EPISODE 17: Pinky Brand, SVP at iQ, speaks with Carel Bitter, Head of Data at Spamhaus, about the latest in cyber threats that they track, regulatory interest observations, and related reports on domain abuse. We learn about criminal domain name usage trends that propagate phishing, malware, and botnets. We also discuss the issues of trust, authenticating users, how botnet command and control points work, and potential threats due to the war in Ukraine. This interview was recorded live in person on 9 May 2022 during Nordic Domain Days in Stockholm, Sweden.https://iq.global/

EPISODE 16: Pinky Brand, SVP at iQ, speaks with Graeme Bunton, Director at PIR's DNS Abuse Institute about their mission, their NetBeacon tool, and other initiatives to assist the industry in fighting DNS abuse. This interview was recorded live in person on 10 May 2022 during Nordic Domain Days in Stockholm, Sweden.

EPISODE 15: Pinky Brand, SVP at iQ, speaks with Michele Neylon, CEO & Founder of Blacknight, a 100% Irish-owned and based in Ireland ICANN accredited registrar and hosting company. CLICK ON TIMESTAMP TO NAVIGATE DIRECTLY TO A SPECIFIC TOPIC 00:16 - Introduction and opening remarks from Michele02:52 - How Blacknight weathered the pandemic (the effect on business continuity, operations, security)10:36 - How is the "return to work" situation working out for your company?18:40 - How does Blacknight communicate trust and how do you keep building on that?21:27 - The mass switch from offline to online. 26:35 - Domain registration trends during and after the pandemic27:50 - Opportunistic vs. abusive COVID-related domain registrations. Which to shut down?32:46 - Comments on the European Union Study on Domain Name System (DNS) abuse36:00 - Leveraging social media37:38 - Alternative roots/TLDs (Handshake, blockchain tech, Web3) An existential threat?46:28 - An accident waiting to happen? 51:40 - new gTLDs , "forever domains" rants 53:53 - What's up with the second round of new gTLDs?55:50 - What do you look for in a registry operator approaching you for promos and marketing?1:02:55 - What do you see looming on the horizon that is either concerning or that you are thrilled about? (HINT: NIS2)1:05:20 - Comments re Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act1:09:34 - ConclusionThis interview was recorded live in person on 3 February 2022 at Blacknight's offices in Carlow, Ireland.

EPISODE 14: Mou Mukherjee, Head of Registry Services at .CLOUD, speaks with Pinky Brand, SVP at iQ, about her journey in the domain name industry, her challenges in running a registry, and her lived experience as a female in the industry. Navigate directly to specific topics by clicking on the below chapter time stamps:1:28 - Tell us about your journey in the domain name industry. How did you first get involved? 4:07 - You left the industry for a while. Why did you decide to return? 8:05 - Tell us a bit about .CLOUD and what you do there. 11:04 - What do you attribute to .CLOUD’s success? 18:10 - What challenges did you face running the registry in the early days? 22:05 - Marketing and selling premium names as a registry29:12 - You are a woman of color, born in India, growing up in Canada, working for an Italian company, and doing business in China. How has it all shaped your views on running a business that is truly international in scope and scale?36:25 - Where did you go to find mentors and coaches?40:22 - Is it trauma, imposter syndrome, or both for some women in our industry? 45:35 - Reflections on the personal journey. Self-exploration and transformation. Published: 14 December 2021

LG Forsberg, CTO at iQ, speaks with Pinky Brand, SVP at iQ about what's new with Abuse Manager in the recently released version 2.0. Navigate directly to specific topics by clicking on the below chapter time stamps.0:18 - Introduction1:31 - Evolution of RegistryOffice Abuse Monitor to Abuse Manager and v2.04:14 - Dashboard and UI6:15 - Case Management, Sorting, Filtering, Exporting7:30 - Reports8:05 - Rulesets9:50 - Threat Intelligence Marketplace feeds11:06 - Vetting process for Threat Intelligence Marketplace feeds15:52 - Inbound Email Reports 20:00 - Evidence and Screenshot support23:16 - Other features, summary, looking toward v2.1, customer use cases26:55 - Free Trial, how it works28:05 - Nordic Domain Days 2022Recorded: 2 December 2021

Drew Schiff, Director, Engagement Services at fTLD, speaks with Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President at iQ. 00:17 - Introduction and background on open vs. restricted domain extensions and overall cybersecurity threats02:35 - The origins of the .BANK domain extension03:46 - The application and approval process of getting .BANK into the root zone05:00 - What is the primary benefit of the .BANK domain extension to banks and consumers?09:22 - Who within a bank should be involved in the adoption of ..BANK?11:11 - What are the requirements to obtain a .BANK domain name?14:00 - Is it expensive and complex to move a bank's primary URL to .bank? How does it compare to other security, verification, and digital initiatives that banks need to undertake?17:10 - Comments on vetting each applicant18:47 - How are users responding to banks using a .bank domain?22:00 - How .BANK educates registrars, banks, and consumers about .BANK25:02 - What about premium names? Can a bank reserve or obtain more than one name or register a slogan, etc? (e.g. SuperSafe.bank) 26:42 - What other actions does the .BANK registry take to protect end-users from potential abuse threats?28:50 - How to learn more and contact .BANK directly for a discussionStay informed on your Domain Abuse situation, and get FREE tailor-made reports within seconds from one of the world's most extensive repositories of malicious domains, and gain insight into Domain Abuse trends at: https://abusestats.com/ Recorded: 10 November 2021

