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WHOIS History API: Powering Domain Investigations

Reverse WHOIS: A Powerful Process in Cybersecurity

Domain Research and Monitoring: Keeping an Eye on the Web for You

Blogs

A Targeted Blueprint for Tackling DNS Abuse

The NetBeacon Institute is pleased to publish its White Paper: Proposal for PDPs on DNS Abuse. We created this paper to support and advance ICANN Community discussions on potential policy development related to DNS Abuse. From our unique perspective, we believe there are a number of issues that are constrained enough to be a successful ICANN PDP and can make a meaningful difference in our collective work against DNS Abuse.

How New Domains are Driving DNS-based Attacks

Cyber criminals are the kings of recycling. Once they've found a tactic that works well, they'll keep doing it as long as they can get away with it. That's why it's so important for research teams to keep a close eye on what's happening behind the scenes with web traffic. Case in point? Our team at DNSFilter recently analyzed global DNS activity from the first quarter of 2025 and identified several notable trends.

The 2024-2026 Root Zone KSK Rollover: Initial Observations and Early Trends

On Jan. 11, 2025, Verisign supported the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in taking a major step to ensure the continued security, stability, and resiliency of the Domain Name System (DNS). While imperceptible to most users, this action - specifically, the introduction of a new Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) Key Signing Key (KSK) in the root zone - is the next step of a multi-year-long process to change, or "roll," the cryptographic key that secures the root of the DNS.

How to Convince Your Boss to Deploy DNSSEC and RPKI?

At the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2024 in Riyadh, the Internet Standards, Security and Safety Coalition (IS3C) released a new tool: 'To deploy or not to deploy, that's the question. How to convince your boss to deploy DNSSEC and RPKI'. In this report, IS3C advocates mass deployment of these two newer generation, security-related internet standards, as their deployment contributes significantly to the safety and security of all internet users.

A Review of the 2024 Threat Landscape and Implications for Domain Security

The cybersecurity landscape in 2024 has been characterised by unprecedented complexity and rapidly evolving threats, presenting significant challenges for organisations across all sectors. As the digital attack surface expands and threat actors employ increasingly sophisticated techniques, domain security has emerged as a critical component of a robust cybersecurity strategy.

Building a “Domain of Trust” - Protecting Online Identity in the Age of AI and 6G

In today's interconnected world, your business's online identity is increasingly more vulnerable than ever. With the rapid advancement of AI and 6G technologies, cyber threats are evolving at an alarming rate, making it critical to protect your brand's digital presence. How can businesses proactively safeguard their online identity in this changing landscape?

The Dos and Don’ts of DNS Management

The domain name system (DNS) is vital for businesses as it facilitates customer access to online services and resources. Strategic DNS management plays a pivotal role in cybersecurity, safeguarding against threat vectors and ensuring secure global connectivity across online channels including apps, email, websites, application programming interfaces (APIs) and more.

The Evolution of DNS: Adapting to the Changing Internet Landscape

The DNS is a crucial part of today's Internet. With the fracturing of the network's address space as a byproduct of IPv4 address run down and the protracted IPv6 transition the Internet's name space is now the defining attribute of the Internet that makes it one network. However, the DNS is not a rigid and unchanging technology. It has changed considerably over the lifetime of the Internet and here I'd like to look at what's changed and what's remained the same.

NIS 2.0 and Its Impact on the Domain Name Ecosystem

I recently appeared on the 419 Consulting podcast to discuss the European Union's NIS 2.0 Directive and its impact on the domain name ecosystem. I encourage all TLD registries, domain name registration service providers, and DNS operators to listen to the recording of that session which Andrew Campling has made available.

13th Registration Operations Workshop: Join Us Online on June 4th, 2024

As a member of the ROW Planning Committee, I am writing this post on behalf of the Committee and welcome all community members to join us on June 4th. We are celebrating ROW's 10th anniversary! A decade of collaboration and inspiration! Thank you to the incredible community that has fueled this journey!

GAC Communiqués and Community Activity on DNS Abuse

This blog post and the associated report aim to provide an overview of DNS Abuse 1related issues the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), part of the ICANN multi-stakeholder model, has identified. We also summarize the relevant community activity taking place to address these areas of interest and highlight remaining gaps. From 2016 to June 2023, the GAC referenced four primary categories of activity related to DNS Abuse.

A Call to Help Disrupt the Spread of Child Sexual Abuse Materials

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) leads the charge to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, and we at Public Interest Registry (PIR) are dedicated to supporting their efforts. We are honored to work with them across two important programs: Domain Alerts and TLD Hopping List. IWF services have been extremely successful in addressing CSAM on .ORG over the past five years

A Layered Approach to IG: Cooperation or Crisis!

In an Internet governance agenda that treats diversity of addressing issues as the ultimate end at any cost, technology and its end-users are mere means, and much of the work that sustains the Internet is ignored entirely. As a nation, you are free to initiate different regulations, but when you start getting into the world of infrastructure, you are legislating far beyond the nation-state borders.

