Many sectors of the global economy may be struggling, but domain name registrations continue to grow strongly with registrations across all Top Level Domains (TLDs) increasing 8.6 per cent or 16.9 million in the 12 months to end of June 2011, reports Verisign in their latest Domain Name Industry Brief. In the latest quarter, growth was 2.5 per cent or 5.2 million. Country code TLDs grew to 84.6 million registrations a 3.6 per cent increase quarter over quarter, and an 8.4 per cent increase year over year in the registrations base. The .COM and .NET TLDs experienced aggregate growth, surpassing a combined total of 110 million names in the second quarter of 2011, with Verisign refusing to separate out individual registration figures. Looking out graphs provided in the report, there are around 92 million .COM registrations and around 18 million .NET registrations. This represents a 1.8 per cent increase in the base over the first quarter of 2011 and an 8.3 per cent increase over the same quarter in 2010. New .COM and .NET registrations totalled 8.1 million during the quarter. This reflects a 2.0 per cent increase year over year in new registrations, and a 2.3 per cent decrease in new registrations from the first quarter. The order of the top TLDs in terms of zone size changed slightly compared to the first quarter, as .CN (China) moved from ninth to eighth largest TLD, dropping .EU (European Union) from eighth to ninth. The largest TLDs in terms of base size were, in order, .COM, .de (Germany, currently with 14.577 million registrations), .NET, .UK (United Kingdom – 9.559m), .ORG, .INFO, .NL (Netherlands – 4.641m), .CN, .RU (Russian Federation – 3.41m) which since this report was compiled has overtaken .EU (3.389m). CcTLD statistics are from registry websites as of 31 August. Among the 20 largest ccTLDs, Brazil, Australia and Spain each exceeded four per cent quarter over quarter growth. Last quarter, seven of the top 20 exceeded the same threshold. There are more than 240 ccTLD extensions globally, with the top ten ccTLDs comprising 60 per cent of all registrations. The .COM/.NET renewal rate for the second quarter of 2011 was 73.1 per cent, down from 73.8 per cent for the first quarter. Renewal rates vary quarter over quarter based on the composition of the expiring name base and the contribution of specific registrars. This latest Domain Name Industry Brief also looks at effectively harnessing Internet opportunities, while mitigating cybersecurity risks, which can mean the difference between success and failure for small to medium businesses. The Domain Name Industry Brief notes that while the benefits of effective online marketing and branding for SMBs have been exhaustively discussed, the mounting Internet-related challenges and cyber threats often go unaddressed until it’s too late. In 2010, The Wall Street Journal reported on an international cybercrime ring that managed to steal about $70 million from small businesses, municipalities and churches before law enforcers were able to stop it. The criminals specifically targeted small businesses because their electronic defences were much weaker than larger organizations, allowing them to steal with virtual impunity. Ironically, as larger enterprises improve their defences and make cybersecurity a larger priority, SMBs become an even more attractive target to cyber-criminals looking for easy, and profitable, targets. But despite growing threats, SMBs as a group have been slow to adopt effective security technologies and protocols. In its most recent annual survey of SMB leaders, the US National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) (http://www.staysafeonline.org) found that less than half of SMB owners (43 per cent) were confident that their businesses were adequately protected against data thieves. Even more alarming was the fact that more than half of those polled (53 per cent) said that the cost of securing their data and networks was not justified by the threat. That’s despite the fact that more than 74 per cent of small and mid-sized businesses have been impacted by cyber attacks over the past year, according to Symantec, which pegged the per-incident cost of such attacks at more than $180,000. Effectively mitigating those threats requires a combination of common sense security procedures and smart – but not overwhelming – investments in security technology and services. In May 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hosted a Cybersecurity Roundtable focused on protecting SMBs. The FCC offered a 10-point cybersecurity checklist (http://www.fcc.gov/events/cybersecurity-roundtable-protecting-small-businesses) for companies that included simple-but-effective recommendations like installing firewalls, regularly updating software and training employees in basic information security practices. The FCC guidelines represent an excellent starting point for any SMB with an Internet connection. But for SMBs with more extensive Internet operations – including those that base significant portions of their business on email and online transactions – those steps may not be enough. As a general rule, the more an SMB relies on the Internet, the more that SMB must devote to ensuring that its infrastructure, networks and customer-facing technologies are secure and stable. The entire host of technological threats that face large companies (from email and phishing scams to hacking and DDoS attacks) can be directed equally at SMBs, where they often have a much more serious impact. The report says that DDoS attacks can be particularly damaging to online-oriented SMBs, taking them offline for hours or even days by flooding their servers with illegitimate traffic. Cyber criminals know how damaging such an attack can be to small and mid-sized businesses and will often use the threat of a DDoS campaign to extort money from owners and network operators. For SMBs with significant online investments and business offerings, it may make sense to invest in third-party DDoS mitigation services from a company that specialises in bridging the natural technology gap that occurs when smaller organizations face large-scale threats. The value of a DDoS mitigation service is that it allows even a relatively small SMB to take advantage of enormous bandwidth capacity when they come under attack. This allows networks to stay up, and businesses to continue operating, even when they are under direct attack. Whether an SMB is an all-Internet operation, or a bricks and-mortar business that uses the Internet mainly for e-mail and administrative functions, it pays to have a clear view of the cyber threats that face all SMB owners. As is always the case in cybersecurity, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. To read more of this Domain Name Industry Brief or download previous editions, go to www.verisigninc.com/en_US/why-verisign/research-trends/domain-name-industry-brief/index.xhtml

