The websites of two of the net's most critical oversight organizations were hijacked by Turkish hackers who sent visitors to rogue pages that challenged the overseers' authority.

Some of the official domains for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) were temporarily under the control of a group that calls itself NetDevilz, according to zone-h, which tracks hijackings of individual websites. Specific domains that were hijacked included "icann.com," "icann.net," "iana.com" and "iana-servers.com."

People who tried to visit the sites were greeted with a message that read: "You think that you control the domains but you don't! Everybody knows wrong. We control the domains including ICANN! Don't you believe us?"

This may have come as something of a shock to the principals of IANA and ICANN, which have authority over some of the most the net's most critical functions. IP address allocation, management of the domain name system's root zone servers and oversight over the way domain names are registered and maintained are just a few of them.

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A security attack that damages embedded systems beyond repair was demonstrated for the first time in London on Wednesday.

The cyber-assault thrashes systems by abusing firmware update mechanisms. If successful, the so-called phlashing attack would force victims to replace systems.

The attack was demonstrated by Rich Smith, head of research for offensive technologies and threats at HP Systems Security Lab, at the EUSecWest security conference in London on Wednesday. Smith told Dark Reading that such as "permanent denial of service" attack could be carried out remotely over the internet.

Theoretically the attack could be both more effective (as the damage caused would be harder to recover from) and cheaper than conventional denial of service attacks, which typically rely on hackers paying to rent control of a network of compromised PCs.

The PhlashDance approach relies on exploiting frequently unpatched vulnerabilities in embedded systems, such as flaws in remote management interfaces, to get access to a system. That alone wouldn't be enough, but because firmware updates are seldom secured, the possibility exists of making an update that effectively trashes a system.

Smith is calling on vendors to authenticate the mechanism as one way of defending against such attacks. He is demonstrating a tool to search for vulnerabilities in firmware, as well as an attack mechanism to corrupt vulnerable firmware at EUSecWest.

There's no record of such an attack even occurring and other security watchers are sceptical over whether crackers could make money - the main motive for denial of service attacks - from such an approach. Both H D Moore of Metapolit fame and the Hack a Day blog reckon that exploiting vulnerabilities to plant malware in firmware is a far more insidious and dangerous type of attack than simply destroying systems.

Another presentation at EuSecWest will demonstrate a proof of concept rootkit capable of covertly monitoring and controlling Cisco routers. The Cisco IOS rootkit software was developed by Sebastian Muniz, of Core Security.

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Almost half the websites pushing malware are hosted by just 10 networks, according to a new report that adds new support to the growing argument that a relatively few number of actors are responsible for most of the net-based threats.

The report (PDF) from StopBadware.org also showed a dramatic rise in China's role in the malware epidemic. Six of the 10 networks were internet service providers or backbone providers based in China and hosted more than 41 percent of the malicious websites.

Not that US companies weren't also contributing to the problem. Three American companies also made the list, including Google, whose blogs hosted 4,261 sites, or about 2 percent of the booby-trapped destinations.

The findings come a few weeks after anti-spam outfit Knujon released a separate report that found that almost 75 percent of spam sites were signed up by just 10 registrars. Once again, the three biggest offenders were located in China and included Xinnet Bei Gong Da Software, BEIJINGNN and Todaynic.

In many cases, owners of sites found pushing counterfeit watches, Viagra and other merchandise touted in spam failed to include correct contact information when registering the sites, as required. In an attempt to crack down on abusers, Knujon has begun reporting offenders to ICANN, which requires all website owners to be listed in a whois director. The sheer volume of the complaints has in some cases put a strain on ICANN's servers.

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A group of software and online payment companies are teaming up to find a better way than passwords to protect, and prove, your identity online.

Problems with passwords are well known - people require ever more passwords which means they either get forgotten, or people use the same word for several different services which is a security risk. The new group will seek to find open standards to make it easier to prove your identity online without using dozens of passwords and usernames.

Equifax, Google, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and PayPal will work together to create "Information Cards" - online cards like those in your wallet. Different cards can contain different levels of information and can be used to log in to different websites instead of using a username and password. Some may contain just a user name and password, others address information.

Other information - such as whether or not the browser is over 21 years old - could also be verified by the website by sending a query to the independent third party. In theory this should be safer - your information will not have to be stored by several different websites.

