Total registered domains more than 233 million
More than seven million domain names were added to the Internet in the first quarter of 2012, bringing the total number of registered domain names to more than 233 million worldwide across all domains, according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief, published by VeriSign,the trusted
provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world.
The increase of 7.5 million domain names equates to a growth rate of 3.3 percent over the fourth quarter of 2011, and marks the fifth straight quarter with greater than two percent growth. Registrations have grown by more than 23 million, or 11 percent, since the first quarter of 2011.
In the first quarter of 2012, Verisign began tracking the ccTLDs launched by ICANN through the IDN ccTLD Fast Track Process, which enabled countries and territories that use languages based on scripts other than Latin to offer users domain names in non-Latin characters. This additional tracking resulted in an additional 808,967 ccTLD names being reported in the first quarter that were not previously reported in prior periods. For further information on the Domain Name Industry Brief methodology, please refer to page six of the report.
The .com and .net Top-Level Domains (TLDs) experienced aggregate growth in the first quarter, reaching a combined total of approximately 116.7 million active domain names in the adjusted zone for .com and .net. This represents a 2.5 percent increase in the base over the fourth quarter of 2011 and an 8.1 percent increase over the first quarter of 2011. Additionally, the .com registry grew to more than 100 million domain names during the quarter.
New .com and .net registrations totaled 8.9 million during the quarter. This is a 7.7 percent increase year-over-year in new registrations. The .com/.net renewal rate for the first quarter of 2012 was 73.9 percent, up from 73.5 percent for the fourth quarter of 2011.
Verisign's average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load during the first quarter of 2012 was 66 billion, with a peak of 74 billion. Compared to the previous quarter, the daily average increased 4 percent and the peak decreased 37 percent.
IPv6 and Security The latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief highlights key security issues that Internet stakeholders should consider in order to support a smooth transition to IPv6, and identifies steps that organizations should take to protect their systems.
The benefits of IPv6 have been well documented. As almost all available IPv4 addresses within the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) block have been depleted, and Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) will begin to exhaust their IPv4 address pools at varying rates in the near future, this should provide the impetus for widespread adoption of IPv6. Coupled with the continued deployment of DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), IPv6 should ultimately provide the stable and secure base for the next generation of Internet evolution.
source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/internet-grows-to-more-than-233-million-domain-names-in-the-first-quarter-of-2012-2012-07-13
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Internet censorship bill passed by Russia
Russia's lower house of parliament approved a law on Wednesday that the opposition says could be used to censor the Internet and crack down on one of the last forums of open political debate under President Vladimir Putin.
His United Russia party said the law, passed in the third and final reading by the State Duma, is needed to combat child pornography. It will create a single register of websites containing information deemed harmful or illegal from November 1
But the new law has caused alarm among the opposition: Opposition leaders said the new law could be used to shut down websites such as Facebook and Twitter without a court order and that it was meant to stymie their protest movement, which uses social network sites to arrange anti-Putin demonstrations.
The official blacklist is intended to include domains of web pages containing pornographic images of children, instructions on how to make, use and where to get drugs, as well as sites calling for suicides and describing suicide methods.
Under the law, which was softened slightly following criticism, more sites may be added to the list based on either a court decision or with the approval of authorized federal executive bodies.
Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov told a news conference that the law needed more work but should not interfere with freedom of information.
source:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4254478,00.html
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Malware attack in 24 hours-Warning by FBI
A new Trojan called DNS Changer Malware is possibly going to cause a worldwide "Internet Blackout" starting July 9, 2012, according to the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI).
On a national basis, authorities this week indicated 60,000-plus American laptops and desktops still were infected with the notorious DNSChanger Malware—a computer virus that was initiated five years ago by virus writers.
The said hackers managed to take advantage of Microsoft Windows' antivirus system vulnerabilities by modifying the DNS servers of several networks into the ones that have the rogue servers on and manage to earn illegal money in the tune of around $14 million due to fake and unsecured Web advertisements, according to the FBI.
To help avoid viruses, such as this one, Haworth reminds computer users:
Never click on unknown links in emails.
Don't click on unknown attachments.
Source:examiner.com;eurekawildwoodpatch_________________________________________________________________________
Facebook's own job board launch
Facebook is planning to launch its own job board after teaming with existing job-posting companies. Citing anonymous sources, media reports said that BranchOut, Jobvite and Work4Labs will be at least three of the companies that will pair with the platform.
Facebook's statement announcing the partnership mentioned "systems where new job postings can be delivered virally through the Facebook site at no charge." What shape such a job posting system would take, and whether Facebook has any solid plans beyond research to pursue one, are still not clear.
Many bigger companies have career recruitment presences on Facebook already, but a centralised engine behind job postings and searches would feed the engagement metrics. According to recent estimates, the job-posting market is worth about USD 4.3 billion and everyone would like to have a piece of it. A job board that lives on Facebook could put the social network in direct competition with sites like LinkedIn and Monster.com source:http://gadgets.ndtv.com/social-networking/news/facebook-may-launch-its-own-job-board-240592
Facebook's statement announcing the partnership mentioned "systems where new job postings can be delivered virally through the Facebook site at no charge." What shape such a job posting system would take, and whether Facebook has any solid plans beyond research to pursue one, are still not clear.
Many bigger companies have career recruitment presences on Facebook already, but a centralised engine behind job postings and searches would feed the engagement metrics. According to recent estimates, the job-posting market is worth about USD 4.3 billion and everyone would like to have a piece of it. A job board that lives on Facebook could put the social network in direct competition with sites like LinkedIn and Monster.com source:http://gadgets.ndtv.com/social-networking/news/facebook-may-launch-its-own-job-board-240592
