iEstates.com

Armorize, a web security company, reported on their blog today that Network Solutions had been displaying a widget box that contains malware.  The company was notified and quickly remedied the parking pags.  Based on a yahoo search only, there are over 5 million domain names with NSI parked landers that may have been affected by this drive by malware.

According to Help Net Security, the malware is a drive-by variety that doesn’t take much to infect the users computer. Simply visiting a parking page hosted by NSI would trigger the download.

The malware then modifies the registry, monitors four of the most popular browsers, redirects users using popular search engines to other websites, pops up advertisement according to a list of search terms and duplicates and renames itself to resemble a varied assortment of legal and illegal software (mostly key generators and cracked software versions). It then “phones home” to several URLs in order to receive further instructions and download more malware.

Only 50% of the antivirus solutions included in VirusTotal’s check detected this malware a couple of days ago, and it was discovered to have the ability to block well-known by download analysis services such as Wepawet and jsunpack.

This attack definitely marks the beginning of the exploitation of hosting providers as a means to compromise a massive amount of domains and spread malware to millions of users in a short period of time. Let’s hope that hosting providers will take this occurrence seriously and rethink their defenses from top to bottom.

This is not good news for parking companies and domain owners who rely on parking revenue. As parked pages become synonymous with malware or problems, users will shift away from clicking more and more. . . Is this just another nail in the coffin for domain parking?

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

Advertisement
Offer: .com/.net domains only $7.98/yr! Specializing in .kr domains $40/yr
Get expired / deleting domains $14.98/yr fixed price

After partnering with Network Solutions a while back, AfternicDLS has now also added Register.com as a partner registrar for their Domain Listing Service thus increasing the reach to end users and small business customers for their domain sales.

Domains listed with the (more expensive) premium promotion option have an average sales price (ASP) of $1,600, 33% higher than the expanded promotion ($1,200) and 78% higher than sales within the basic promotion level ($900). The premium level is currently only available for domains registered through Network Solutions or Register.com for domain names with a fixed price.

Premium Promotion partners are:

• Network Solutions
• Register.com
• Afternic
• Buydomains
• GoDaddy
• DomainTools
• Tierranet
• DomainDiscover
• DomainsBot
• Miss Domain
• directNIC
• PremierDomains
• Ultimate Domains
• domize
• Instant Domain Search
• FreshDrop
• JustDropped.com
• DomainsNewsletter.com
• Rick Latona
• Premium Domains

See the full press release after the jump.

Register.com Expands Distribution for Domain Name Sales through NameMedia

Register.com to Join NameMedia’s Domain Listing Service as a Premium Promotion Registrar

-

NEW YORK, NY —April XX, 2010 — Register.com, a leading provider of web services and domain registration, today announced that it has signed an agreement to join NameMedia’s Domain Listing Service (DLS). Under the terms of the deal, Register.com’s customers will have access to more than two million domain names currently offered for sale through the DLS service located at AfternicDLS.com.

Similar to the MLS network for physical real estate, the DLS network provides a source of liquidity for digital real estate, or domain names, that are currently registered but are available for purchase. By listing their domain on DLS, domain owners expose their property to the largest source of potential buyers through a global distribution network, now including Register.com.

“We are excited to provide our customers with an additional opportunity to buy and sell premium domains,” said Register.com CEO Larry Kutscher. “This strategic partnership allows Register.com to couple our award winning customer service with expanded access to the Domain Reseller Marketplace.”

“Register.com is one of the industry’s leading registrars and its addition as a premium promotion partner for DLS will add significant value to Register.com and AfternicDLS customers,” said NameMedia CEO Kelly Conlin. “Through its global distribution network, AfternicDLS now receives more than 35 million requests each month by consumers looking for a domain name, making it the most productive platform for connecting domain sellers with domain buyers.”

About Register.com

Leveraging 15 years of experience in the domain business with over two and a half million domain names under management, Register.com (www.Register.com) has built a reputation as a leading provider of global domain name registration, email, web site design and web hosting services. Register.com enables businesses and resellers, such as ISPs, Web Hosts and Portals, to create a dynamic web presence without the need for extensive technical knowledge. Register.com is the only web services provider to earn the JD Powers award for outstanding customer service for the last five years.

About NameMedia

NameMedia is a leader in the acquisition; development and trading of digital real estate through a network of highly targeted websites and a marketplace for premium domain names. The company’s website development focuses on creating compelling online communities in niche categories. The company’s marketplace allows owners of premium domain names to list their domain properties for sale, and for domain buyers to review the largest available inventory. Through its ownership of one of the largest domain portfolios in the world, its innovative website development platform, and its broad distribution, NameMedia now serves more than 50 million visitors to its network of websites and sells domains to customers in more than 100 countriesHeadquartered outside Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts, more information is available at www.namemedia.com.

(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com

Advertisement
Upcoming Domain Industry Events, Conferences & Auctions

As of this writing, the RollingStone.com website has become a Network Solutions domain parking page.  Gawker Media first pointed out that the music industry website was no longer active.

I know what you are thinking, the domain expired and NSI took it over.  WRONGO!  The domain doesn’t expire until September 2011.

The company refers to the problem as a “glitch” .  A pretty good size glitch given that according to Compete.com the site averages over 1 million monthly unique visitors.  This seems like a pretty large mistake  for a well-known publishing company to make on their own, so we’re left wondering who dropped the ball here.

