Last October 15, Kaspersky, the antivirus software company, published an edifying report about the volume of cyberattacks directly aiming connected objects.
Although the industry expected that this new generation of objects would be directly targeted by cyberattacks, the increase in the cyberattacks number is alarming and lets easily imagine the security flaws that the connected objects present.
According to the estimation presented by
Kaspersky, between the beginning of 2018 until mid-2019, the attacks would have
reached the record of 105 million, i.e. nine times more than the previous year
as a whole.
In order to conduct this research, Kaspersky used the trap technique by deploying more than 50 honeypots across the world. A Honeypot is a program that imitates the connected objects’ signature specifically created to attract cybercriminals. It was then possible to detect attacks from pirates that fell into the trap set for them. According to Kaspersky, during this experience, more than 20 000 sessions would have been infected every 15 minutes. 105 million attacks from 276 000 unique IP addresses have then been detected (compared to 12 million in 2018).
Furthermore, the report indicates that both in
2018 and 2019, China and Brazil are vying for the top position of the countries
that served as the origin of the attacks launched.
The main malwares that use the security flaws
of connected objects are well known (Mirai for example) and identified.
While we are aware that IoT is a privileged
playground for pirates, the first security measures are far from being
systematically applied. It’s essential for example to change the password
installed by default for each connected devices’ purchase.
For reminder, although technologies of cyber
malice are indeed more and more sophisticated, the first gateway for pirates remains
the users’ lack of vigilance.
As of October 19, 2019, internationally-based EU citizens can now register .EU or .ею domain names.
The .EU is the country code top level domain for the European Union. More than 3.6 million registrations spread out across Europe make this TLD a popular extension. Initially, this extension is only reserved to companies and individuals residing within EU and EEA member states. However in order to meet the needs of an ever-changing digital environment, EURid, the .EU registry, changes this eligibility criteria to extend it to all EU citizens living around the world.
“We are
excited to be able to extend the registration criteria to EU citizens around the
world. The .eu domain is now closer to your ambitions, achievements and dreams.
It is the bridge connecting you to your friends and family – even if you live
outside the EU. It will always show your roots, your outlook, and your cultural
values.” – Marc van Wesemael, EURid`s CEO.
For more information on the conditions for registration of your .EU, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Argentina now offers the possibility to register .AR domain names. Until now, it was only possible to register third level domain names particularly in .COM.AR.
Here are the launching periods planned:
Sunrise period – From 11/09/2019 to 09/11/2019
Priority
to holders of domain names registered in the zones .com.ar, .net.ar, .org.ar,
.int.ar, .tur.ar, before December 1st, 2015 and in effect at August
27, 2019.
At
the end of this period, if only one request is received, the user who did the
request can register the domain name by paying the corresponding tax. If many
requests are received by the registry for the same name, the holder of the name
will be decided by drawing lots.
Intermediary period – From 27/11/2019 to 27/01/2020
During this period, all the community can request the registration of domain names available in .AR.
The reserved and restricted domain names are
excluded and some domain names will likely be subjects to approval.
Reserved domains: domain names identical to names registered in ‘.gob.ar’ and ‘.mil.ar’ are exclusively reserved to these names’ holders. To note: Even a domain name reserved in one of the .AR zones can be classified as reserved by the Argentinian registry.
Restricted domains: Even a domain name reserved in one of the .AR zones can be classified as reserved by the Argentinian registry, making these names unavailable for registration.
Terms
which are subjects to approval: normal words or expressions which, if they are
part of a domain name, must be approved by the Argentinian registry. They
include names that are aggravating, discriminatory or contrary to the law, to morality
or to good customs, or that could cause confusion, deception or identity theft.
Starting 15/09/2020, domain names available can be registered in .AR by any user, depending on the conditions set by the rules of the Argentinian registry.
For reminder, the registration conditions of the .AR include the providing of supporting documents.
If your current domain names portfolio doesn’t
have COM.AR, NET.AR, etc. and you wish to register a .AR at the time of the
general availability, we advise you to anticipate and to contact your
consultant to know the detail of the documents to provide.
Essential key element to any dematerialized data flow exchange, the domain name became a strategic intangible asset of great value. Depending on the academic works, there is a real correlation between the intangible assets’ quality and the companies’ economic performance. Identifying and valuating domain names becomes necessary for the financial director. Explanations in La revue de la Société Française des Analystes Financiers – SFAF (the journal of the French Society of Financial Analysts) of Jean-Manuel Gaget, Strategy and Consulting director of Nameshield and administrator of the Institut de Comptabilité de l’Immatériel (Intangible Accounting Institute).
