The opening date for the registration of .AU domain names is announced on 24/03/2022.
As a reminder, during the first six months, the implemented priority allocation process will offer you the opportunity:
To request an exact match for your existing domain names (.com.au / .net.au / .org.au etc) in .AU ;
To register “new” domain names directly in .AU (domain names that would not exist in other extensions such as .com.au, .net.au, .org.au etc.).
Please note: your existing domain names will continue to operate normally and in accordance with the auDA registry policy, regardless of a .AU registration.
Identity is an integral part of the digital world in which we live. Any individual, organization or computer is represented virtually by one or more identifiers, closely or distantly linked to different data. The digital identity allows to make the link between a real entity and its virtual representation.
Whether it is to authenticate, communicate or use a service on the Web, we use unique identifiers, which are associated with several personal information (email addresses, pseudonyms, random ids, etc.). These identifiers are usually managed by organizations that have control over our data. This data can be analyzed, altered, sold or stolen without the users’ consent, which represents a threat to their privacy. We must not forget that the data business is worth billions of euros; users do not always realize that their data has a real value.
It is from this observation that the concept of decentralized identity, also called self-sovereign identity (SSI), was born.
Decentralized identity aims to give users back control over their data, being at the core of Web3. It is based on decentralized identifiers (DID), deployed on a distributed registry. Users are the only ones who can manage their DID and the data linked to them. They can associate only the information they wish to share.
Several actors are developing solutions to build decentralized identity systems. Today we are going to take a look at one of them: ION (Identity Overlay Network). It is a decentralized identity management network, based on Bitcoin.
Source : https://identity.foundation/ion/
SideTree: an identifier management protocol
In 2017, members of the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) began working on a solution to manage decentralized identifiers, particularly using Blockchains as registries. The idea being to register credentials on a block chain, so that they can be verified and self-monitored by their holders. Because of its decentralized registry properties, Blockchains are particularly well suited to this need. Several projects around decentralized identity have used this type of technology to manage DID.
One of the problems of blockchains is the difficulty to scale up: scalability. For example, on Ethereum the network is often saturated, which causes slowness in transactions processing and increasing costs. Other blockchains offer better performance, but make a compromise on security or on system decentralization. This is known as the blockchains trilemma.
For an identity system to work on a global scale, it must be scalable. For this, there are solutions called Layer 2. These are solutions built “on top” of an existing blockchain, in order to aggregate several operations into a single transaction. This allows to significantly increase the number of transactions per second that can be processed, and thus to decrease the costs. This mechanism is particularly used by the Lighning Network on Bitcoin, and by various applications on Ethereum.
The members of the DIF then developed a Layer 2 protocol to manage decentralized identities: SideTree. This protocol allows to create a network on which the different nodes are connected in peer-to-peer. The protocol can be adapted to different underlying blockchains, to offer some interoperability. It is also important to underline that it follows the recommendations of the W3C regarding DID and Verifiable Credentials.
SideTree is built with several software components:
REST API: an interface to allow users to interact with the system.
SideTree Core: this is the “logical” part of the system, which manages the various operations on the identifiers.
Content Addressable Storage: manages the storage of identifiers and their metadata. SideTree uses IPFS, a protocol allowing to store and distribute data in a decentralized way. A MongoDB database is also used for local storage.
Blockchain Adapter: allows to communicate with an underlying blockchain, in order to record “states”.
ION: SideTree protocol coupled with Bitcoin
Bitcoin as layer 1
ION (Identity Overlay Network) is an implementation of the SideTree protocol based on Bitcoin and developed by members of the DIF. Thus it is a public, decentralized identity management system that is not controlled by any organization. It is able to handle several thousand transactions per second.
SideTree also has other implementations, including Element, which is based on the Ethereum blockchain.
