INDUSTRY UPDATES
Coronavirus effect on our industry
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has prompted many
organizations to execute their business continuity plan (BCP); giving employees
secure remote access through a virtual private network (VPN). Although VPN is
commonplace in business, the sudden surge in vast and prolonged use in affected
regions may expose organizations to new risks. Read more about VPN risks and
steps to mitigate them in our blog post.
The global COVID-19 pandemic is also an example of how excess demand for an item plus high market price creates the perfect opportunity for counterfeiters to exploit a brand’s reputation. Understanding the risks associated with major global events should be part of every brand protection solution. China recently confiscated 31M counterfeit facemasks. The rampant demand has given illegitimate manufacturers an opportunity to wedge into the market. Find out more on marketplace monitoring solutions here or contact your CSC representative.
Our email protection partner, Proofpoint, reports a significant increase in malicious emails mentioning coronavirus since the end of January. As a result, it has put additional tracking on coronavirus email threats for its customers. Malicious emails could affect your employees, so ensuring you have email fraud protection services to protect your internal teams is critical.
The life cycle of digital certificates reduces again
Last year the CA/B Forum ballot seeking to shorten the maximum lifespan of secure sockets layer and transport layer security certificates to one year failed. However, from September 1, 2020, all browsers will only trust certificates no older than a year (398 days). How can companies manage these shorter lifetimes? Read here.
CAA records
Expired or unauthorized digital certificates can cause catastrophic service outages and data breaches. Certificate Authority Authorization (CAA) records are a simple and low-effort way to make sure your certificates are compliant with your policy. Click here to read more.
RSA
recap
Last month at RSA, CSC’s senior vice president and general
manager, Mark Calandra, participated in a panel at the Cybersecurity Cyber Tech
Accord Annual Reception. Mark covered domain name security best practices
and the emerging risks of domain name system (DNS) hijacking. We also have a
webinar on these topics, available on demand here.
IN THE NEWS
Millions of websites face warnings for being unsecure
Some well-known websites stopped functioning properly on Wednesday, March 4, after a bug was found in the digital certificates used to secure them. Read here.
Hackers are using coronavirus concerns to trick you, cyber security pros warn
Hackers and cyber criminals have been leveraging the hype and fear connected with the growing COVID-19 pandemic as a tool to steal passwords and data. Read here.
Car
auction house hit with $30M ransom demand after crippling cyber-attack
Cyber criminals have sent a $30M ransom demand to one of
Australia’s biggest car auction houses after using malware to lock it out its
computer system. Read here.
DOT BRAND UPDATE
Which
industry takes the lead in dot brand use?
.BRAND owners are increasingly registering domain names, with
the domains under management (DUM) count across all .BRANDs steadily climbing by
an average of 5.7K each year.
The insurance industry leads with its DUM figures over 200% higher than the next closest sector—automotive, tires, and other vehicles. This disparity is largely due to .DVAG and .MMA—the top two activated .BRANDs by DUM. Most of .MMA and .DVAG’s domain names are used in compliance management, i.e., .MMA affords one .BRAND domain name per agency office, and .DVAG empowers its employees with each of their names in .DVAG.
Adoption of .BRAND is expected to increase throughout the year as the industry receives further news of the Round 2 .BRAND application framework from ICANN. The number of resolving domains hit a new three-year high of 76%. Read our latest Dot Brand Insights Report for more.
DOMAIN UPDATES
.ME premium domain release
The .ME registry will release their premium domain inventory to
the primary registrar channel beginning March 4, 2020. Domains still listed
with a reserve status after the release will be available for application using
the current premium application process.
.Compare and .select your new domains
Neustar registry announced plans to launch two previously closed
gTLDs: .compare and .select. Both TLDs will include a sunrise phase for
trademark holders beginning April 6, 2020. The TLD will then release for general
availability on May 6, 2020.
Top-level .AR domain launch delayed
The registry for .AR domains, NIC.AR, announced the postponement
of general availability for the launch of top-level .AR. The registry
experienced technical issues processing payments for the recently concluded
limited registration phase’s applications, which remains closed. The phase
ended January 27, 2020.
.AU: Australia top-level launch postponed
In preparation for the .AU launch, we recommend reviewing
your WHOIS information to ensure the details reflects your registered business
name as follows:
- An Australian business number (ABN)
- An Australian company number (ACN)
- A Registered business number (BN)
- Trademark number
If you don’t have all your .com.au domains consolidated into your portfolio at CSC, please let us know. We’re happy to work with you to transfer the domains. Having CSC manage your .com.au domains will ease and speed up the registration of .au domains.
The Australian Registry has announced a delay in launch. Originally, the launch was planned to commence in the fourth quarter 2019. This has now been pushed to the first half of 2020. We will provide you with further updates as soon as they are released by the registry.
If you’d like to receive a weekly update on all extensions, please subscribe to our Weekly Launch Guide.
CSC NEWS
CSC technology update
Our
recent CSCDomainManagerSM release means we can now submit early
renewal orders for CSC’s TrustedSecure®
certificates without losing time on your existing certificate. We can add up to
90 days to the life of the renewed certificate, so for example, if the renewal
order is submitted 25 days before the expiration date, 25 extra days will be
included on the new certificate. This means you get full value for the certificate
in place, with no downtime.
You can now also see the name of your CSC strategic account manager in the customer profile, making it easier to contact us.
Anheuser-Busch InBev Brewery endorses CSC
With 650 brands and more than
six centuries of brewing history, Anheuser-Busch InBev Brewery uses CSC for DNS
and domain portfolio management, as well as anti-counterfeiting, help with
infringements, strategic advice, and more. Click here to watch
their endorsement video.
Digital asset security: Back to basics
Current worldwide cyber-attacks and data breaches are hitting
major brands from every direction, but not everyone knows how to defend their
brand against them. It may seem hopeless, but it isn’t. Download CSC’s Digital Asset Security: Back to Basics guide.
EVENTS AND WEBINARS
Live webinar: Industry update: the online risks of COVID-19,
April 9, 2020
In our April Industry Update webinar, we’ll discuss the cyber
security risks associated with coronavirus – and how to mitigate these. Sign up
for this session here.
On-demand webinar: Brand protection using smart technology and expert analysis
If you missed our latest webinar, “Brand Protection Using Smart Technology and Expert Analysis,” watch now on demand.