In the 90’s, the domain name was an accessory
element of the brand. During its world expansion, it became the principal
element of the brand, in particular in the e-commerce’s world. You only need to
look at how Amazon or Easyjet have developed their logo to consider it as a
unique communication medium.
The domain name has this unique particularity to be an intangible asset with four dimensions. It is simultaneously:
An
IT object allowing to access services on the Internet by being the link between the IP address (a suite of
numbers) of a physical object [computer, server, smartphone…] and a literal
name (role of the Domain Name Server or DNS);
A
communication tool allowing to establish its identity on the Internet and gain
a digital territory;
A
legal element through a temporary contract with an Internet Registry;
A
financial asset, accountable as an intangible asset under certain conditions.
Now an essential key element to any
dematerialized data flow exchange, be it for email sending, the access to
websites, social networks and connected objects, any data exchange on the
Internet passes by the use of a domain name and any service disruption has
important consequences on the organizations’ activity.
Why and how to rate your domain name capital?
Today, the academic works, in particular carried by the French referential of the intangible capital’s measure “Thesaurus Capital Immatériel” (Thesaurus Intangible Capital) show a real correlation between the intangible assets’ quality and the companies’ economic performance. The higher the quality of the intangible assets is (human capital, information system capital, customer capital…), the stronger, more sustainable and economically efficient in the medium and long term the company’s fundamentals are. Hence the importance to measure the intangible capital and its evolution over time.
However, as much as literature is rich
regarding methods of brands valuation, it is near non-existent regarding domain
names. That is why in 2019, the Intangible Accounting Institute wished to enrich
the Thesaurus Intangible Capital with a specific section on the rating of the
domain name capital. In the same way that clients, Human, IT, knowledge… assets
are evaluated, we searched to evaluate the domain name capital in association
with the brand capital. Because brands and domain names are now inseparable!
Accounting principles applicable to domain names
In a decision of the French Council of State of
December 7th, 2016 (ebay.fr case), it is reminded that if the use of a domain
name:
Represents
a constant source of profits;
Has
a sufficient sustainability (particularly if it can be regularly renewed);
Is
likely to be transferred;
Then it is an intangible asset of the company and must follow the associated accounting and tax rules. As such, the domain names have to be accounted either at their creation cost, at their acquisition value, or at their current value (market value) for the ones acquired free of charge. The domain names are then not to be considered as a simple IT workload, but as real assets that should be managed at fair value. As such, further attention on tax issues related to domain names’ value must be given within the context of the transfer prices.
The market approach aims to measure the
semantic value of a domain name by reference to the monetary transactions
passed. To that end, we have developed a database of more than 1.4 million
transactions passed. This approach allows to give a price value by comparable.
Aim: to measure the digital performance of the organizations
These three approaches of domain names valuation
by historical costs, the market and the loss, combined to the domain name
capital rating are tools that should be at the disposal of the financial
directions so they can better measure the digital performance of their
organizations.
We now know more about the cyberpirate, Nexus Zeta, whose real name is Kenneth Currin Schuchman, who distinguished himself with the creation of the Satori botnet.
Pleading guilty to the charges regarding Satori botnet creation, his confessions describe the implementation of this attack using IoT flaws.
For reminder, a botnet is a set of infected computers remotely controlled by a
cybercriminal. The machines that belong to a botnet are often called “bots” or
“zombies”. The aim: to spread a malware or a virus to the greatest number of
machines possible.
The hacker Nexus Zeta did not act alone but worked
together with two other cybercriminals: Vamp who served as the primary developer/coder
of Satori and Drake who managed the botnet sales.
The Satori botnet was created based on the public code of the Mirai IoT malware.
For reminder, in 2016, Mirai was the source of one of the biggest DDoS ever seen in 2016, targeting in particular the American provider DYN. The functioning is based on the permanent research on the Internet, of IP addresses corresponding to connected objects (IoT). Once the vulnerable connected objects identified, Mirai connects to them to install the malware.
If the Satori botnet mainly attacked the devices running with factory-set or easy to guess passwords, in its first month of deployment, it has infected over 100 000 devices.
Between 2017 and 2018, the three hackers
continue to develop Satori, which they will rename Okiru and Masuta. The botnet
went as far as to infect over 700 000 devices.
