WASHINGTON, D.C. - The FBI has announced they have shut down a prolific ransomware group known as “Radar/Dispossessor” and seized multiple internet domains and servers utilized by the cyber threat actors, reportedly headed up by an individual known by the code-name “Brain.” As part of the FBI’s enforcement actions, they have dismantled a plethora of servers utilized by Radar/Dispossessor to carry out their ransomware attacks, including three in the United States, … [Read more...]
World’s Biggest Ransomware Group Shut Down, Domains Seized in Global Operation
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The operations of infamous ransomware group LockBit have been shut down, their domains seized, and several high-ranking members placed under arrest as the result of a recent digital takedown carried out by an international law enforcement operation. Operation Cronos, the code name of a joint effort made up by agencies representing 11 countries – Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United … [Read more...]
Q3 Domain Report: Slight “.COM” Reg Decline, New GTLDs Enjoy 10% Increase
RESTON, VA - Verisign, the company that is the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains (TLDs) and the .cc country-code top-level domain, released their 3rd quarter 2023 Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) this week that reveals by the end of the latest quarter, total domain registrations across all TLDs worldwide have reached 359.3 million. That number represents a 2.4 percent increase year over year, amounting to an … [Read more...]
VeriSign Says “.COM” Registrations Up, “NGTLDS” Up, Legacy “.NET” Down
RESTON, VA - VeriSign Inc., a global provider of domain name registry services and internet infrastructure, announced that their total number of Top-Level Domain (TLD) registrations worldwide have reached 356.6 million as of the end of the second quarter of 2023, as per the company’s latest quarterly Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB). Verisign, based out of Reston, Virginia, operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen … [Read more...]
Two Very Real and Recent Reasons to NOT Use A Country Code Domain Name (ccTLD)
PALM BEACH, FL - If you were looking for a reason to not move to a ccTLD, or country code domain name, and stick with your super-duper .com domain, no matter how weak you feel it might be, you’ve just been handed two good reasons to do so, within the last two months. In January, I wrote about tens of thousands of websites that went out of service due to the Brexit situation where the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union. As part of the transition process, over … [Read more...]
Lights Out for Nearly 50,000 Websites As Brexit Results in “.EU” Domain Change
GREAT BRITAIN - As a potentially unexpected side-effect of Brexit – the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in January 2020 – approximately 48,000 websites with the domain name “.eu” are now effectively in limbo, having been taken offline on Monday since the UK citizens and organizations who own them are no longer allowed to hold those domains. The revocation of those .eu domain names by the agency in charge of registrations on Monday was the … [Read more...]
SEDO Weekly Sales List Includes .io Indian Ocean Domain Sold At Whopping $50,000
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – The domain name “509.com” sold at $106,500 this past week according to the latest SEDO.com weekly domain sales report. The numeric web address is currently hosting what appears to be a site in the middle of development or using a GoDaddy website builder program. Also notable is the .io domain “swap.io” that sold for a whopping $50,000 and a .club domain “ox.club” which fetched 10,000. The .io is a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) … [Read more...]
Follow the Money: IRS Takes Down Largest Child Exploit Domain by Tracing Bitcoin
PALM BEACH, FL – The largest child exploitation website on the Internet “Welcome to Video” which, according to GitHub was using a dark-web address of “mt3plrzdiyqf6jim.onion” was seized and/or shut down last week resulting in over 300 arrests. According to the Department of Justice, the service was the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content. Particularly interesting was the way the sites owners were traced as I have been contemplating my first … [Read more...]
Removing WhoIs Data from Public View Only Removes Transparency from the Net
NEW YORK – There has been no shortage of Data Privacy Leaks in the world; it almost seems like there is a new one every day. However, removing the public registration data behind all domain name registrations makes no-one any safer, and only adds more obscurity and complications to the business for those who buy, sell and trade online, and not just in domains. It’s more a solution that’s looking far-and-wide for its problem. For instance, when someone registers a domain … [Read more...]
20 Years Later: A Look at The Top 100 .IO Domain Sales Over the Past 5 Years
NEW YORK, NY – According to NameBio, there were a total of 2,927 “reported” .IO domain sales over the last 5 year period. These top 100 total $993,953.00 in sales. The highest reported sales on this list were the domains “Tank.io” for $60,000.00 with the second as “Cloud.io” for $45,000.00 (Neither of which are developed). .io is a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory. The .io domain is administered by the Internet Computer … [Read more...]
The 20 Most Popular Domain Names; Measured by Google Search Results
The 20 top level domains with the most page results in Google: .com Commercial 4,860,000,000 .org Noncommercial 1,950,000,000 .edu US accredited postsecondary institutions 1,550,000,000 .gov United States Government 1,060,000,000 .uk United Kingdom 473,000,000 .net Network … [Read more...]