Kevin Kopas, Co-Founder, and COO at ShortDot SA, speaks with Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President at iQ. Kevin tells us a little bit about his journey in the domain business, lessons learned from launching 5 TLDs, and his views on dealing with abusive domain names, including compromised domains, defining "DNS Abuse", the role of stakeholders and trusted notifiers, gathering evidence, standards, etc. From a registry operator user point of view. We also discuss their new ShortBlock defensive domain blocking service that helps protect trademarks and IP, and what it might be like to get back on the road again.Recorded: September 2021

Peter Cassidy, Co-Founder and Secretary-General at the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), speaks with Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President at iQ. Read the extended interview with Peter at https://iq.global/blog/10-minutes-with-peter-cassidy-apwgRecorded: August 2021

Daniel Greenberg, Director, Founder & CEO of Lexsynergy, speaks with Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President at iQ, about abuse and brand protection trends in African top-level domain extensions.

Shaun Wilkinson, head of Premium Names at .cloud, and COO of Nidoma.com, speaks with Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President at iQ, about his experience managing Premium Domain Names from a registry operator perspective, as well as from a European consumer and domain investor perspective.

Elizabeth Behsudi, Director, Domains & Jurisdiction Program, and Secretariat at the Internet & Jurisdiction Policy Network (I&JPN), speaks with Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President at iQ, about the role and mission of the I&JPN, and its new Toolkit on DNS Level Action to Address Abuses.Download the toolkit at: https://www.internetjurisdiction.net/domains/toolkitStay informed on your Domain Abuse situation, and get FREE tailor-made reports from one of the world's most extensive repositories of malicious domains, and gain insight into Domain Abuse trends at: https://abusestats.com/

LG Forsberg, CTO at iQ, speaks with Pinky Brand, SVP at iQ about the new iQ Stats service, and the new iQ Abuse Report available via AbuseStats.com. Also a quick preview of the upcoming iQ Abuse Feed service.For more information please visit https://iq.global/​

Background information on the iQ podcast, the host, format and link to subscribe and listen.

Carel Bitter, Head of Data at Spamhaus, speaks with Pinky Brand, Senior Vice Preaident at iQ.Topics include:How is the Spamhaus Domain Block List (DBL) used?How is the list compiled? How do you calculate it?Comments on real data vs. fake data use trends.Comments on measuring the effect of price vs. measuring # of abuse reports in new gTLDs vs. ccTLDs and legacy TLDs.How can a TLD or registrar get off the "bad list"?How can a registry, registrar, or registrant remove a specific name or bulk list of names from the DBL?What about domains in the DBL where no evidence of spam is actually detected?Any systematic way to provide a real time feedback loop on takedowns/serverHolds?Why do some TLD or registrars suddendly appear and then disappear from the bad lists?What about providing evidence? Is it possible to get email headers or other evidence with your reports?What are some new attack vectors you are observing these days? What's a "phishing rod" threat vs. a "phishing" threat?

Steinar Grøtterød, Director Of Registry Operations and Compliance at IQ, and our czar of managing domain name abuse, discusses strategies for managing domain name abuse with Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President at iQ.Topics include:How can a registry or registrar reduce the amount of duplicative and non-actionable abuse reports?How do you get off a blacklist or bad list?What's up with ccTLDs and domain name abuse?Why do European ccTLD operators, registrars, and resellers need to start paying attention to the NIS2 Directive?

Mark Ghoriafi, Founder of MrPremium.com, is interviewed by Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President of iQ Global AS.Mark shares his unusual early entry experience into the domain name industry, and how he uses data and other assets to help him sell premium domain names. He also shares tips on which web tools and techniques he finds useful in his day to day outbound sales operation along with thoughts about social audio platforms' (e.g. Clubhouse) impact on the industry to date.

Jorij Abraham, General Manager of Scamadviser.com is interviewed by Pinky Brand, Senior Vice President of iQ."Is this site or online store a scam or safe? Are the reviews real or fake?" These are questions that Scamadviser tries to answer for consumers and data subscribers. Scamadviser.com checks 50,000 new domain names every day to determine the likelihood of being either legit or a possible scam. iQ Abuse Manager has integrated Scamadviser’s data into its abuse feed to make identification of malicious websites, faster, easier and facilitate take down processes more efficiently.

Our first episode. "LG" Forsberg, CTO of iQ, addresses topics such as the following, with Pinky Brand, SVP at iQ.What are the big challenges of in trying to tackle domain name abuse?How does iQ decide which abuse feeds/reputation block lists to use?Future plans for the Nordic Domain Days conference.