Sounding like a broken record, WIPO has published an update on their activities as an international resource for time- and cost-efficient alternatives to court litigation of intellectual property disputes, acting both as a provider of legal and organisational expertise and as an administrator of cases. In the report WIPO expresses concerns to the introduction of new gTLDs and a revision to dispute resolution under the UDRP with trademark issues at the heart of their concerns. Included in the report is an update on the domain name-related activities of WIPO covering their administration of domain name disputes under different policies and various related aspects of the Domain Name System (DNS), as well as selected policy developments, in particular rights protection mechanisms (RPMs) for the introduction of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), the emergence of internationalized domain names (IDNs) as gTLDs, the contentious issue of revision by ICANN of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), and the status of the recommendations made by the Member States of WIPO in the context of the Second WIPO Internet Domain Name Process. WIPO expresses concerns regarding proposed revisions to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the introduction of new gTLDs. Concerns regarding the introduction of new gTLDs are based around Rights Protection Mechanisms such as trademark abuse and the methods of dealing with these problems – a Trademark Clearinghouse and a Uniform Rapid Suspension System, viewing the latter as becoming “an overburdened procedure” with “many issues [remaining] to be addressed.” In the report WIPO note that “accommodating the dynamic development of the DNS, the UDRP has been offering an effective alternative to court litigation for trademark owners, domain name registrants, and registration authorities. Nevertheless, efforts appear underway at ICANN which risk destabilising this well-respected enforcement tool.” However many of the issues raised by WIPO, and by American advertising bodies in recent weeks, have been addressed by ICANN. Not that WIPO and the American advertising bodies care to admit as much. In the report WIPO also notes they have administered more than 21,000 UDRP and UDRP-based cases. WIPO UDRP proceedings have so far involved parties from 163 countries. These disputes have come from over 112 countries in 2010 and 163 countries in total. WIPO also provides dispute resolution procedures for existing gTLDs and 65 ccTLDs. Demand for this WIPO service continued in 2010 with trademark holders filing 2,696 complaints, an increase of 28 per cent over the 2009 level. The concerns regarding UDRP relate to domainers and the volume of their registration activity. The report expresses concerns regarding “the use of computer software to automatically register (sometimes expired) domain names and their ‘parking’ of often competing advertisements on pay-per-click portal sites. In addition to their value as commercial identifiers, domain names have increasingly taken on aspects of commodities for speculative gain.” “Whereas traditional domain name abuse involved the registration of domain names by individuals seeking to turn a profit on the ’squatted’ names, nowadays a growing number of ‘domainers’ are deriving income from the large-scale automated registration of domain names corresponding not only to dictionary terms but also to third-party identifiers.” To download the full WIPO report in full, go to www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/govbody/en/wo_ga_40/wo_ga_40_9.pdf

Even as IPv4 address pools are being depleted, the level of deployment of its successor, IPv6, remains low writes the Internet Society’s (ISOC) Greg Wood. But significant recent developments are breaking down previous obstacles to its adoption. Progress on the deployment of IPv6 in the coming year could be a barometer for the global Internet’s future. To download and read this report from the IEEE Computer Society’s July/August 2011 edition of Internet Computing magazine, go to www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/MIC.2011.92 or doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/MIC.2011.92 .

Dispute resolution procedures for .XXX domains has been unveiled, promising to make life difficult for cybersquatters, reports Domain Incite. The Rapid Evaluation Service, as it is known, is basically a souped-up version of the familiar UDRP that tilts the overall balance in favour of legitimate trademark holders, the report says. Further, the scheme is designed for companies or individuals who don’t want to be associated with .xxx domain names, and has the remedies to match. To read the detailed Domain Incite report, check out domainincite.com/icm-reveals-tough-xxx-cybersquatting-rules . Meanwhile, to register your .XXX domain name, check out America Registry here .

August 17, 2011 — Web hosting provider Go Daddy has implemented Trend Micro Deep Security to protect systems in its data centers, according to a recent press release. According to the report, Trend Micro’s deep security solution is designed to provide advanced protection to physical, virtual or cloud servers, as well virtual desktops.

In a report issued this week, online watchdog group the Electronic Frontier Foundation said that certificate authorities are issuing SSL certificates for unqualified domains in large numbers, a practice that the report’s author Chris Palmer says could impact the integrity of the whole SSL system, and puts Internet users at increased risk of attack.

A screen shot of Greenpeace`s Dirty Energy report page (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) –- Environmental organization Greenpeace ( www.greenpeace.org ) announced on Thursday it has released a new study that highlights the rapidly growing environmental footprint of the online world and evaluates both good and bad energy choices made by top IT companies such as Facebook, Google, Apple, and Yahoo!. Titled “How Dirty is Your Data?,” the report details the large amount of electricity required to power cloud offerings