Smart home kit proves 'easy to hack'

30 July 2014 Last updated at 17:13

A study of some of the most popular app-controlled devices for the home suggests the majority of the products tested were vulnerable to hackers.

HP's Fortify security division reviewed 10 pieces of internet-connected kit.

It said the majority did not require a password of sufficient complexity and length and that most did not encrypt the data they transmitted.

One independent security expert said the findings were "shocking".

HP has not named the manufacturers involved, but has identified the 10 types of net-connected products studied:

• A smart TV
• A webcam
• A smart thermostat
• A remote power outlet
• A garden sprinkler control
• A door lock
• A home alarm
• Bathroom scales
• A garage door opener
• A hub for controlling multiple devices

Privacy worries

One of the report author's biggest concerns was that eight of the devices surveyed did not require consumers to use hard-to-hack log-ins.

It said that most allowed passwords as simple as "1234" or "123456", which could then be used to access both the app and a website providing access to the owner's records.

In addition, the team said, the interfaces used by six of the devices' websites had other security flaws that could cause them to be compromised. For example, it said, in some cases hackers could exploit the password reset facility to determine which accounts were valid, allowing them to focus follow-up attacks.

A lack of encryption - the digital scrambling of data to make it unreadable without a special key - was also flagged as a worry.

HP said that seven of the devices failed to encrypt communications sent to the internet and/or a local network.

It added that six of the pieces of kit did not use encryption when downloading software and firmware updates. It said hackers could take advantage of this to intercept, modify and retransmit the code, potentially allowing them to take control of many customers' equipment.

The report also suggested that eight of the devices raised broader privacy concerns.

"With many devices collecting some form of personal information such as name, address, date of birth, health information and even credit card numbers, those concerns are multiplied when you add in cloud services and mobile applications that work alongside the device," it stated.

"And with many devices transmitting this information unencrypted on your home network, users are one network misconfiguration away from exposing this data to the world via wireless networks.

"Do these devices really need to collect this personal information to function properly?"

'Security holes'

HP is not the first firm to highlight problems with smart home devices.

Earlier this month, another security firm revealed that wi-fi-controlled light bulbs sold by an Australian firm, Lifx, could reveal their owner's username and passwords if a hacker used a device that masqueraded as being another bulb.

In January, another report highlighted the case of a smart fridge that had been hacked and used to send out spam emails.

And last year, LG was prompted to issue a fix for its smart TVs after one owner discovered his set was monitoring his watching habits and then transmitting the information over the internet unencrypted.

Ian Brown, professor of information security and privacy at the University of Oxford, said HP's report should act as a wake-up call.

"We're used to hearing about vulnerabilities in computing systems, but those are often legacy products designed before today's greater focus on security," he told the BBC.

"It's slightly shocking to see these brand new internet-of-things devices being created with so many security holes.

"I hope device manufactures realise they have to do much better if they want to avoid damaging consumer trust in the whole sector before it even takes off."

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Tor attack may have unmasked users

30 July 2014 Last updated at 21:16 By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

Developers of software used to access Tor - an otherwise hard-to-reach part of the internet - have disclosed that an attack on the network may have unmasked users for five months.

The Tor Project said that it believed the assault was designed to de-anonymise the net addresses of people operating or visiting hidden sites.

However, it said it was not sure exactly how users had been "affected".

The project added that it believed it had halted the attack on 4 July.

Tor allows people to visit webpages without being tracked and to publish sites whose contents does not show up in search engines.

The Tor Project said it believed that the infiltration had been carried out by two university researchers, who claimed at the start of July to have exploited "fundamental flaws" in Tor's design that allowed them to unmask the so-called dark net's users.

The two security experts, Alexander Volynkin and Michael McCord, had been due to give a talk at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas next week. However, the presentation was cancelled at the insistence of lawyers working for their employer, Carnegie Mellon University.

"We spent several months trying to extract information from the researchers who were going to give the Black Hat talk, and eventually we did get some hints from them... which is how we started looking for the attacks in the wild," wrote Roger Dingledine, one of the network's co-creators, on the Tor Project's blog.

"They haven't answered our emails lately, so we don't know for sure, but it seems likely that the answer to [whether they were responsible] is yes.

"In fact, we hope they were the ones doing the attacks, since otherwise it means somebody else was."

A spokesman from Carnegie Mellon University declined to comment.

Illegal activity

Tor attempts to hide a person's location and identity by sending data across the internet via a very circuitous route involving several "nodes" - which, in this context, means using volunteers' PCs and computer servers as connection points.

Encryption applied at each hop along this route makes it very hard to connect a person to any particular activity.

To the website that ultimately receives the request, it appears as if the data traffic comes from the last computer in the chain - known as an "exit relay" - rather than the person responsible.

Tor's users include the military, law enforcement officers and journalists - who use it as a way of communicating with whistle-blowers - as well as members of the public who wish to keep their browser activity secret.

