Domain names are becoming more private as a result of the blockchain, for better or worse

<p>According to a Microsoft research, a new type of domain name is ripe for fraudsters to abuse.</p> <p>Microsoft's new Digital Defence Report features a rogue's gallery of cyberthreats such as phishing, ransomware, and supply-chain intrusions. However, it introduces a new foe to the mix: blockchain domains.</p> <p>In Microsoft's latest annual security report, domain names inscribed into a distributed ledger maintained across a constellation of machines rather than housed in a traditional, centralised registry are referred to as "the next major threat."</p> <p>When domain names are stored on a blockchain, they can be difficult to shut down or to trace to their owners. It also renders them unavailable without the use of specialised software or configuration.</p> <p>"In recent years, we have observed blockchain domains incorporated into cybercriminal infrastructure and activities," the paper states, referring to Microsoft's experience dismantling a botnet known as Necurs last spring.</p> <p>That botnet employed a domain-generating algorithm to generate new hosts in bulk, including under the.bit blockchain top-level domain, rendering them unpoliced in the same way that a.com or other standards-compliant domain would be.</p> <p>Because of the possibility of abuse, a group called OpenNIC, which advocates alternatives to the existing domain-name system, voted in 2019 to prohibit the.bit domain, fearing that the organisation would be "directly responsible for the birth of a whole new kind of malware."</p> <p>"This trend of dangers employing blockchain domains as infrastructure with the means to establish an undeniable criminal network should be taken carefully," adds Microsoft's research.</p> <p>CAN'T GET THEM TO STOP</p> <p>Meanwhile, among supporters of a decentralised internet, there is a popular answer to the criticism that blockchain names cannot be removed: That's exactly right.</p> <p>According to the sales pitch on the webpage of one blockchain-domain registrar, Unstoppable Domains, "Unlike traditional