Verisign Provides Open Source Implementation of Merkle Tree Ladder Mode

The quantum computing era is coming, and it will change everything about how the world connects online. While quantum computing will yield tremendous benefits, it will also create new risks, so it's essential that we prepare our critical internet infrastructure for what's to come. That's why we're so pleased to share our latest efforts in this area, including technology that we're making available as an open source implementation to help internet operators worldwide prepare.

Challenges in Measuring DNS Abuse

From the creation of DNSAI Compass ("Compass"), we knew that measuring DNS Abuse1 would be difficult and that it would be beneficial to anticipate the challenges we would encounter. With more than a year of published reports, we are sharing insights into one of the obstacles we have faced. One of our core principles is transparency and we've worked hard to provide this with our methodology.

News Briefs

DNSSEC Failure Causes Massive Website Outages on Russian Internet

Analysis of 7.5 Trillion DNS Queries Reveals Public Resolvers Dominate the Internet

EU-based DNS Internet Infrastructure Beginning to Take Shape, Planned to Onboard 100 Million Users

DNS Abuse Institute Launches Centralized DNS Abuse Reporting Service

CENTR Publishes Comment on the European Commission’s DNS Abuse Study

InternetNZ Has Disclosed a Vulnerability That Can Be Weaponized Against Authoritative DNS Servers

Security Researcher Dan Kaminsky Has Died

PIR Launches New Institute to Combat DNS Abuse

DNSSEC Now Deployed in all Generic Top-Level Domains, Says ICANN

Firefox Starts the Roll Out of DNS Over HTTPS (DoH) by Default for US-Based Users

Microsoft Announces Plans to Adopt DoH in Windows

EFF: For ISPs to Retain Power to Censor the Internet, DNS Needs to Remain Leaky

Leading Domain Registries and Registrars Release Joint Document on Addressing ‘DNS Abuse’

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee Is Investigating Google’s Plans to Implement DNS Over HTTPS

Use of DNS Firewalls Could Have Prevented More Than $10B in Data Breach Losses Over the Past 5 Years

Unexpected Behaviour Observed With DNS Root Servers After Cryptographic Change

ICANN Makes Urgent Call for Full Deployment of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC)

ISC Assesses DNS Flag Day

Global DNS Record Manipulation, Hijacking Campaign at Massive Scale Linked to Iran

ICANN Facing Critical Choice for Plan to Change DNS Cryptographic Key

Most Viewed

Security Researcher Dan Kaminsky Has Died

DNSSEC: Once More, With Feeling!

Internationalizing the Internet

DNS, DNSSEC and Google’s Public DNS Service

Cricket Liu Interviewed: DNS and BIND, 5th Edition

Most Commented

WhoisXML API Updates – Sponsor

Global Domain Activity Trends Seen in Q1 2025

Based on our Q1 2025 ranking of the most popular gTLDs and ccTLDs, the same players pretty much made the list. The .com gTLD remained in first place while the other gTLD extensions like .xyz, .top, and .shop lagged far behind. Among the ccTLDs, only .de made it to the top 10. more

Unlocking the DNS Strongbox of BADBOX 2.0

HUMAN's Satori Threat Intelligence and Research Team recently uncovered and partially disrupted BADBOX 2.0 in collaboration with Google, Trend Micro, Shadowserver, and other partners. The threat has been dubbed "the largest botnet of infected connected TV (CTV) devices" uncovered to date. more

Unearthing the DNS Roots of the Latest Lotus Blossom Attack

Cisco Talos recently uncovered multiple Lotus Blossom cyber espionage campaigns targeting government, manufacturing, telecommunications, and media organizations. The group used Sagerunex and other hacking tools after compromising target networks. more

Rounding Up the DNS Traces of RA World Ransomware

Symantec recently reported that a China-based threat actor who has been involved in installing backdoors in the systems of target government institutions (i.e., cyber espionage) has turned toward spreading RA World ransomware (i.e., a cybercriminal act) this time. Going from one act to the other is not usual for attackers.  more

Tempering Tax Season Troubles with DNS Intel

Each year, threat actors zoom in on U.S. taxpayers in a bid to intercept their payments and line their pockets instead. And while the tax day - 15 April 2025 - has passed, those who need more time can settle their dues up to 15 October 2025 without getting penalized if they requested an extension. more

Decrypting the Inner DNS Workings of EncryptHub

Outpost24 recently discovered that rising cybercriminal entity EncryptHub inadvertently exposed elements of its malicious enterprise. The security investigation unveiled previously unknown aspects of the group's infrastructure, tools, and behavioral patterns. more

Tracing the DNS Footprints of REF7707

The targeted attack campaign REF7707 trailed its sights on the foreign ministry of a South American country in February 2025. According to Elastic Labs, the group behind the campaign has been connected to previous compromises in Southeast Asia. more

Industry Updates

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