Foreign firms and the feds are seeing better performance and security -- plus a range of mobile and collaboration apps beginning to emerge.

There are just 100 days left for federal agencies to change over from IPv4 — the version 4 of the Internet Protocol that everyone uses — to the IPv6 version. In the fast-approaching future where everything from PCs to cars, from alarms to toasters, from phones to cereal packages has an IP address and is connected to the Web, IPv6 promises to make many more IP addresses available — enough addresses for every conceivable use. Oh, and IPv6 will make Internet communications more secure through better identity verification

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AT&T Inc. has announced that, according to the results of a survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) conducted for AT&T, global Internet Protocol (IP) networks are integral to promoting successful collaborative relationships and are a key to doing business globally.

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Cisco and the Bulgarian State Agency for Information Technologies and Communications (DAITS) announced the opening of what they claim is Southeast Europe's first lab for training and research related to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Cisco is donating lab’s networking and communication equipment.

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Estonia called on the European Union on Wednesday to make cyber attacks a criminal offense to stop Internet users from freezing public and private Web sites for political revenge. Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said he believed the Russian government was behind an online attack on Estonia over its decision to move a Red Army monument from a square in the capital Tallin. Russia has denied any involvement.

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As per the information tracked by, and reported to Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Department of Information Technology, a number of Government websites have been hacked during the period January, 2005 to February, 2008; of which one pertained to a defence related pay office in January, 2006.

The websites hacked included those belonging to Ministry of Railways, Air Cargo Customs (Mumbai), Forward markets Commission, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, National Institute of Social Defence, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Department of Information Technology and Anthropological Survey of India.

The websites were hacked by exploiting technical vulnerabilities in the operating systems, web server, database software and application software.

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The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, announced that Canada will participate in an international cyber security exercise named Cyber Storm II. The exercise will take place in March 2008, and involve participants from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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The centre must take some effort to streamline Indian cyber laws so that the laws are strong. Although the government has proposed some amendments to the Information Technology Act, 2000 they have not yet become part of the law.

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PHILADELPHIA - (Business Wire) The 71^st Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting is now underway in Philadelphia, in what some are describing as a weeklong “IPv6 experience.”

The IETF is the premiere Internet standards development body, responsible for creating the technologies at the heart of the Internet's infrastructure, including the standards for email, chat, Internet telephony, and of course the Internet address protocols IPv4 and IPv6

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Video recordings of Google’s IPv6 conference held on January 29, 2008 have been posted on YouTube. The conference was part of Google Tech Talks and includes a panel discussion called “What will the IPv6 Internet look like?”

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Indeed 2007 was a big year for IPv6. The five regional Internet registries (RIR) -- tasked by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority to govern IP address allocations -- made a total of 379 IPv6 allocations last year. That is about 70% growth from 2006 and close to the 2002 peak, a dramatic jump from what was a 5-year pattern of decline. Clearly there is interest and movement towards IPv6.

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The March 2008 Domain Name Industry Brief released by VeriSign reports that “the Domain Name Industry closed 2007 with more than 153 million domain name registrations worldwide across all of the Top-Level Domain Names (TLDs), an increase of nearly 33 million domain name registrations since the close of 2006.”

The full report can be found at: http://www.verisign.com/static/043379.pdf

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The head of the world's largest police organization, Interpol, says he is satisfied with China's security preparations for the Beijing Olympics. He was speaking at Interpol's Asian Regional Conference in Hong Kong, where senior law enforcement officials from across Asia discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in combating crime - ranging from sex attacks on children to cyber crime.

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There is no reliable way for consumers, regulators, and businesses to assess the relative incidence of identity fraud at major financial institutions. This lack of information prevents more vigorous competition among institutions to protect accountholders from identity theft. As part of a multiple strategy approach to obtaining more actionable data on identity theft, the Freedom of Information Act was used to obtain complaint data submitted by victims in 2006 to the Federal Trade Commission.

This complaint data identifies the institution where impostors established fraudulent accounts or affected existing accounts in the name of the victim. The data show that some institutions have a far greater incidence of identity theft than others. The data further show that the major telecommunications companies had numerous identity theft events, but a metric is lacking to compare this industry with the financial institutions. This is a first attempt to meaningfully compare institutions on their performance in avoiding identity theft.

This analysis faces several challenges that are described in the methods section.

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ICANN's Nominating Committee invites Statements of Interest from the Internet community as it seeks qualified candidates to assist in ICANN's technical and policy coordination role. Interested individuals are invited to submit a Statement of Interest to this year's Committee for the following positions:

• Two members of the ICANN Board of Directors
• One member of the Council of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO)
• One member of the Council of the Country-Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO)
• Two members of the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC)

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By John Leyden

Published Monday 25th February 2008 17:10 GMT

ICANN staff has produced a briefing note on the New Delhi meeting of 10-15 February 2008. This meeting was ICANN’s 31st meeting and was hosted by ICANN and the Indian Government and officially opened by Shri Jainder Singh, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, the Government of India.

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Around 350 attendees came from Russia in the east to Ireland in the west, as well as a few people from elsewhere around the globe, to attend Domain Pulse 2008 in Vienna on February 21 and 22. Day one’s focus was internet governance\

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There are many uncertainties surrounding the depletion of the IPv4 address space and the move to IPv6. Currently, five Regional Internet Registries give out address space to anyone who can show a reasonable need for it and pays some administration costs. If nothing changes, that practice will end around 2012 when we run out of unused IPv4 addresses. One possible solution is creating an IP address space market, allowing people who need IPv4 addresses can buy them from those who have a surplus, so that IPv4 address space remains available for a few more years.

