Domain Names

At the FIRST conference, James Pleger and William MacArthur from RiskIQ described a relatively new technique being used to create DNS domain names for use in phishing, spam, malware and other types of harmful Internet activity. Rather than registering their own domains, perpetrators obtain the usernames and passwords used by legitimate registrants to manage their own domains on registrars' web portals.

Nominet have now published their inital policy statement for the .cymru and .wales top level domains. Details, including the exact list of domain names that will be reserved, are still being discussed with the Welsh Government so anyone interested in registering a domain should keep an eye on the .wales/.cymru website where you can also register for updates.

The recent TF-CSIRT meeting in Zurich included a talk by the Swiss telecoms regulator (like ours, called Ofcom, though their 'F' stands for Federal!) on the law covering websites in the .ch domain that distribute malware, normally as the result of a compromise.