[NewsPoster]

Following Microsoft's seizure of dynamic DNS service No-IP domains on a claim that some were spreading malware, many customers' paid and free connections were no longer functioning. Many of these services have been restored tonight, as Microsoft has begun the process of returning domains to No-IP. As of this evening, all of the seized domains have been returned to the service, with .org redirect restoration waiting on the .org registrar to act. Not all DNS services have been updated, but Electronista can confirm that Verizon FiOS, Google, and OpenDNS are all resolving properly.

Home connections often have dynamic IP addresses from their Internet provider. These addresses shift at some time interval, with some ISPs rotating IP addresses as often as once per hour. This allows ISPs to have fewer IP addresses allocated to them, preventing ISP from having to purchase one IP per customer, and saving some money for the company. This has the side effect of effectively preventing users without dynamic IP redirect services, like those provided by No-IP, from running servers or VPN services with any regularity.

Microsoft claimed in a blog post trumpeting the seizure that "No-IP domains are used 93 percent of the time for Bladabindi-Jenxcus infections, which are the most prevalent among the 245 different types of malware currently exploiting No-IP domains. Microsoft has seen more than 7.4 million Bladabindi-Jenxcus detections over the past 12 months."

Microsoft told the Nevada court that awarded it the DNS authority for the No-IP domains that it would allow the non-malware traffic to flow unimpeded. Microsoft claims 18,000 malicious hostnames were in use. No-IP claims that more than four million sites and other similar connections were knocked offline by Microsoft's action.

No comment on the return has been made from Microsoft in any way. No-IP claims that there is more information coming about the event over the next few days.

[chimaera]

If I were No-IP, the news coming in the next few days would be their lawsuit against Microsoft. Lying to a court, telling them No-IP is owned by criminals, and that they needn't have a chance to cooperate or argue against the seizure. Serious business.

Nor was Microsoft ready to handle the service, so millions of uninvolved sites were interrupted. What if someone's home was burglarized during the outage, and they got away because the home's video surveillance server was knocked offline? What if the kids were home during that burglary?

There need to be legal consequences for bad behavior like this, or it will become common practice. Accuse a service, seize their domains for a few days, record all the login attempts, latch the usernames / passwords, return the domains without so much as a 'sorry'. Microsoft certainly has not said they wiped all data from login attempts.

[Stuke]

Agreed. The foundation for the seizure is unclear, as is the abrupt re-instatement, save for the obvious...it was a bogus, wrong, insensitive, and possibly illegal act of Microsoft. I hope they receive what is coming to them as a result!

[nowwhatareyoulookingat]

You didn't have to get into such a snit over it. We would have given it back eventually.