The group hopes to extend its reach beyond consumers to identifying users of enterprise networks too.

The Information Card Foundation has applied be a working group of Identity Commons which is also trying to create an open, independent identity layer for the internet.

The difficulty for such groups is convincing the market that it is truly independent, and not just promoting the agenda of its most powerful members.

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New guidelines for how internet service providers should combat spam have been published.

The advice, from the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) recommends ISPs use separate servers for received and forwarded e-mails.

It also recommends ISPs block the port - known as port 25 - through which spam travels.

Richard Cox from UK anti-spam group Spamhaus believes the guidelines could be implemented within the year.

Forwarding spam

"These are very significant recommendations and they are coming from a well-respected body so there is not much excuse for not following them," he said.

It is estimated that over 90% of all e-mail is spam.

Even if the guidelines are taking up by a majority of ISPs, experts admit it is unlikely that people will see a drastic reduction in spam any time soon.

"Some ISPs will always remain wide open even if we succeed in closing port 25," said Matt Sergeant, a senior anti-spam technologist with security firm MessageLabs.

"But that doesn't mean that it isn't worth doing. If we don't do it spam volumes will increase," he said.

The first of MAAWG's recommendations calls for a separation between original e-mails and those that are forwarded on.

"When mail is forwarded it is often the case that spam and viruses are also forwarded," said Mr Sergeant.

Making a distinction will make stop those sending e-mail from being associated with spam.

"It will give recipients the ability to recognise spam and reject it," Mr Cox added.

Botnets

The second looks at the issue of so-called botnets - networks of computers that have been taken over by hackers to send malicious software and spam.

MessageLabs estimates that over 90% of spam is sent via botnets.

The idea of blocking port 25 is not a new one but it will gain new impetus now it has been officially outlined by MAAWG, thinks Mr Cox.

A number of ISPs in the US - from where historically the majority of spam originates - are already implementing the block.

But Mr Sergeant thinks spammers are bound to stay ahead of the attempts to limit their influence.

"They will have fewer ISPs to use but they will simply develop faster engines," he said.

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A complete overhaul of the way in which people navigate the internet has been given the go-ahead in Paris.

The net's regulator, Icann, voted unanimously to relax the strict rules on so-called "top-level" domain names, such as .com or .uk.

The decision means that companies could turn brands into web addresses, while individuals could use their names.

A second proposal, to introduce domain names written in Asian, Arabic or other scripts, was also approved.

"We are opening up a new world and I think this cannot be underestimated," said Roberto Gaetano, a member of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann).

The organisation said it had already been contacted about setting up domains in the Cyrillic script - used in many Eastern European countries.

"This is a huge step forward in the development of the internet - it will unblock something that has prevented a lot of people getting online," said Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy at Nominet, the national registry for .uk domain names.

"At the moment, there are one-and-a-half billion people online and four-and-a-half billion people for whom the Roman script just means nothing."

Dr Paul Twomey, chief executive of Icann, described passing the resolution as a "historic moment".

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And DDoS a ticket barrier

The Internet has created borderless societies worldwide changing how information is shared, said the Department of Communications in a statement on Tuesday. H.E. Minister of Communications Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri added that there was a need to protect and empower consumers online by ensuring secured online transactions.

In South Africa, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act provided for the appointment of cyber inspectors, but "there is a need for building a culture of security in the face of rapid technological and socioeconomic changes and illiteracy levels particularly in developing countries is urgent," she added.

At international level, initiatives such as the ITU's High Level Expert Group aimed to develop strategies and guidance to countries in dealing with cybercrime. International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism would contribute to forging partnerships and collaborations geared towards combating cyber crime, thus building confidence in the use of Internet. The outcomes would assist countries to draft their legislative framework and to develop strategies to address the challenges of cyber threats and cybercrime.

