News
Results of the nic.at Domain Strategy Study 2012
Within the latest NIC.at Domain Name Report are results of a study carried out on Domain Strategy (including details on impacts of new gTLDs)
Click for the Report
Record number of entries for Dot ie Net Visionary Awards 2012
The Irish Internet Association (“IIA”) today announces the shortlist for this year’s Dot ie Net Visionary Awards and online voting is now open. It’s the start of award season and the fully refreshed IIA awards are the first off. With huge thanks to our headline sponsor in IE Domain Registry Limited (“IEDR”), new categories, a stunning venue at the National Gallery of Ireland and a record number of entries, up 30% on last year, these awards are the ones to watch.
The IIA have been setting the agenda all year – eCommerce strategy, BRIC export market opportunities, cloud standards, development for accessibility and much more. We’ve reflected these issues in the new categories; Best International “we’ll conquer the world” Irish Technology Business, The Bravest and Best “brick to click” Business, Most “joyous to look and splendid to use” Web Design, Most Indispensible Cloud Service for SMEs. These awards are more than just trophies, they are coveted titles.
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The Estonian Internet Foundation announces the public procurement for an audit of domain registry software security
The Estonian Internet Foundation announces the public procurement for an audit of the code of the information systems (Domain Registry Software Security Audit) it uses. This public procurement has been entered in the Registry of Public Procurements under number 132095. The bid submission deadline is 10 September 2012.
The Estonian Internet Foundation is commissioning a Domain Registry Software Security Audit, the results of which must contain answers to the following questions: 1) code security; 2) code quality; 3) quality of information system data administration; 4) suitability of the information system for DNSSEC implementation; and 5) information system sustainability.
The public procurement documents, contract and participation terms and conditions are available under the corresponding number in the Registry of Public Procurements. This public procurement has been entered in the Registry of Public Procurements under number 132095. The bid submission deadline is 10 September 2012.
You can apply and view the public procurement documentation by no later than 12:00 on 6 September 2012.
Please download the public procurement documentation form and submit your questions through the Registry of Public Procurements.
Polish Domain Name Market - Q2 2012 Report Available
Click to access the Q2 Report from NASK concerning the Polish Domain Name Market
Add-on for Internet Explorer Protects Users from Fraudulent Websites
Prague, 25 July 2012 – CZ.NIC Laboratories, the research department of the maintainer of the .CZ national domain, in cooperation with the Czech representative of Microsoft, have launched the DNSSEC Validator, a new security add-on for Internet Explorer (IE) browsers. With this application, the browser can verify whether the visited websites are secured by DNSSEC technology. This way, users can know immediately that the site is not fraudulent and that there is, for example, no risk of sensitive data theft.
“According to a study of the NSS Labs security company, Internet Explorer versions 8 and above consistently rank first in efficacy in the fight against Internet attacks, particularly thanks to IE security features such as the SmartScreen Filter or the Application Reputation system. DNSSEC Validator is another element that further strengthens the security of Internet Explorer users, protecting them from fraudulent websites which are appearing increasingly often in the Czech Republic,” says Lukáš Křovák, manager of the Windows Client division at Microsoft.
CZ.NIC Laboratories has already published several versions of the DNSSEC Validator plugin for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. Now the add-on has been released for Internet Explorer as well, so far only for 32-bit versions (IE versions 6 through 9). More information on the current version 1.0 is available on the project website - http://www.dnssec-validator.cz/ie/.
ABOUT THE DNSSEC TECHNOLOGY
DNSSEC is the extension of the DNS system, which increases the security of domain names. The principle of DNS is the translation of human-friendly Internet addresses, such as www.nic.cz or www.dobradomena.cz, into numerical addresses understood by computers, which can in turn provide services such as displaying web pages, sending e-mails, Internet telephony etc. DNSSEC increases security while using DNS by preventing forged, altered or incomplete domain name data. CZ.NIC association, as the administrator of the .CZ and ENUM domain registries, implemented this security technology for the holders of these domains and for the users of the Czech Internet in September 2008. More information can be found at www.nic.cz/dnssec/.
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Registrations open for Serbian IDN .срб
From now on, everyone can register a .срб domain name, regardless of whether or not they already have an equivalent .rs domain name.
Cyrillic .срб domain name is the second national Internet domain name of the Republic of Serbia, and it is used along with existing .rs domain name. Currently there are over 6,000 registered .срб domain names and over 73,000 registered .rs domain names.