Officially accused by the American authorities,
Kenneth Currin Schuchman is free until his trial. However, he breaks the pre-trial
release conditions by accessing the Internet and developing a new botnet. It is
in October 2018 that he is this time arrested and jailed. Pleading guilty, he’s
facing up to ten years in prison and a fine of 250 000 dollars.
On October 29, 1969 UCLA sends the very first
e-message to Stanford Research Institute through Arpanet network (Advanced
Research Projects Agency Network) laying the foundation for today’s networked
world.
Arpanet, the Internet’s precursor
Arpanet is the first data transfer network
developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which belonged to the
U.S. Defense Department.
The first Arpanet node was set up at UCLA on
August 30, 1969, the second node, at the Stanford Research Institute, was set
up on October 1st 1969. The first message was sent between the two institutions
on October 29 1969 by the UCLA computer science professor Leonard Kleinrock who
wished to send the word “login” but the system crashed so only two letters,
“l” and “o”, were transmitted, the complete word will only
be transmitted 1 hour later.
Arpanet connected some universities and research
institutes: first, UCLA and Stanford Research Institute, followed by UC Santa
Barbara and the University of Utah. At the end of 1969, Arpanet counted 4
nodes, in 1971, 23 nodes were created and 111 nodes in 1977.
In 1983, Arpanet has been divided in two
networks: one military, the MILnet (Military Network) and the other academic, the
NSFnet.
On January 1st 1983, the name “Internet” already in use to define all
of Arpanet,
became official.
World Wide Web turns 30 years old
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher working
for the CERN, proposed a hypertext system working on the Internet. This system
was originally developed for scientists working in universities and institutes
around the world, so they could instantly share information. His vision of
universal connectivity became the World Wide Web, which sent Internet usage
skyrocketing.
In 1993, Mosaic, the first popular web browser
was created by Marc Andreessen and Eric J.Bina, two students of the National
Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) of the University of Illinois. It
was not the first graphical web browser but Mosaic was particularly fast and
allowed the users to display images inside web pages instead of displaying
images in a separate window, which has given it some popularity and contributed
to increase the World Wide Web’s popularity.
Internet Protocol – From IPv4 to IPv6
The Internet Protocol (IP) is a set of
communication protocols of IT networks developed to be used on the Internet. IP
protocols allow a unique addressing service for all connected devices.
IPv4 the first major version was invented in
the 70’s and introduced to the public in 1981. It is still the dominant
protocol of the Internet today. Twenty years ago, the IETF (Internet
Engineering Task Force) started predicting the depletion of IPv4 addresses and
began working to create a new version of the Internet Protocol: IPv6.
IPv4 uses a 32-bit addressing scheme to support
4.3 billion devices, while IPv6 possesses a much larger address space. Indeed,
IPv6 uses a 128-bit address allowing 3.4 x 1038 possible addresses.
DNS – Domain Name System
At the request of the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Defense Department, the DNS (Domain Name System) was invented in 1983 by Jon Postel and Paul Mockapetris, in order to associate complex IP addresses with humanly understandable and easy-to-remember names. Thus a logical address, the domain name, is associated to a physical address, the IP address. The domain name and IP address are unique.
In 1998, is created ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the regulatory authority of the Internet. Its main purpose is to allocate the Internet protocol addresses spaces, to attribute the protocol identifier (IP), to manage the domain name system of top level for generic codes (gTLD), to assign the country codes (ccTLD), and to carry out the functions of the root servers’ system management.
With 351.8 million domain names registrations
in the first quarter of 2019, domain names registrations continue to climb, but
with the increase of the number of threats aiming the DNS at the same time.
The emergence of cyber threats
Considered as one of the first cyberattacks and
certainly the first to attract the media’s attention, the Morris Worm was
launched in 1988 by a student of the Cornell University, Robert Tappan Morris.
Originally, the malware developed by the student didn’t have for purpose to
cause damage but simply to estimate the extent of the Internet. However this
worm affected about 60 000 computers estimated connected to the Internet
and the cost of the damages was about 100 000 to 10 million dollars.
This event marks the turning point in the field of online security.
Today, cyberattacks are abundant, frequent and
more and more sophisticated. The evolution of techniques and the arrival of new
technologies make cyberattacks increasingly complex and offer new opportunities
to attackers.
There are various types of cyberattack like attacks aiming the DNS: DDoS, DNS cache poisoning, DNS spoofing, Man in the Middle… (In 2019, according to IDC – International Data Corporation, 82% of companies worldwide have faced a DNS attack over the past year) or attacks directly aiming users and having for purpose to obtain confidential information to steal an identity (phishing).
