AUSTRALIA - A South Australian woman narrowly avoided a complete financial disaster after falling victim to a sophisticated business email compromise (BEC) scam that led to the loss of over $800,000. Authorities have since managed to recover a significant portion of the stolen funds, shedding light on the growing threat of cyber fraud in real estate transactions. The victim, who had been in the process of purchasing a property, received what appeared to be a legitimate … [Read more...]
50 Million Potentially Compromised In PowerSchool Data Breach
SACRAMENTO, CA - On December 28, 2024, PowerSchool, a prominent provider of educational technology services to over 60 million K-12 students worldwide, identified a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to its Student Information System (SIS) through the PowerSource customer support portal. The breach, which occurred between December 19 and December 24, 2024, allowed threat actors to exfiltrate sensitive data, including names, addresses, dates of birth, … [Read more...]
56% Increase In Disaster Recovery Events Related To Microsoft 365 Domains
REDMOND, WA - According to new data released by IT services data protection and security company N-able, 2024 so far has seen a huge uptick in hacking and cyberattacks targeting Microsoft 365 domains, with a 56 percent increase in the number of disaster recovery events among the service’s clients and a large uptick in the number of backups among its partners. Critical Start’s Cyber Research Unit (CRU) issued a report that states the number of cyber alerts in the first … [Read more...]
Investigation Uncovers 40,000 Phishing Domains Linked To LabHost Scam Operation
UNITED KINGDOM - The LabHost phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform, which had tens of thousands of phishing domains linked to it and thousands of users worldwide, has had its infrastructure completely disrupted and 37 suspects have been arrested – including the original developer – following a year-long global law enforcement operation. Originally launched in 2021, LabHost was a resource for cybercriminals that – for a monthly subscription fee – provided them … [Read more...]
The Bing Advertising Network: A Strategic Companion to Google Ads for Businesses
FLORIDA - In digital advertising, diversification is key to maximizing reach, engaging diverse audiences, and driving conversions. While Google Ads reigns as a dominant force in online advertising, businesses stand to benefit from complementing their marketing efforts with alternative platforms such as the Bing Advertising Network. In this article, we delve into the fundamentals of the Bing Advertising Network and explore how businesses can harness its unique features to … [Read more...]
Hackers Take Control of Computer Network At Missouri Hospital; Demand Ransom
KANSAS CITY, MO - Liberty Hospital in Missouri fell victim to a grim cyber assault Tuesday when a menacing blackmail message from a hacker resulted in a disruption of its computer systems. A message from an anonymous source targeting the hospital warned, “We have hacked you and downloaded all confidential data of your company. Your reputation will be ruined. Save your business. Contact us within 72 hours.” This message itself was uncovered exclusively by KMBC-TV, an ABC … [Read more...]
Q3 Domain Report: Slight “.COM” Reg Decline, New GTLDs Enjoy 10% Increase
RESTON, VA - Verisign, the company that is the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains (TLDs) and the .cc country-code top-level domain, released their 3rd quarter 2023 Domain Name Industry Brief (DNIB) this week that reveals by the end of the latest quarter, total domain registrations across all TLDs worldwide have reached 359.3 million. That number represents a 2.4 percent increase year over year, amounting to an … [Read more...]
A Look at the Top Performing “Alternative” Top Level Domain; What’s Up with .XYZ?
NEW YORK, NY - It’s now been near two years from when Google’s new parent company Alphabet Inc. decided to launch their new corporate website on the .xyz domain, naming it abc.xyz. It’s also been near two years from when .xyz founder Daniel Negari forecasted that Google’s surprising move would effectively end .Com dominance worldwide. Not much has happened. Aside from the 5.2 million .xyz domain names registered, according to NameStat, it has done nothing but decline since … [Read more...]
Making Their Mark: “Big Brands” Invest Hundreds of Millions on .Dot Alternatives
NEW YORK, NY - Regardless of what your position is on new gTLD domains "Big Brands" are buying in hook, line and sinker while ICANN is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars on new gTLD fees. Each new application cost its applicant $185,000.00 and with it, an annual maintenance fee of $24,000.00 (yearly recurring). This doesn't include potentially hundreds of generic domains that were applied for and went to auction (I didn't count each one [Full statistics here] … [Read more...]
Verisign Still Pushing Hard on .Net Domains; Sales Remain Active; New IDN for Korea
NEW YORK, NY - While at NamesCon, I noticed a television commercial for the .net domain extension pushing it as a leading “trusted extension” and touting its long standing history in the domain space; the .net domain name was created on the same day as the .com in January 1985. (I’m pretty sure the video was part of Verisign’s “Uncommonly Timeless” collection of .net marketing pieces - it looked like one of these on YouTube [one is below].) According to Verisign, the … [Read more...]