IGF 2020 Pre-Event #47 DNS-Abuse in the age of COVID-19

The session will introduce the technical operations of the Domain Name System (DNS) and its role, and a brief overview of Internet technical operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then the session will define the term DNS Abuse, particularly in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Speakers will describe the global efforts to expose and mitigate this abuse and the extortion and fraud campaigns exploiting the pandemic. Speakers will explain how these technical operations are relevant for the on-going digital policy and governance initiatives. The session will be presented by ICANN with possible participation from other technical actors within Internet infrastructure.

ICANN’s response to DNS Abuse is always multifaceted, reflecting the need to address abuse within the constraints of ICANN’s Bylaws and policies as defined by the ICANN community, and by obeying local law and regulatory requirements. Recently, there have been numerous reports of spikes in the use of COVID-19-related domain names for DNS Abuse.

In the case of COVID-19-related abuse, actors within the ICANN organization have prioritized handling of COVID-19-related DNS Abuse, working with their respective communities to help mitigate the new threats. These threats include phishing, business email compromise, malware distribution, scams, and many other types of attacks.

ICANN’s mission is to keep the Internet secure and stable and the session aims to educate policy makers on the functions of the DNS and on DNS-Abuse in the context of the pandemic.

The Security, Stability, and Resiliency team within OCTO has built a system that helps identify abusive domains leveraging the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to developing this new analysis and reporting platform, team members from OCTO joined both the COVID-19 Cyber Threat Coalition (CTC) and the COVID-19 Cyber Threat Intelligence League (CTI League) along with hundreds of researchers from private companies and law enforcement officers from several countries.

These and other activities will be expanded upon during the session.

Moderator

• John Crain (Chief Security, Stability & Resiliency Officer, Office of the CTO, ICANN)

Speakers

• Elena Plexida (Vice-President, Government and IGO Engagement, ICANN)
• Adiel Akplogan (Vice-President Technical Engagement, Office of the CTO, ICANN)
• Samaneh Tajalizadekhoob (Lead Security, Stability & Resiliency Specialist, Office of the CTO, ICANN)
• Marc Rogers (Co-Founder of the CTI-League, the Cyber Threat Intelligence League)