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More information about the ITU's High level Expert Group of the Global Cybersceurity Agenda can be found here

A social networking site has deleted most of its users over the age of 36 because it claims older users pose a danger of sex offending. It claims to be forced into the action by the Government, but the part of a law it cites is not yet in force. Faceparty has deleted what it describes as "a huge number of accounts" from its social networking site in recent weeks. It lists 'over 36 years old' as one of its reasons for deletion. "We understand that only a minority of older users are sex offenders, but you must understand that we cannot tell which," it says in its explanation of the deletion of accounts. "New government legislation means we need to check older users on the sex offenders list," says its notice. "This legislation is based upon checking email addresses against a government provided list. Faceparty has never insisted on validated email addresses and can therefore not participate in this new scheme." A new law was passed earlier this month, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act, which contains provisions for the Secretary of State to require sex offenders to register their email addresses or other information. That, though, is not currently part of the law and would require a ministerial order to become law. Read Full Story

Social networking sites have become the new front in the war against spam, according to security watchers.

In the six months leading up to March 2008, social networking sites saw a four-fold growth in the amount of spam on their network. At several major social networking sites, 30 per cent of new accounts created are automated fraudulent 'zombie' accounts, designed to be used for spam and other malicious attacks, according to anti-spam firm Cloudmark.

JF Sullivan, VP of marketing at Cloudmark, said the type of spam advertised through social networks is the same type as that advertised by email spam and punted by much the same people. "There's an implicit trust in social networking. People don't think they're going to be attacked with spam," Sullivan told El Reg. "People don't trust email anymore. Spammers are following peoples' online habits."

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Seven Nato nations have backed a new cyber defence centre in Estonia, which last year blamed Russia for weeks of attacks on its internet structure.

Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy and Spain will staff and fund the hub in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

Estonia came under cyber attack in 2007 after its decision to remove the bronze statue of a Red Army soldier from the centre of Tallinn.

Moscow denied involvement in the flood of data which crashed computers.

"We have seen in Estonia that a cyber attack can swiftly become an issue of national security," Nato spokesman James Appathurai said after a signing ceremony in Brussels.

"Cyber attacks can cripple societies."

The US will initially send an observer to the project, which will have some 30 staff when fully operational in August.

The centre will provide research, consultation and training on the development of cyber defences for participating national governments.

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Should we have two internets asks Bill Thompson

Jonathan Zittrain's recent book, The Future of the Internet - And How to Stop It, has spurred a lot of discussion both online and offline, with blog posts lauding his insights or criticising his over-apocalyptic imagination.

The book itself makes fascinating reading for those who have watched the network grow from its roots in the research community into today's global channel for communications, commerce and cultural expression.

And the distinction that Zittrain makes between computers and devices that are open for hacking, exploration and creative use and those which are locked down and limited is one that we can clearly see.

An iPhone and an Asus Eee PC are very different objects, and I can't imagine anyone scrawling 'this machine kills fascists' on their iPhone in homage to Woody Guthrie, while my son has just done this to his Asus.

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MySpace has won a $234m (£120m) legal judgement over junk messages sent to members of the social networking site.

Victory in the case was awarded to MySpace after Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines, the men behind the junk mail, failed to show up in court.

The judgement is thought to be the largest ever given against senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail.

However, anti-spam experts said MySpace had little chance of getting the cash it sought.

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A new type of identity fraud, which sees hackers tapping into voice-over IP telephony accounts, has been highlighted by a VoIP equipment maker.

Usernames and passwords from voice-over IP (VoIP) phone accounts are selling online for more than stolen credit cards, Newport Networks has found.

The information allows someone to use the telephone service for free.

Net telephony fraud is still in its infancy, with eavesdropping on calls being the most common security flaw.

Capturing accounts

But the move into stealing usernames and passwords which are routinely sent across the network when a call is made, is a worrying new trend thinks Dave Gladwin, vice president of products at Newport Networks.

"It is still at an embryonic stage but as voice adoption increases it becomes more of a problem and needs addressing," said Mr Gladwin.

The details are not sent as plain text but are encoded in such a way as to be "easily captured and unobscured", said Mr Gladwin.

Credit card details have been traded fairly openly online for some time and can be bought for around $12 (£6) each. VoIP account details fetch a slightly higher price, at $17 (£9), according to Mr Gladwin.

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Personal details of Facebook users could potentially be stolen, the BBC technology programme Click has found.

The popular social networking site allows users to add a variety of applications to their profile.

But a malicious program, masquerading as a harmless application, could potentially harvest personal data.

Facebook says users should exercise caution when adding applications. Any programs which violate their terms will be removed, the network said.

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U.S. telecommunications giant AT&T has claimed that, without investment, the Internet's current network architecture will reach the limits of its capacity by 2010.