The consequences for victimized companies can be significant. For example, today the cost of a data breach is 3.92 million dollars on average according to IBM Security, this cost has risen 12% over the past five years.
An IP traffic estimated in 2022 more important than the one generated from 1984 to 2016
With more than 5 billion Google searches made
every day, e-commerce continuing to thrive, social media growing in popularity
and the increasing number of connected objects, the traffic volume on the
Internet has risen considerably.
Indeed, in 1974, daily traffic on the Internet surpassed 3 million packets per day. According to a Cisco’s research in 2017, the global IP traffic reached 122 exabytes per month, the company estimates that this volume should reach 396 exabytes by 2022.
“The size and complexity of the Internet continues to grow in ways that many could not have imagined. Since we first started the VNI Forecast in 2005, traffic has increased 56-fold, amassing a 36% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) with more people, devices and applications accessing IP networks” said Jonathan Davidson, senior vice president and general manager of Service Provider Business at Cisco.
Today, 50 years after the birth of the Internet’s ancestor, Arpanet, there are more Internet connected devices than people in the world. In 2022, the web users will represent 60% of the world’s population and more than 28 billion devices will connect to the Internet.
The industry actors plan to reduce the lifetime of SSL/TLS certificates, allowing the HTTPS display in browsers, to 13 months, i.e. almost half of the present lifetime of 27 months, in order to improve security.
Google through the CA/Browser Forum has indeed
proposed this modification, approved by Apple and a Certification Authority, making
it eligible to vote. During the next CA/B Forum meetings, if the vote is
accepted, the modification of the requirements will come into effect in March 2020. Any certificate issued
after the entry into force date will have to respect the requirements of the
shortened validity period.
The aim for this reduction is to complicate
things for cyber attackers by reducing the duration of the use of the potentially
stolen certificates. It could also force companies to use the most recent and
the most secured available encrypting algorithms.
If the vote fails, it’s not to be excluded that
browsers supporting this requirement, unilaterally implement it in their root
program, thus forcing the change to the Certification Authorities. It’s likely
that this could be the case, this change follows Google’s precedent initiative that
aimed to reduce the lifespan from three years to two years in 2018, period during
which Google already wished to reduce it to 13 months or even less.
Who is impacted?
The changes proposed by Google would have an impact on all the users of TLS certificates of public trust, regardless of the Certification Authority that issued the certificate. If the vote passes, all certificates issued or reissued after March 2020 will have a maximum validity of 13 months. The companies using certificates with a validity period superior to 13 months will be encouraged to reconsider their systems and evaluate the impact of the proposed modifications on their implementation and their use.
The TLS certificates issued before March 2020 with a validity period superior to 13 months will stay operational. The public non-TLS certificate, for the code signing, the TLS private code and clients’ certificates, etc. are not concerned. It will not be necessary to revoke an existing certificate following the implementation of the new standard. The reduction will have to be applied during the renewal.
What do the market players think about this?
It would be a global change for the industry with
impacts on all the Certification Authorities. They view this proposition in a negative light. We
can see an economic interest above all, but not solely…
The main argument is that the market is not
ready in terms of automation system of orders and certificates implementations.
Indeed, there would be more human interventions with the risks associated with poor
handling, or simply a higher risk of forgetting a certificate renewal.
For Certification Authorities, reducing the
certificates’ lifespan to such a short term mainly presents an increase of the
human costs related to the certificate portfolio management. If they are not
fundamentally against this decision, they would particularly like more time to
study what users and companies think.
The position of browsers makers
Be it Google or Mozilla, the spearheads of the
native HTTPS massive adoption for all websites and the supporters of the
Let’sEncrypt initiative, what is important is the encrypting of all web
traffic. A reduction of the certificates lifespan reduces the risk of
certificates theft on a long period and encourages the massive adoption of
automated management systems. For these two actors, an ideal world would have
certificate of maximum 3 months. If they are attentive to the market as to not
impose their views too quickly, it is more than likely that in the long term
the certificates’ lifespan will continue to decrease.
Nameshield’s opinion
The market continues its evolution towards shorter
and shorter certificates’ validity, as a continual decrease of the
authentication levels and consequently a need for management automated
solutions that will increase. We will align on these requirements and advise
our customers to prepare themselves for this reduction which will, without a
doubt, arrive. Our Certification Authorities partners will also follow this
evolution and will allow to provide all systems of required permanent inventory
and automation.