Mashable is also covering the story and a commenter pointed out that the domain may be experiencing issues with their DNS provider or Akamai.

(c) 2009 DomainNameNews.com

Advertisement
Upcoming Domain Industry Events, Conferences & Auctions

Three hackers — Christopher Allen Lewis, 19,  James Robert Black Jr., 20, and Michael Paul Lebel, 28 — have been hit with a federal conspiracy charge this week due to their involvement in the 2008 hijacking of Comcast.net – a prank that took down the cable company’s homepage and email service for more than five hours and supposedly cost the company over $128,000.

According to the indictment, the hackers gained control of the Comcast.net domain along with 200 other domains with two phone calls to Network Solutions, the company’s domain registrar, as well as one email sent from a hacked Comcast email account.

This gave them entry to the Network Solutions control panel for all of Comcast’s domains.

Then, after changing the contact information for Comcast.net, the hackers phoned Comcast’s original technical contact to tell him what they’d done. When the Comcast manager scoffed at their claims, the hackers decided to take it a step further and redirect the site’s traffic to servers that were under their control.

The hackers are being charged under the US. Code for fraud and related activity in connection with computers.

“I wish I was a minor right now,” said hacker James Robert Black Jr., “because this is going to be really bad.”

[via Wired]

(c) 2009 DomainNameNews.com

Advertisement
The 9th Domainer Dinner in Toronto, November 25th

It seems ICANN is getting it from both sides these days – with Republican lawmakers opposing the new TLDs and trying to delay the process as well as supporters of the new system urging the Board of Directors of ICANN to “initiate the new top-level domain application period without further delay.”

Sixty-one businesses, organizations, and individuals including many notable players within the domain industry — such as Antony Van Couvering of Minds+Machines; Paul Stahura, CEO of eNom; Jonathon Nevett, Senior VP of Network Solutions; Elliot Noss of Tucows; and many more — sent a letter to ICANN detailing the reasons why new top-level domains are required without further delay.

The letter [click here to view] stated that the new TLDs will help fix a number of issues including consumer demands, safety considerations, Internet stability, innovation, and ICANN’s own credibility.

“The undersigned, many of whom helped create ICANN and over the course of years have a keen understanding of the domain name market, and many of whom have significant experience dealing with intellectual property,” the document states, “respectfully but forcefully request the Board of Directors of ICANN to fulfill ICANN’s original mandate to introduce choice and competition to the domain name market.”

Seperately, the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) sent a letter to the US government on September 22, 2009, calling for a full-scale audit of ICANN. The letter offers a ‘Top Ten List’ of things wrong with ICANN, stating the organization is a captured regulator, not independent, not transparent, fueled by profits, not accessible, ignorant of numerous Internet issues, incompetent in regards to the new gTLD process, not looking at itself critically, risking cybersecurity, and not connected to relevant agencies within the US government. [click here for letter]

(c) 2009 DomainNameNews.com

Advertisement
Do you park domains? EARN MORE. Visit above.com to find out more.

Front-Running has been a significant issue within the domain industry in the past - most notably with Network Solutions - however Benjamin Edelman, an Internet security expert, has exclaimed that he found “no evidence of current front running” following a ten-month study at ICANN’s request.

Edelman’s study involved testing 604 domains (304 .com, 200 .net, and 100 .info) on 200 domain registration and domain availability-checking websites to see whether front-running was taking place.

“My tests offer no evidence of front-running,” stated Edelman. “Not one of the domains I requested, in any of the three rounds of testing, was registered during the seven-day period during which availability was checked twice each day.”

Sadly, after looking through the official testing report, the study fails to deliver the evidence that most domainers would be looking for. Not only does it fail to mention any of the specific websites Edelman searched for, but it also excludes any mention of the registrars or whois services he searched at.

“My methodology cannot prove that front-running is not occuring or that front-running has not occured in the past,” concluded Edelman. “Rather, I have simply failed to find evidence of current front-running via the test scenario I used. It is possible that front-running occurs based on leads from web sites I did not test or based on data sources other than web sites (e.g. NXDOMAIN data from ISPs, navigation requests obtained from client-side software, etc). It is possible that front-running occurred at some point in the past. I cannot rule out these possibilities via the methodology used in this report.”

Yes…it is possible.

[via ICANN]

(c) 2009 DomainNameNews.com

DomainConvergence | August 12-13, 2009 | Toronto, ON, Canada
Keynote speakers: The Castello Brothers on "Branding your Domain"
Christian Heilmann, Developer Evangelist, Yahoo!

Network Solutions is getting ready to launch its new website - and along with the fresh design it has also improved its services by offering additional features and content.

“We are reinventing ourselves to better meet your needs,” the Network Solutions website preview says. “Beyond the redesign of our website, we’ve made some changes to our products and services to help you be more successful in your online ventures.”

Some of the changes include:

• Redesigned website for a more customized experience.
• Improved support and educational materials.
• Communities feature tools for connecting with others and growing your business.
• More product features than ever before.
• New website design services.

Visit preview.networksolutions.com to browse through all the changes.

[via Network Solutions]

(c) 2009 DomainNameNews.com

DomainConvergence | August 12-13, 2009 | Toronto, ON, Canada
Keynote speakers: The Castello Brothers on "Branding your Domain"
Christian Heilmann, Developer Evangelist, Yahoo!