Security

Internet security is the prevention of unauthorized access and/or damage to computer systems via internet access. Internet security practices are primarily focused in four major areas: penetration testing, intrusion detection, incidence response, and legal compliance. Read the full background at Security Wikipedia

Security / Featured Blogs

Toxic Information

U.S. intelligence officials are increasingly worried that hackers could wreak havoc on the financial system. Read the story here in National Journal. Not that we need it, but here's yet another reason to worry about havoc in financial markets: U.S. intelligence officials increasingly fear that computer hackers could wreck banks and large financial institutions, or send stock markets into one more panicked frenzy, by covertly manipulating data and spreading false information. more»

DDoS Attack Graphs from Russia vs. Georgia's Cyberattacks

Part of Georgia's information warfare campaign was aiming to minimize the bandwidth impact on its de-facto media platforms such as the website of their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I've just received a report on "Russian Invasion of Georgia," titled "Russian Cyberwar on Georgia" which is quoting me on page 4 regarding "too good to be courtesy of Russia's cyber militia" creative that appeared on the defaced Georgian President's website. more»

Are You Getting Your News From Spam? My Mother Does

This is a story about my mother and Obama. My mother: "Have you heard about Obama? Really impressive guy." Me: "What about him?" My mother: "x, y and z." Me: "Where did you hear about this?" My mother: "I read email too, you are not the only one who is into technology." Luckily, my mother bases her opinion on more than just spam messages... more»

Peering into Fast Flux Botnet Activity

Together with Thorsten Holz, I recently published a paper on fast flux botnet behaviors, "As the Net Churns: Fast-Flux Botnet Observations," based on data we gathered in our ATLAS platform. Fast flux service networks utilize botnets to distribute the web servers to the infected PCs... One of the most well known fast flux botnets has been the Storm Worm botnet, which uses the zombies to spam, send out new enticements to infect users, and to host the malicious website which delivers the malcode. more»

Time for Self Reflection

In case you don't read any of what I have to say below, read this: I have dual citizenship. Along with my homeland citizenship, I am of the Internet, and see it as my personal duty to try and make the Internet safe. Atrivo (also known as Intercage), is a network known to host criminal activity for many years, is no more. Not being sarcastic for once, this is the time for some self reflection. more»

Internet Vigilantism

Atrivo (aka Intercage), a Concord, California-based Internet hosting service, disappeared from the Internet for around two days recently. They didn't go bankrupt or suffer a physical catastrophe. Their providers simply shut them down by refusing their traffic. This might very well be the first time in history that the Internet community, a cooperative association of networks with no governing body, has collectively put someone out of business, if only briefly. more»

Estonian Cyber Security Strategy Document: Translated and Public

The Estonians have a public version of their cyber security strategy translated into English (currently available offline only). The concept of a national strategy for cyber security is one which I am particularly fond of... The following is the Summary section from the document which might be of interest... more»

IGF Meeting Blacklisted

I got an e-mail from someone currently attending the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meeting in Geneva. The e-mail ended up in my spam folder because the IP address used for the wireless LAN at the meeting is on a spambot/virusbot blacklist, namely cbl.abuseat.org. Apparently some guy there has his computer infected by a spambot or a virusbot... more»

EstDomains and Intercage vs. Cybercrime

Surreal, especially when you get to read that EstDomains has "ruthlessly suspended over five thousand domains only for last week", and also, that it "has a reliable ally in its battle against malware in a face of Intercage, Inc." ... The press release reminds me of Russian Business Network's (RBN) defacement of my blog posted on the 1st of April, and despite that EstDomains started "performing for the community" as of recently, thanks to the collective intelligence and persistence of everyone turning their research into actionable intelligence against them, this performance aiming to minimize the effect of the negative PR is more or less futile... more»

Caring About Cybersecurity or Preparing the Ground for an I-Patriot Act?

Few months ago in a talk given at the Institution of Engineering and Technology organised here in London by the Society for Computers and Law, Professor Lessig recounted a conversation he had with former US Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, where Larry asked the question that many had in mind... how the US Government managed to conceptualize, design and draft a piece of legislation as vast and complex as the USA PATRIOT Act in such a short period of time (a month and 15 days after 9/11), and the answer was what many people had imagined... more»

Industry Updates

DNSSEC FUD Buster: DNSSEC is Not Necessary?

.ORG, The Public Interest Registry is pleased to announce the next guest blogger for our DNSSEC FUD Buster series. Ram Mohan is the Executive Vice President, & Chief Technology Officer of Afilias Limited. Ram has led the strategic growth initiatives at Afilias Limited in registry services and security as well as new product sectors such as RFID/Auto-ID, global DNS and Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). ›››

DNSSEC "FUD" Buster: Don't Panic

.ORG, The Public Interest Registry is pleased to announce of first guest blogger for our DNSSEC FUD series. John Kristoff works as a research analyst for Team Cymru, a Internet Security Research company based in Chicago specializing in the 'who' and the 'why' of Internet crime. ›››

PIR Announces Formation of Registry Internet Safety Group

The Registry Internet Safety Group (RISG) is a global group of responsible Internet related companies whose mission is to work collaboratively to combat Internet identity theft. Even though RISG is uniquely Registry focused, it includes both gTLD and ccTLD members. RISG is intended to complement and not duplicate existing Internet security efforts. ›››

.ORG Talks with Dan Kaminsky on DNSSEC

The following post is based on a recent discussion .ORG had with Dan Kaminsky, a DNS expert best know for discovering a serious DNS bug, about DNSSEC and how it is a critical step toward bolstering Internet security. ›››

blinkx Video Search Engine Selects UltraDNS Managed DNS Services

World's largest and most advanced video search engine, has chosen NeuStar's UltraDNS Managed DNS Services to augment the performance, reliability, and scalability of the blinkx network infrastructure and to take advantage of NeuStar's innovative suite of traffic management services. ›››

.ORG Applauds US Government on DNSSEC

.ORG applauds the US Government's decision last week to require all users of the .GOV domain to implement DNSSEC, and even more importantly, to sign the .GOV root. .ORG is the first generic Top Level Domain authorized by ICANN to implement DNSSEC, and we are hard at work putting together a comprehensive plan to roll it out. ›››

nugg.ad Selects NeuStar's UltraDNS Services

nugg.ad, a German company based in Berlin that provides an application service provider (ASP) solution for predictive behavioral targeting, has chosen NeuStar's UltraDNS Managed Services to bolster the scalability and reliability of nugg.ad's DNS infrastructure. ›››

On the Pressing Need for a Signed Root

Attacks on the security of the Internet have been much in the news lately, and there is an increased urgency to take the technical steps to combat these attacks. .ORG has been doing its part to lead this process by taking introductory steps to implement DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions)... In order to make DNSSEC effective, there is one additional step that is needed -- "signing the root". ›››

.ORG Becomes the First Generic Top level Domain to Start DNSSEC Implementation

A request by .ORG, The Public Interest Registry to bolster Internet security via the implementation of Domain Name Security Extensions (DNSSEC) was unanimously approved by ICANN at the recent Paris meeting. As the first generic Top Level Domain authorized to implement DNSSEC, .ORG also is preparing an education and adoption plan within the Internet infrastructure community. ›››

Hostway Upgrades Managed Firewall Selection and Offers 10% Off as well as Free Setup

Hostway has launched a new line of managed Cisco ASA 5500 firewall solutions for dedicated servers. Customers ordering before June 30, 2008 save 10% off the monthly fee for life, plus free setup. ›››