To be heard
The CA/Browser Forum accepts comments of external participants and all discussions are public. You can directly enter your comments to the Forum distribution list: https://cabforum.org/working-groups/ (at the bottom of the page). Nameshield is in contact with CA/Browser Forum participants and will inform you of the future decisions.
The domain name has this unique particularity
to be an intangible asset with four dimensions.
It is simultaneously:
An
IT object allowing to access
services on the Internet by doing the link between the IP address (a suite of
numbers) of a physical object [computer, server, smartphone…] and a literal
name (role of the Domain Name Server or DNS);
A
communication tool allowing to establish
its identity on the Internet and gain a digital territory;
A
legal element through a temporary
contract with an Internet Registry;
A
financial asset, accountable as an intangible
asset under certain conditions.
Today an essential key element to any dematerialized
data flow exchange, the domain name became overtime a strategic intangible
asset of great value regarding associated services (email, websites access).
Accounting principles applicable to domain names
The domain name is not to be considered as a
simple technical tool, but as an intangible asset to write in the balance sheet
of the companies and collectivities, if it allows to generate a lasting source
of profit. In a decision of the French Council of State of December 7th,
2016 (ebay.fr case), the wise persons of the Palais-Royal thus remind that if
the use of a domain name:
Represents
a constant source of profits;
Has
a sufficient sustainability (particularly if it can be regularly renewed);
Is
likely to be transferred;
Then it is an intangible asset of the company
and must follow the associated accounting and tax rules. As such, the domain
names have to be accounted either at their creation cost, or at their
acquisition value, or at their current value (market value) for the ones
acquired free of charge.
The market approach aims to measure the
semantic value of a domain name by reference to the monetary transactions
passed. To that end, Nameshield has developed a database of more than 1.4
million transactions passed (domain name, price, year). This approach allows to
give a price value by comparable.
The strength of a domain names’ valuation method, scientific and practical
Supported by its regular work in the acquisition and/or sale of domain names for its clients’ companies and collectivities, Nameshield is able to propose an approach of monetary valuation of a domain name or a domain names’ portfolio, as part of the best current scientific practice.
Until now, Australian domain names were only available
for registrations in second level extensions, in particular .COM.AU.
If the decision to open the .AU registration goes back to 2015, it took four years to set the rules!
It seems that starting October 1st, 2019, the holder of the existing .com.au domain name, for example forexample.com.au, will be able to apply for priority status to register the exact match of their existing name in .AU, forexample.au.
The detail of the priority allocation system are below:
2 priority status (from 2019/10/01 to 2020/04/01)
–Category 1 : Third level domain names (com.au, net.au, org.au, asn.au, id.au, edu.au, qld.edu.au, nsw.edu.au, eq.edu.au, act.edu.au, vic.edu.au, sa.edu.au, wa.edu.au, nt.edu.au, catholic.edu.au, schools.nsw.edu.au, education.tas.edu.au, sa.au, wa.au, nt.au, qld.au, nsw.au, vic.au, tas.au and act.au) registered on February 4th 2018 at the latest will be assigned to priority category 1 for the registration of the same name in .AU.
–Category 2: Third level domain names registered after February 4th 2018 will be assigned to priority category 2 for the registration of the same name in .AU.
The
date of the general availability is not announced yet.
The registry indicates that more information
will be published in the next weeks, we will keep you informed.
The new .AU licensing rules might also come into effect at the fourth quarter of 2019 (for all the extensions: .au, .com.au, .net.au, .org.au, .asn.au, .id.au).
Lastly, we can note that the general availability will allow the registration to individuals/companies which respect the Australian registry’s conditions (local presence in Australia).
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
has without a doubt a negative impact on the enforcement efforts, according to
the participants at the INTA 2019 annual meeting (International Trademark
Association) in Boston.
Margaret Lia Milam, domain name strategy and
management lead at Facebook warned that the platform’s scale makes it a “huge
target for bad actors”.
Milam stated that because the site is working
at such a scale, it cannot turn to lawyers for the “thousands” of requests it
receives.
Statton Hammock of MarkMonitor said that
MarkMonitor had suffered a loss of efficiency of 12% due to the GDPR. His team
has “historically used WHOIS to protect IP rights” but because of the GDPR, all
the data they have cached “become less and less useful with each passing day”.
Alex Deacon, founder of Cole Valley Consulting,
echoed Milam and Hammock’s comments warning that the Spamhaus Project, an
international organization aiming to track emails spammers, is struggling to
manage its blacklist because of the GDPR.
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