Phishers Expand Number of Top Level Domains Abused, Policy Changes Found Effective in Prevention

The new Global Phishing Survey released by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) this month reveals that phishing gangs are concentrating their efforts within specific top level domains (TLDs), but also that anti-phishing policies and mitigation programs by domain name registrars and registries can have a significant and positive effect. The number of TLDs abused by phishers for their attacks expanded 7 percent from 145 in H2/2007 to 155 in H1/2008. The proportion of Internet-protocol (IP) number-based phishing sites decreased 35 percent in that same period, declining from 18 percent in the second half of 2007 to 13 percent in the first half of 2008. more»

ICANN Released Its Draft for New Top-Level Domains, 45 Day Comment Period Now Open

In follow up to its earlier announcement this year regarding the relaxation of rules for the introduction of new Top-Level Domains, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) yesterday released a draft version of the Applicant Guidebook for those interested in applying for a new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD). Although application comes with a hefty entry fee of close to $200,000, the development of new gTLD introductions will be of particular interest to trademark owners as well as any other company involved with domain names. Among various issues, the guidebook aims at addressing concerns such as who would qualify for '.apple' or '.amazon' gTLDs. more»

ICANN Highlights DNS Vulnerability, Releases Domain Testing Tool

In response to the DNS vulnerability issue, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced the release of an FAQ and a web based domain testing tool. From ICANN's announcement: "Due to the distributed nature of the DNS, no one organization can implement a fix for this vulnerability. It requires the cooperation of all name server operators and DNS software vendors. However, ICANN sees an important goal in spreading awareness of the need to update Internet infrastructure to cope with the threat. The organization has been undertaking significant outreach efforts to top-level domain operators to advise them on the issue." more»

ICANN Says It Is Not an Internet Enforcement Agency

ICANN says domain name issues are not always a matter of contractual compliance... "There remain occasional misconceptions about ICANN's authority. Some appear to believe ICANN is an Internet enforcement agency, with broad power to shut down websites, restrict website content, and penalize Internet users for unethical behavior. This is not the case," says a section from ICANN's July magazine. more»

Open Registration of Top-Level Domain .Me Turns into Crisis

The .Me Top-Level Domain (TLD) Registry officially opened today for everyone on a first-come, first-served basis at 15:00UTC July 17, 2008. In follow up to the launch of this TLD, companies, organizations and members of the public where told that they can get a "Web presence that is truly personal, and have their new Web site working within minutes!" But apparently the process hasn't gone as smoothly as planed. more»

New .tel Domain Uses DNS to Store Personal and Business Data

Telnic Limited, the Registry Operator and Sponsoring Organization for the new sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) .tel, has just announced, at the ICANN meetings in Paris, the launch of its website and date when domain name registration will be accepted... The .tel will offer a service that allows individuals and businesses to store and manage all their contact information and keywords directly within the Domain Name System (DNS) without the need to build, host or manage a website. more»

FTC Halts Cross Border Domain Name Con Artists

A U.S. District Court Judge has ordered a halt to the illegal practices of Canadian operators who deceptively posed as domain name registrars and sent bogus bills to thousands of U.S. small businesses and nonprofit organizations for their annual "WEBSITE ADDRESS LISTING." Many of the businesses and nonprofits believed they would lose their domain names unless they paid the bill, so they paid. The Federal Trade Commission alleged that in most cases the defendants did not provide domain registration services, did not provide the "search optimization" services it claimed to provide, and bilked small businesses and nonprofits out of millions of dollars. more»

14 Million Domain Names Registered in First Quarter of 2008, Total Reaching 162 Million Worldwide

In the first three months of 2008, the growth of the Internet has remained steady as 14 million new domain names were added according to the first quarter 2008 Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign, Inc. According to the report, at the end of the first quarter of 2008, there were more than 162 million domain name registrations across all of the Top-Level Domain Names (TLDs). This represents a 26 percent increase over the same quarter last year, and 6 percent growth over the fourth quarter of 2007. That pace of quarterly growth is about the same as the average quarterly growth rate from 2007. more»

Security Research Names Hong Kong and China Most Dangerous Country Domains, Finland Safest

Recent security report suggests country code top-level domains '.hk' and '.cn' -- belonging to Hong Kong and China respectively -- are currently among the most dangers domain names. As to why? Making the Hong Kong online registration process "more user-friendly" by allowing registration of several domains at one time as well as "buy-one, get-two domains," are partly blamed for the decline in security. As a consequence, "phishers usually registered eight or more domains at one time." Hong Kong last year began to tighten policies to rectify the situation. more»

Canadian Domain Whois Policy Changes Face Opposition from Law Enforcement

Sweeping changes to Canada's country code top-level domain, .ca, will put the country on the vanguard of Internet privacy. But while law enforcement isn't happy about potentially losing an important investigative tool, the half-million Canadians whose personal information is currently publicly available on the Internet shouldn't rest easy that they are safe from wired snoops. more»

Fees for .org Top-Level Domain to Increase by 10%

Public Interest Registry, the organization in charge of ".org" top-level domains, disclosed a planned fee increase in a May 1 letter to ICANN [PDF]. The fee increase does not require the ICANN's approval. PIR did not cite a reason in its letter. Earlier this year, VeriSign Inc., the company in charge of managing ".com" and ".net," also announced price increases. more»

Top-Level Domains .arpa, .org, and .uk Adopting DNSSEC

The Internet is slowly inching closer to ratcheting up the security of its Domain Name System (DNS) server architecture: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) plans to go operational with DNSSEC later this year in one of its domains. more»

Canada's Top-Level Domain .ca Hits One Million Mark

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has announced that Canadian Internet users have registered one million dot-ca (.ca) domains. Dot-ca ranks as the seventeenth largest Internet domain name registry when compared to generic domain names like dot-com and country specific domain names like dot-uk (United Kingdom).  more»

Separatist Petitions to Create Quebec's Own Top-Level Domain

A Parti Quebecois member of the national assembly is trying to drum up support to create a top-level domain for the Canadian province, Quebec -- predominantly a French-speaking population. Daniel Turp has started a petition to convince ICANN pointing out that Catalonia, an autonomous region in Spain, has its own national extension -- .cat, while the same goes for Greenland, a self-governing province in Denmark which uses .gl. Quebecers now use the extension .qc.ca, which indicates a website is a Canadian website. more»

Scotland Wants Its Own Top-Level Domain '.SCO'

The Scottish Nationalist Government is reportedly considering a formal request with ICANN seeking a ".sco" top-level domain to replace the distinctly "Unionist" .co.uk. Proposals which could see the endings of websites based in Scotland changed from '.co.uk' to '.sco' are currently being looked at by the finance secretary. The campaign for the '.sco' suffix has been led by Nationalist backbencher Christine Grahame and it will see to it that most Scottish Governments and agencies change their website suffixes immediately. more»