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Former US DARPA Director Stephen Lukasik, Dr. Sy Goodman , Professor of International Affairs and Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr. Anthony Rutkoswki, VeriSign, VP for Regulatory Affairs and Standards undertook multiple briefings to US Congress staff and congressmen dealing with the subjects of cybersecurity and infrastructure protection - under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Dr. Lukasik is especially noted for his authorization and support for Internet development in the 1970s, establishing US domestic policies as the FCC's Chief Scientist, and as leader of efforts in the 1990s to bring about cybersecurity capabilities.

In addition to his multiple Georgia Tech security roles, Dr. Goodman spoke as Chair of the National Academy of Science Committee on Improving Cybersecurity Research in the U.S.

Dr. Rutkoswki treated important new developments occurring in the ITU-T concerning the subject of service provider identity and known as Trusted SPID. Trusted SPID - which emerged as a roadmap from the Seoul ITU-T meetings - may well be the most significant and essential cybersecurity development in a decade. The value proposition is simple and long a part of the ITU's role - institute trust in the network infrastructure and services by providing a global means of knowing basic identity information about the providers who comprise those infrastructures and services.

Dr. Goodman and Dr. Rutkoswki are members of the High-Level Experts Group for the Global Cybersecurity Agenda.

Related Links:

Dr. Seymour Goodman’s Presentation

Dr. Anthony Rutkoswki's Presentation

Dr. Stephen Lukasik's Presentation 

More information about the ITU Global Cybersecurity Agenda can be found here or by contacting Ms. Cristina Bueti at gca@itu.int

 

UNCTAD Information Economy Report 2007-2008, Science and technology for development: the new paradigm of ICT, Chapter 8, Harmonizing Cyber Legislation  at  the Regional Level: The Case of ASEAN.

More information can be found here.

NATO is to start building its own security software to protect against the kind of attacks that had Estonia's national infrastructure on its knees last summer.

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Internet policymakers are considering sweeping changes to the way they distribute IP addresses that could allow network operators to make money by transferring unused blocks of IPv4 address space to others in need. One result could be lessened incentive to move to IPv6 any time soon

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RESTON, Va. & GENEVA — The Internet Society (ISOC) announces new strategic efforts to engage global policy makers on critical issues related to Internet policy.

Bill Graham, formerly an official with the Canadian government, with extensive international experience in Internet policy and global telecommunications and technology issues, will lead the Internet Society's effort.

The Internet Society is widely recognized as a trusted partner of many important organizations including the OECD, the ITU, UNESCO and others.

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Safer Internet Day is part of a global drive to promote a safer Internet for all users, especially young people and is organised under the patronage of European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding. On 12 February 2008, events are arranged in 50 countries around the world under the coordination of the INSAFE awareness network, from conferences, media campaigns to activities for children, youth and parents.

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A new site lets users create profiles for the different sides of their personality.

Online social networks have allowed people to easily stay in touch with large groups of friends, but the flip side has been well publicized. Some users have struggled over what to do when certain people--such as a boss or an ex-boyfriend--ask to be listed as a friend on their profile.

Adding someone as a friend gives him access to the user's profile, photos, and daily musings. Worries about privacy were renewed recently when Facebook's Beacon advertising initiative began broadcasting information about users' purchasing habits throughout its networks. Now Moli, a recently launched social-networking site, aims to win over concerned users.

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Even before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, security experts were becoming increasingly concerned about the vulnerability of U.S. computer systems and associated infrastructure. The 9/11 attacks amplified these concerns. Less attention, however, has been paid to state sponsors of illicit computer activity, which are increasingly using the Internet to conduct espionage, deny services to domestic and foreign audiences, and influence global opinion.

In addition, insufficient focus has been given to how terrorists exploit the Internet as a tool for recruiting, fund raising, propa­ganda, and intelligence collection and use it to plan, coordinate, and control terrorist operations. Combat­ing these malicious activities on the Internet will require the cooperation of federal entities, as well as friendly and allied countries and the private sector.

Recent cyber initiatives show promise, but a more concerted national effort is required, particularly in acquiring commercial capabilities and services, man­aging military intelligence and information technol­ogy programs, and developing a corps of professional national security practitioners.

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2007 Online Financial Fraud and Identity Theft Report identifies significant shift in malware attacks with 30 percent growth outside the United States.

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The GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile operators, has launched the Mobile Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Content to obstruct the use of the mobile environment by individuals or organisations wishing to consume or profit from child sexual abuse content. While the vast majority of child sexual abuse content is today accessed through conventional connections to the Internet, there is a danger that the broadband networks now being rolled out by mobile operators could be misused in the same way.

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The Korean Ministry of Defense has checked all its computers for cyber security following suspected attacks by Chinese hackers earlier in the year, ministry officials said Tuesday. The inspection followed a special order from Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo, the officials said, asking not to be identified.

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Europe plays host to a number of “well-known” internet sites run by terrorist groups, but has taken “no action” to combat them, Russia’s ambassador to the EU has said.

Cyber crime and Europe’s response to it is still an “open book”, according to Richard Troy, a policy officer at the commission’s cyber crime unit. “It’s hard to know whether you’re winning or losing when you don’t know how long the race is,” he said.

Last year, the commission announced the creation of the European security research and innovation forum (ESRIF), which aims to bring public and private expertise together to lay the ground for a security research agenda. There is also a council of Europe convention on cyber crime, which aims to coordinate international responses to cyber attacks. It remains unsigned by 14 out of the 27 EU member states.

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