ION has chosen Bitcoin for:
Its decentralization:
The network is open to all
The nodes are numerous and decentralized
Transactions are transparent, checkable and unchangeable
Its security:
Bitcoin has proven its resistance for over 10 years
Participants are encouraged to maintain and operate the network
The cost of a 50% attack is extremely high, and considered impossible
DID and documents
Concretely, an identifier on ION looks like a unique and complex sequence of characters: did:ion:EiD3DIbDgBCajj2zCkE48x74FKTV9_Dcu1u_imzZddDKfg
This DID is linked to a JSON document that contains several properties.
The user can also add all the properties he wants. It is possible to obtain the document from the identifier, by performing a resolution. This can be done using the REST API of an ION node, or by using a dedicated explorer. The idea is to be able to retrieve the information associated with a DID, in the same way as when retrieving IP addresses associated with domain names (DNS).
How does it work?
To generate a DID, a user must either use their own node or use one available on the network. The node operator must have a wallet with Bitcoin, as the operation requires a transaction. Managing identifiers is a multi-step process, on the command line and through a REST API; it is not trivial.
Each identifier is linked to 3 pairs of cryptographic keys:
Update keys
Recovery keys
Signature keys
The operations carried out during creation are recorded in a file. This instruction file is distributed on IPFS, and its unique identifier is recorded in a Bitcoin transaction. Simultaneous operations on multiple identifiers are grouped together, in order to have a single executed Bitcoin transaction. SideTree uses Merkel trees to structure the states of the different identifiers, and to allow the management of a large number of operations per transaction.
All other nodes in the ION network observe Bitcoin transactions and extract those that match the ION protocol. They retrieve the instruction file from IPFS, thanks to the unique identifier contained in the transaction. Then they execute the instructions in order to update themselves and contain the latest created identifiers. Thus, the new identifier is distributed throughout the network. The synchronization time may vary; we have not found any measurements of this time.
By definition, DID are not transferable; the user at the origin of an operation on a DID is thus necessarily the “owner” and the only one to have control over it with his private key. This property allows, in particular, to do without a consensus mechanism during operations on DID, because there are no possible double expenses.
Which future?
Several use cases
The ION project is developed by members of the DIF, and actively supported by Microsoft. The American company wants to exploit this protocol to offer new services based on decentralized identity.
Several use cases are possible:
Users can create their DID and use the OpenID authentication system. Thus, it would be possible to authenticate on various applications, sites and web services with a unique and decentralized identifier. Passwordless authentication is possible.
Users could choose the data they want to associate with their DID and revoke their access at any time. Business models could be developed to pay users directly for their data.
Users can manage different identities with multiple DID, through their digital wallets.
Companies, schools or organizations can generate verifiable digital certificates associated with DID. (Verifiable Credentials).
DID can be associated with domain names, in order to use readable names rather than complex addresses.
Services to be developed
ION’s ambition is to become a standard for tomorrow’s decentralized identity. The ingenuity of the protocol is interesting, and could stand out from other competitive solutions in particular thanks to the use of the Bitcoin protocol. Layer 2 solutions are promising for many use cases, and can significantly increase the scalability of decentralized registries.
However, today the protocol remains complex to use; tools and applications to facilitate its use will have to be developed. Microsoft will certainly offer services using ION, but it is to be hoped that other players will follow this path, especially with non-proprietary “end solutions”.
Furthermore, the recommended technical specifications for deploying a node are quite demanding; this can represent a significant cost in terms of hosting. The cost of registering a DID is also the responsibility of the node operator, who will submit the transaction on the network. Thus, there is no economic incentive to deploy a node, other than to create a business model by selling DID registration to other users. At first glance, these elements may be barriers to decentralization and adoption of ION, but it is still too early to tell.
Many competitors
Competition is tough in the world of digital identity. On the one hand, there are the identity solutions proposed by the big players (Google, Facebook, Thales, etc.), which today dominate the market, and on the other hand, there are the sovereign identity solutions pushed by governments (France Connect, Essif, etc.). Alongside these more or less centralized systems, there are also many self-sovereign identity protocols. Apart from ION, there is also Ethereum Name Service based on Ethereum, Evernym, Sovrin and countless projects under development.
