Rod Beckstrom

A global Internet oversight agency is reopening discussions about whether to create a ".xxx" domain name as an online red-light district where porn sites can set up shop away from the wandering eyes of children and teenagers.

Parents would be able to use the system to help block access to porn sites, though because its use would be voluntary, the ".xxx" suffix wouldn't keep such content entirely away from minors. Religious and other anti-porn groups worry that ".xxx" would legitimize porn sites, and the proposal has already been rejected three times since 2000.

Not only is the Internet just turning 40 years old, it's truly going global with new extensions that will someday make it possible for entire web-site addresses to be written in every language in the world. On Friday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers agreed to introduce a number of internationalized domain names. IDNs allow scripts such as Chinese, Korean or Arabic to be used in the last portion of an address name -- the part after the dot, such as dot-com and dot-org.

Nearly a decade after it introduced a program to internationalize domain names, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is expected to take another step on Friday. ICANN, during its annual meeting in Seoul, Korea, will vote on the internationalized domain names (IDN) initiative, better known as the Fast Track.

The IDN initiative, if approved, will provide nations with their own country-code domain names and make the Internet more accessible to millions of people in Asia and the Middle East who speak and read in Arabic, Chinese and Korean, according to ICANN.

The Internet is set to undergo one of the biggest changes in its four-decade history with the expected approval this week of international domain names -- or addresses -- that can be written in languages other than English, an official said Monday.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN -- the non-profit group that oversees domain names -- is holding a meeting this week in Seoul. Domain names are the monikers behind every Web site, e-mail address and Twitter post, such as ".com" and other suffixes.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has ended its decade-long arrangement with the U.S. Department of Commerce. The move gained applause from the European Commission, which had called for ICANN to consider a system run by the private sector.

U.S. authorities trying to unravel the widespread cyber attacks against government Web sites in the United States and South Korea this week are facing a lengthy, complex investigation that may never identify a culprit, at least not one they would be willing to reveal.

Cyber experts familiar with the probe are divided over the extent of North Korean involvement, split between those who believe hackers may have simply used zombie computers in the region and those who think the communist nation has moved to the digital battlefield.

The director of the National Cyber Security Center, Rod Beckstrom, has resigned. Beckstrom, a serial entrepreneur from Silicon Valley and author of several books, quit his position as security czar after less than one year on the job, sending a resignation letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. His last day will be March 13.

The director of the National Cyber Security Center, Rod Beckstrom, has resigned. Beckstrom, a serial entrepreneur from Silicon Valley and author of several books, quit his position as security czar after less than one year on the job, sending a resignation letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. His last day will be March 13.

One of the United States' biggest challenges in securing government computers from foreign attacks isn't necessarily technical.

The country first needs to figure out how much those networks are worth and how much the U.S. should spend on protecting them, the new Homeland Security official in charge of that effort said Thursday.

Rod Beckstrom, director of the newly created National Cyber Security Center, an agency responsible for protecting the government's computer networks, was making his first major address to the computer security community.

Thousands of network security professionals are in Las Vegas for the annual Black Hat Briefings computer security conference, which will be immediately followed by the DEFCON hacker convention. Both events focus on network and Internet security issues. The Black Hat conference is held at Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, while DEFCON is at the Riviera Hotel & Casino August 8-16.