TechCrunch: A security researcher commandeered a country’s expired top-level domain to save it from hackers . “The domain — scpt-network.com — was one of two nameservers for the .cd country code top-level domain, assigned to the Democratic Republic of Congo. If it fell into the wrong hands, an attacker could redirect millions of unknowing internet […]
The Register: Ex-boss of ICANN shifts from ‘advisor’ to co-CEO of private equity biz that tried to buy .org for $1bn+. “The former head of DNS regulator ICANN has been named as co-CEO of a company that launched a controversial attempt to purchase the .org internet registry earlier this year. The news has again raised […]
The Register: Internet Society, remember your embarrassing .org flub? The actual internet society would like to talk about it. “The non-profit organizations that fought to halt the sale of the .org registry to a newly created private equity firm are demanding an independent review into the fiasco, which pitted charities against domain registrars over the […]
The Register: ICANN delays .org sell off after California’s attorney general intervenes at last minute, tears non-profit a new one over sale. “ICANN has again delayed a decision on the sale of the .org registry, pushing the issue off for another month multiple sources with knowledge of Thursday’s meeting, have told The Register. The organization’s […]
The Register: Four months, $1bn… and ICANN still hasn’t decided whether to approve .org sale with just 11 days left to go. “In 11 days, DNS overseer ICANN is supposed to rule on the $1.13bn purchase of a critical piece of the internet – the .org registry with its 10 million domain names. But ICANN […]
Krebs on Security: U.S. Govt. Makes it Harder to Get .Gov Domains. “The federal agency in charge of issuing .gov domain names is enacting new requirements for validating the identity of people requesting them. The additional measures come less than four months after KrebsOnSecurity published research suggesting it was relatively easy for just about anyone […]
Bleeping Computer: Zero-Day Bug Allowed Attackers to Register Malicious Domains. “A zero-day vulnerability impacting Verisign and several SaaS services including Google, Amazon, and DigitalOcean allowed potential attackers to register .com and .net homograph domain names (among others) that could be used in insider, phishing, and social-engineering attacks against organizations.”
The Verge: ICANN’s founding chairman joins the battle to keep .org out of private hands. “The new non-profit cooperative corporation, officially called the Cooperative Corporation of .ORG Registrants, is led by many people who currently have or have had influence over the inner workings of the Internet, including Esther Dyson, the founding chairman of ICANN […]
Mashable: A private equity firm now runs .org, the domain for nonprofits . “A private equity firm will soon run the internet’s top domain name extension for nonprofits after purchasing the nonprofit organization that runs it. Public Interest Registry (PIR), which runs the .org domain registry, has been sold to private equity firm Ethos Capital, […]
Krebs on Security: Breaches at NetworkSolutions, Register. com, and Web. com. “Top domain name registrars NetworkSolutions.com, Register.com and Web.com are asking customers to reset their passwords after discovering an intrusion in August 2019 in which customer account information was accessed.”
Ars Technica: GoDaddy weakness let bomb threat scammers hijack thousands of big-name domains. “Remember the December 13 email blast that threatened to blow up buildings and schools unless recipients paid a $20,000 ransom? It triggered mass evacuations, closures, and lockdowns in the US, Canada, and elsewhere around the world. An investigation shows the spam run […]
Krebs on Security: That Domain You Forgot to Renew? Yeah, it’s Now Stealing Credit Cards. “If you own a domain name that gets decent traffic and you fail to pay its annual renewal fee, chances are this mistake will be costly for you and for others. Lately, neglected domains have been getting scooped up by […]
The Register: Dot-com web addresses prices to swell, thanks to sweetheart deal between Uncle Sam, Verisign . “The planet’s 138 million dot-com addresses are going to get significantly more expensive to renew over the next decade thanks to a contract signed between dot-com operator Verisign and the US government. New dot-com domains are also set […]