The realization of concrete applications and the adoption by the general public are essential points in the success of a project; time will show us which ones will make the difference and become indispensable to tomorrow’s Web.
Are you interested in blockchains and crypto-assets? Do not hesitate to visit the website of our expert Steve Despres: https://cryptoms.fr/
BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) allows you to authenticate your emails and reinforce the trust of your customers by displaying your logo in their inbox. VMC (Verified Mark Certificate) is a certificate associated with BIMI, which ensures the authenticity of the logo displayed.
What is BIMI?
BIMI is an industry initiative aimed at standardizing the use and display of brand logos in email clients. By placing a brand or company logo next to an email, it is more easily identifiable by customers and users, builds a sense of legitimacy and trust, significantly impacts open rates, and increases consumer protection against fraudulent emails.
Technically speaking, BIMI is an emerging security technology that works alongside DKIM, SPF and DMARC protocols to protect your domain name from being used by malicious actors to send fraudulent emails.
Before BIMI, the steps to get your logo next to an email were specific to each email service your message was sent to. Sometimes the process was entirely manual or relied on other applications to aggregate your brand information and share it across participating platforms.
The AuthIndicators group, which includes email service providers such as Google, Verizon Media, IONOS by 1&1 and Fastmail, is working to implement BIMI in the most common email clients. Many players have already adopted BIMI, others are in the process, Microsoft’s and Apple’s positions are expected to drive final adoption of the standard.
Why is BIMI important?
To complete the arsenal of a brand’s protection on the Internet, more specifically against hijacking attempts through fraudulent spoofing emails whose goal is to deceive the user and lead them to phishing sites.
306 billion emails circulated worldwide in 2020, with an ever-increasing proportion of fraudulent emails hijacking brands.
To increase the desirability of emails, particularly in marketing campaigns. The implementation of BIMI and more widely of security protocols and certificates on the domain name associated with a brand is essential today and has a major impact on online reputation.
Because it is becoming a market standard, easy to implement unlike the number of existing anti-fraud email solutions that are often difficult to test and implement.
How does BIMI work?
BIMI uses a process of several steps to validate emails by ensuring that they are actually associated with the sender’s domain name. Senders must add a TXT DNS record dedicated to BIMI.
For BIMI to work, domain names must also have several other fraud protections, including:
SPF (Sender Policy Framework): authenticates emails by identifying mail servers authorized to send from specific domain names ;
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): adds a digital signature to each email to verify that it was sent from an authorized domain name;
DMARC (Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): confirms SPF and DKIM records and specifies how non-compliant emails should be handled.
When emails are sent using BIMI, the receiving mail server will first do the standard DMARC/DKIM authentication and SPF validation. If the email passes these checks, the mail server will verify that it has a valid BIMI record and display the brand logo.
How does BIMI interact with DMARC, DKIM and SPF?
The first step towards using BIMI to display a logo is to implement DMARC. This is stored as a DNS record of TXT type on the domain name. For DMARC to work with BIMI, the reject policy in this record must be p=quarantine or p=reject for all emails sent from your domain.
BIMI requires DMARC… and DMARC requires your domain name to have DKIM records to work. While DMARC only requires SPF or DKIM to work, it is best to include SPF records for more security when using BIMI. These 2 security tools are also stored as TXT DNS records in the domain name zone.
VMC, the final link in the chain
A Verified Mark Certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the ownership of a logo, and completes the use of BIMI in email clients such as Gmail.
The VMC certificate guarantees the authenticity of the logo displayed, which is necessarily owned by the domain name holder sending the email. It is the last link in the chain to guarantee the authenticity of the email received.
When you send an email to a contact, the receiving mail server that manages their inbox will take the URL of the tag that indicates where the logo should be displayed. It will then check the VMC certificate to ensure that the correct logo is used. Once the logo is verified by the VMC, BIMI will display it next to the email in the inbox.
To obtain a VMC certificate, the implementation of DMARC on the domain name is a prerequisite. Then follows a reinforced authentication process with a Certification Authority that will validate the identity of the Organization, the registration of the logo with a certified body and will issue the certificate after a one to one meeting with a notary.
