On Dec. 9, word of a newly discovered computer bug in a hugely popular piece of computer code started rippling around the cybersecurity community. By the next day, nearly every major software company was in crisis mode, trying to figure out how their products were affected and how they could patch the hole.
[Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister news release] It is time to sum up this year’s prime digital event – the UN Digital Summit – IGF 2021, which closed on Friday in Katowice.
The substantive summary of the Summit – still a draft – is provided in a UN document entitled „Katowice IGF Messages”. Stakeholders can send their feedback about the points made in the document by 20 December.
One of the leading DNS cybersecurity companies, DomainTools, has announced they have acquired another leading DNS cybersecurity company Farsight Security.
[news release] When compared to Q3 2020, the total number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks increased by nearly 24%, while the total number of smart attacks (advanced DDoS attacks that are often targeted) increased by 31% when compared to the same period last year. Some of the most notable targets were tools to fight the pandemic, government organizations, game developers, and well-known cybersecurity publications.
The surge in online purchases seen since the beginning of the pandemic also means Canadians are more exposed to scams popping up online. To help combat the growth in scams CIRA, the .CA registry, announce a partnership with ScamAdviser, a global leader in anti-scam technology, to integrate protection against fraudulent websites into CIRA Canadian Shield. This added layer of protection will safeguard Canadians’ families against online scams and fraudulent websites.
[news release] The APWG’s new Phishing Activity Trends Report reveals that phishing sustained near-record levels through the first half of 2021, after doubling over the course of 2020. APWG saw 222,127 attacks in June 2021, which was the third-worst month in APWG’s reporting history.
The battles in a global cyberwar are visible only through periodic glances in the rearview mirror: Indra, Colonial Pipeline, SolarWinds, WannaCry.
The Messaging, Malware and Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group (M3AAWG) and The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) have again collaborated to conduct a survey of cyber investigators and anti-abuse service providers to understand how ICANN’s application of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has impacted on the distributed WHOIS service and anti-abuse work. The resulting report, published in June, discusses the effect of the Temporary Specification on anti-abuse actors’ access and usage of domain name registration information, which is central for various types of investigations.
The Biden administration would like you to get a vaccine and wear a mask. Oh, and one more thing: It has just proclaimed that it’s time for government employees and contractors to get off public Wi-Fi, where they can pick up another kind of virus.
DNS Abuse –malware, botnets, phishing, pharming, and spam – is a growing and ongoing global threat to every country’s national and economic security. In the last months, the DNS Abuse Institute has worked to bring together – both in public forums and individual meetings – leading experts to help guide the creation of a roadmap for combating abuse.