In 2001, spam accounted for only five percent of email messages." more»

Russia's Internet Dilemma: .RU Domain Translates Into Cyrillic as .PY, the Domain Name of Paraguay

The growing cold war with Russia has a new front besides oil fields and undersea territorial claims: the internet. Russia's government is pushing for greater control over the Russian-language part of the net -- and its aim seems to be to create a web that operates in Cyrillic, completely independent from the wider web. more»

Politically Motivated Domains Heat Up in U.S. Presidential Election Race

It's come to this: a Democratic primary race so close and heated that a fierce battle of rhetoric has begun playing out in domain-name registrations. Hillary Clinton's campaign quietly registered VotingPresent.com and VotingPresent.org in early December. Though no websites have gone up on the domains, it's a fair bet the sites won't be promoting election-themed Christmas gifts: "Voting present" refers to a parliamentary maneuver in the Illinois Legislature that allows a lawmaker to abstain from voting on a particular measure. more»