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More than half of Europeans are now regular Internet users, 80% of them have broadband connections and 60% of public services in the EU are fully available online. Two thirds of schools and half of doctors make use of fast Internet connections, thanks to strong broadband growth in Europe. These are the findings of a Commission report on the results achieved so far with i2010, the EU's digital-led strategy for growth and jobs. The strategy, agreed in 2005, has led to a firm commitment to promoting ICT at EU and national levels. As of 2007, all Member States consider ICT development as one of the main achievements in their structural reform programmes. In parallel, the EU institutions have encouraged the building of a single market for online services and increased research funding. A single market for telecoms, promoting cross-border communication services, is, however, still in the making.

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This paper was written by Dr. Slavka Antonova and appeared in the International Journal of Communications Law and Policy

Abstract: The model of a global multistakeholder collaboration in Internet domain-name system management, as developed by U.S. government in 1998 and embedded in ICANN, held all the promises of a paradigm shift in global governance. Seven years later, the UN World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia (November 2005) adopted some of the vocabulary of the ICANN experiment and recognized the multistakeholder collaboration as a key organizational principle in global Internet governance. Yet, it reestablished the leading role of national governments and intergovernmental organizations, such as the ITU, in the regulation of the global Internet.

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As the global concern for cyber crime is upbeat, the need for cyber security in the country against the backdrop of the identification of Nigeria as the weakest link in the battle against such crime is the thrust of this discourse. How many fraudulent unsolicited mails do you receive daily? While for some it's just a few, for others, the mails come in torrents with some defying all logic.

That the obvious reason behind these mails is a ploy to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians does not make it any better. Welcome to the world of scammers who have perfected their game in the battle to fleece people off their hard earned money. Is the issue just tied to monetary acts alone? Recent events have shown that the world of cyber crime goes beyond raiding the treasure chest of people through Yahoo zee moves as the cyber crime is called in Nigeria, but has crossed the line into real growing concern that has the propensity to impact negatively on a nation's security base and economy.

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The argument of the seriousness of a cyber war on terror is still raging. However, the threats remain real and will likely continue. There are many new considerations which must be realized for the future to stop the impending war on cyber terrorism. The war on cyber terror is one that the world has never encountered before. Old technology and old defenses are obsolete.

The technology industry is rapidly changing and changing with it are the methods used by cyber terrorists. Prevention techniques must be dynamic and change as quickly as the technology does. The old computer security models, data processing, and auditing in use today are outdated. Cyber Terrorism is more difficult than other forms of terrorism. In the case of cyber terrorism, if the terrorist fails, he does not die. He can learn from his mistakes and ensure the success of his deeds in the future.

One of the unexpected problems that cyber terrorism has created is that the fear of an attack could possibly lead Americans to give up rights they would not normally relinquish. For example, the fact that many of the terrorists use cryptography in their communications is not a reason to ban this technology per se.

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At the Global IPv6 Summit in Beijing this week, executives from the Internet industry have come together to share bleak predictions about the future of the Internet. According to Tony Hain from router vendor Cisco, within three years, we'll be flat out of the addresses used in the current version 4 of the Internet Protocol. After that, "changes will come suddenly."

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A concerted international effort could see the end of websites that profit by selling images of child sex abuse, a leading action group has said.

The UK's Internet Watch Foundation conducted research to identify how many sites trade such images and concluded there are 2,755 such sites worldwide.

Of these, 80% are judged to be fully commercial operations.

The IWF said this "manageable" number could be eliminated if net firms, governments and police worked together.

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The Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) and the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) presented the results [PDF] of a recent IPv6 survey at the ARIN XXI Public Policy Meeting in Denver on April 7th. The survey involved over 200 respondents from a blend of Government, commercial organizations (including ISPs and end users), educational institutions, associations, and other profit and non-profit entities. The purpose of the survey, conducted between March 10th and 24th, was to capture IPv6 penetration data in the ARIN region.

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The number of viruses, worms and trojans in circulation has topped the one million mark.

The new high for malicious programs was revealed by security firm Symantec in the latest edition of its bi-annual Internet Security Threat Report.

The vast majority of these programs have been created in the last twelve months, said Symantec.

Cyber criminals pump out malware to fool anti-virus programs which look for characteristics they have already seen.

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