A majority of new registrants are brand names who seek not only to protect their intellectual property, but also to ensure that searches uniquely lead to their sites, since search engines treat both Cyrillic and Latin results in Serbian language equally.
Internet addresses in Cyrillic are particularly well-received by the Serbian expatriates, who see them as another vehicle to preserving their cultural and national identity.
Registration of .срб domain names is carried out through registrars whose list can be found here
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Malware security: Switzerland No. 1 worldwide
In its fight against malware, SWITCH is demanding that the holders and operators of infected websites remove the malicious code within 24 hours. Thanks to this measure, a total of 1052 Swiss websites have already had the dangerous drive-by code removed from them in 2012.
According to the latest quarterly report published by security firm, Panda Security, 32 percent of computers worldwide were infected with malware in 2012, somewhat fewer than the year before (38 percent).
Switzerland is No. 1 worldwide with the lowest infection rate.
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A Brief account of .cn Registrations in China
EVOLUTION OF .CN REGISTRATIONS
BACKGROUND
2007
In response to the market demand in the emerging Chinese Internet Community, Registry initiates promotional program “1 RMB Experience”. Due to the lower price, the registration volume of .cn sharply increased to 13 million by the end of 2008, which was the top count among all the ccTLDs at the time.
After this .cn boom, it was found that the domain name abuse had also increased considerably along with the domain name registration, especially in terms of illegal content, Spam and inaccurate WHOIS records. In order to keep the consumer trust, the Registry suspended the “1 RMB Experience” program in 2009. The registrations subsequently fell.
“Target Abusive Domain Name Program” launched. Registry outlines 3 steps to fight domain name abuse;
- Cooperation with Abusive Information Complaint Center of China Internet Society to shut down the website and cancel the illicit domain name registration when receiving validated complaint.
- CNNIC conducts strict Whois Accuracy review of existing domain name and require the domain name registrant to submit Photo ID for validation of the whois data. Failure to provide such proof, results in the domain name registration being canceled.
- For new domain name applications, the Registry starts conducting strict registrant information validation before activation of the domain name. Also incorporate requirements for every new applicant to submit proof of establishment of the registration entity (Corporate registration ID, etc.) to validate the information.
The result of these steps has been very effective with the percentage of domain name abuse dropping sharply which in turn helped .cn to became a trusted TLD. However, during the process, the Registry lost much of its registrations (which were mainly the illicit domain name registrations). So the count dropped to less than 4,000,000
.CN TODAY
Thanks to the improved brand image as a secure and reliable TLD, the registrations have been gradually rising since 2011. This was helped also by the fact that rather than having to produce corporate ID's as validation, individuals can register domains using only personal IDs for validation. This change was made possible given the improvements to mechanisms monitoring domain name abuse and tracking.
The registrations count of .cn has been quickly recovering since then and on the rise.
Brief Report on IETF84
We have published an interim report on IETF84. A full report will be available later this week
IETF84 - Brief Report
RNIDS and Netnod enhance services of Domain Names for Serbia
Belgrade/Stockholm, 6 August 2012 - Serbian TLD operator RNIDS and the Swedish-based Internet infrastructure organisation Netnod have entered into a strategic partnership to further strengthen the Name Service for the TLDs that RNIDS operates, including .rs and .срб. By making use of Netnod’s extensive worldwide infrastructure RNID’s operation of the domain name system will be additionally secured.
"We have chosen Netnod for their outstanding technical expertise and fully trust their competence to meet the high level demands associated with the operation of our supplementary name service for .rs, .срб and other zones we manage. Also, both Netnod and RNIDS are not-for-profit, neutral, and independent basic infrastructure-providing organisations and share similar strategic positions and views. Therefore, this partnership ideally matches with RNID’s commitment to provide services of utmost reliability, on a self-regulatory basis," said Branislav Anđelić, CEO of RNIDS.
"Netnod is happy to assist RNIDS in building an exemplary footprint by offering them the shared use of our widespread multi-site anycast infrastructure for full support of their zones, and thus for the common good of all Internet users. Of course, we are very proud that after having supported a large variety of European ccTLDs for quite some time now, RNIDS has chosen us to be their strategic DNS partner," said Kurt Erik Lindqvist, CEO of Netnod.