Cybersecurity company Spamhaus has partnered with Internet domain authority ICANN in an effort to reduce email abuse and combat botnets. The collaboration will allow Spamhaus data sources to be licensed to ICANN so they can be used to create abuse reports, risk scores, research papers, and predictive measures of abuse. Botnets are currently the most common form of cyber attack and are sometimes used to overwhelm websites as part of a DDoS attack. More commonly, however, they are simply a source of frustration and are believed to be responsible for a significant proportion of the countless spam messages sent each day. ICANN's adoption of Spamhaus data feeds will help disrupt botnets by allowing ICANN to share details of abuse with Internet domain registrars. Connections to IP addresses linked to botnets can then be blocked.
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During the second quarter of 2020, Spamhaus reported a 29% increase in the number of botnet command and control servers, essentially those controlled by cybercriminals. "The most effective method of mitigating botnet attacks is to implement border gateway protocol flows to block connections to botnet-linked IP addresses," said Calum Parfitt, an attorney at Boyes Turner, the technology law firm. who performed for Spamhaus under their license agreement with I CAN. “Spamhaus Technology has been licensed by ICANN for its industry-leading data feed service, which uses real-time Domain Name System-based blacklisting. The agreement will allow ICANN to share details of abuse with the registrars and registries responsible for the domains that have been compromised to expedite remediation. ICANN's adoption of Spamhaus data feeds demonstrates its commitment to disrupting botnets and protecting the Internet and its users. " Spamhaus is already responsible for blocking a huge number of spam messages, but the agreement with ICANN will strengthen its efforts to create a safer and more secure Internet. In addition, all domain names included in Spamhaus data feeds can be moved to law enforcement authorities or be used by the ICANN Compliance Department.