Prague 25 February 2010 - The CZ.NIC-CSIRT security team, which operates within the CZ.NIC Association, the body responsible for managing the Czech national domain, has already blocked 150 .CZ domains since January 2010. The reasons for shutting these domains down was that they were spreading malicious software and performing phishing attacks. CZ.NIC-CSIRT was created with the objective to minimize the risks of possible threats to national and international computer security and contribute to the elimination of malicious content in the .CZ domain space. The team is authorized to block evidently malicious domains for up to one month, even repeatedly.

“CZ.NIC-CSIRT has been operating for over a year, but since January 2010 it has had the right to block domains with objectionable content. All 150 domains were shut down over a period of four days, during which attackers focused on the abuse of domains in the .CZ zone,” said Martin Peterka, Operations Director for the CZ.NIC Association and head of the security team for the Czech national domain administrator. “The domains are currently blocked for one month. It will be possible to reactivate them after their operators remove the objectionable content.”

The CZ.NIC-CSIRT team is part of a security network to which similar security groups are linked, which exist both on the level of domain registry administrators, as well as, for example, banks, internet access providers, hardware manufacturers and universities. Representatives of these teams work together; they meet within various forums and exchange experience and information with each other.

The CZ.NIC Association is not obliged to search for domains with malicious content on an active basis. We do however deal with all suggestions received, including those received via email or phone notifications. Details about the CZ.NIC-CSIRT team can be found on the website www.nic.cz/csirt.