Depending on the country, the intellectual property offices for logos registrations may vary as well as the rules of acceptance to issue the certificate. The notions to keep in mind, the authorized trademarks can be:
Design trademarks: consist exclusively of a design;
Verbal trademarks: contain words, letters and/or numbers, without any particular font, size, color or style;
Combination trademarks: include a combination of words with a design, stylized letters or numbers.
While this is not a requirement for implementing BIMI on your domain name at this time, VMC should be part of the standard in the future.
Entrust Datacard and DigiCert are the first 2 companies to issue VMC certificates for the BIMI standard. Nameshield is a partner of both companies and will assist you in obtaining VMC certificates. You can contact directly our certificates department for any question on the subject.
BIMI + VMC = Guarantee of authenticity
BIMI, VMC… and Nameshield
Nameshield now assists its customers in all aspects of the implementation of DMARC, SPF, DKIM, but also BIMI protocols and the obtaining of associated VMC certificates. The domain name is at the core of the implementation of these different protocols. Our historical business as a registrar and DNS zones manager allows us today to assist our customers on these major subjects of the fight against online fraud and the increase of emails desirability.
A domain name is not static, it evolves. It can be inactive, associated to a website, to a messaging service. The website can be operated, deactivated or its content can change. So many constant modifications that require a particular follow-up in the form of monitoring of domain names that may infringe your brand.
Find in this “5 minutes to understand” document, available for download on the Nameshield’s website, the different monitoring solutions that provide you with information to protect your domain names and brands from possible infringements.
The word “Metaverse” refers to everything related to virtual worlds (3D, augmented reality, virtual reality), and designates a “future” vision of the Internet, with fictive spaces such as stores, rooms or even games. It’s a bit of a buzzword of the moment, which was put forward by Facebook in October 2021, when it announced the creation of a metaverse (Meta). There is of course a trend effect, however several major brands seem to be working on the subject.
Many projects have used the term “Metaverse” around their services and products. There are projects related to digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, which allow the representation and exchange of value on the Internet. But also alternative domain names, like .eth, .crypto, .metaverse, etc. It’s also related to the concept of “web3”, which is a vision of a more decentralized web.
Regarding the alternative domain names, you have to know that they are extensions that are not regulated by ICANN, so they are not official. This explains why it is not possible to have WHOIS information. Furthermore, most alternative domain names systems do not work with the DNS protocol, but are built on a Blockchain infrastructure.
Here are some examples:
ENS (Ethereum Name Service): .ETH
ENS is one of the most used alternative domain name systems with .ETH. It is built on the Ethereum blockchain, through smart contracts, and allows to register domain names in order to link addresses of crypto wallets, websites or any other type of registration. A domain name can be registered for several years, and there are no domain name recovery procedures for trademark holders, as it is a decentralized project: the holder of an .ETH domain name is the only one who can control it.
The registration procedure is done through the use of an Ethereum wallet, and the payment with the ether cryptocurrency ($ETH).
ENS also allows traditional domain names holders to register their domain names on their system.
This is also a domain names system developed on the Ethereum blockchain. It allows, like ENS, to register domain names with different extensions. Unstoppable Domains do not expire and do not need to be renewed. There is, however, a procedure for trademark holders.
Namebase
This is a project that allows the creation of all kinds of top-level extensions. It is built on the HNS blockchain.
Namecoin: .BIT
One of the first alternative domain names project on Blockchain.
Touchcast: .METAVERSE
This is a recent project that offers .METAVERSE domain names for sale. There is not much technical information about their system, and their community seems to be quite limited compared to their number of followers on social networks.
Other alternative domain names projects have also emerged. It is important to know that anyone can create an extension not regulated by ICANN.
For users, it is necessary to use another means than a classic DNS resolver to use these extensions (browser extensions, dedicated applications, etc.).
As expected, there is a lot of speculation and cybersquatting related to this type of domain names.
Image source : xresch via Pixabay
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