But it has also been associated with illegal activity, allowing people to visit sites offering illegal drugs for sale and access to child abuse images, which do not show up in normal search engine results and would not be available to those who did not know where to look.

Two-pronged attack

The Tor Project suggests the perpetrator compromised the network via a "traffic confirmation attack".

This involves the attacker controlling both the first part of the circuit of nodes involved - known as the "entry relay" - as well as the exit relay.

By matching the volumes and timings of the data sent at one end of the circuit to those received at the other end, it becomes possible to reveal the Tor user's identity because the computer used as an entry relay will have logged their internet protocol (IP) address.

The project believes the attacker used this to reveal hidden-site visitors by adding a signal to the data sent back from such sites that included the encoded name of the hidden service.

Because the sequence of nodes in a Tor network is random, the infiltrator would not be able to track every visit to a dark net site.

Tor also has a way of protecting itself against such a danger: rather than use a single entry relay, the software involved uses a few relays chosen at random - what are known as "entry guards".

So, even if someone has control of a single entry and exit relay, they should only see a fraction of the user's traffic, making it hard to identify them.

However, the Tor Project believes the perpetrator countered this safeguard by using a second technique known as a "Sybil attack".

This involved adding about 115 subverted computer servers to Tor and ensuring they became used as entry guards. As a result, the servers accounted for more than 6% of the network's guard capacity.

This was still not enough to monitor every communication, but was potentially enough to link some users to specific hidden sites.

"We don't know how much data the attackers kept, and due to the way the attack was deployed, their... modifications might have aided other attackers in de-anonymising users too," warned Mr Dingledine.

Several government agencies are interested in having a way to unmask Tor's users.

Russia's interior ministry is currently offering a 3.9m roubles ($110,000; £65,000) prize to anyone who cracks such identities. It says it wants to protect the country's "defence and security".

A report by the German broadcaster ARD suggests US cyberspies working for the NSA have also made efforts to overcome Tor's system, despite the fact the Tor Project is partly funded by other US government departments.

And leaked documents released by whistleblower Edward Snowden also indicate the UK's GCHQ has attempted to track Tor users.

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Samsung profit hit by phone slowdown

31 July 2014 Last updated at 02:40

Profits at Samsung Electronics fell 20% in the second quarter, hurt mainly by a slowdown in smartphone sales and a strong Korean currency.

It made a net profit of 6.25 trillion won ($6.1bn; £3.6bn) in the April-to-June period, down from 7.77 trillion won a year ago.

When compared to the previous quarter, its profit was down 17%.

Samsung is the world's biggest maker of mobile phones and the handset division accounts for the bulk of its profits.

"The second quarter was affected by several factors including the slow global sales of smartphones and tablets and escalating marketing expenditure to reduce inventory," the firm said in a statement.

Currency factor

Continue reading the main story

Prospects for growth remain unclear as competition over global market share intensifies in the mobile industry"

End Quote Samsung Electronics

Meanwhile, a stronger Korean currency also hit Samsung's earnings during the period.

The Korean won rose more than 11% against the US dollar and nearly 7% against the euro between July 2013 and end of June this year.

A strengthening currency hurts profits of firms such as Samsung - which rely heavily on exports - when they repatriate their foreign earnings.

Samsung said a stronger currency "amounted to about 500bn won in missed revenues".

'Profitability may suffer'

Samsung's growth in recent years has been powered mainly by its mobile phone division.

The success of its Galaxy range of smartphones, coupled with a growing global demand for such gadgets, saw it displace Nokia as the world's biggest mobile phone maker in 2012.

However, the pace of growth of the smartphone market has been slowing down and the competition in the sector has also increased.

Various other smartphone makers including China's Xiaomi, Huawei and ZTE have been increasing their market share steadily.

That has forced manufacturers to cut costs of their devices in an attempt to attract consumers, hurting their profitability.

Operating profit at Samsung's phone division fell 31% during the April-to-June period, from the previous three months.

The firm also warned that "prospects for growth remain unclear as competition over global market share intensifies in the mobile industry".

"Samsung expects to see its sales of mobile devices increase with the rollout of flagship products and new models, but profitability may suffer due to a heated race over price and product specifications," it added.

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Verizon scolded over slow data plan

31 July 2014 Last updated at 13:05

Verizon's plan to slow data download speeds for 4G mobile customers on unlimited deals is "deeply troubling", the US government has said.

In a letter, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) boss Tom Wheeler criticised Verizon for targeting users who had paid for an unlimited service.

He said Verizon's plan conflicted with demands imposed when it took over spectrum supporting its 4G service.

Verizon said it would respond once it had received and read the letter.

Last week Verizon announced that, starting from October, in times of high network demand, it would slow speeds for the 5% of customers on unlimited plans using more than 4.7GB of data per month.

The operator stopped offering unlimited data deals in 2011.

In the same year Verizon began throttling data rates for customers using its 3G networks and the expanded policy will now apply to those using devices capable of using higher capacity 4G technology.

The FCC has acted now because the spectrum underlying the 4G service was bought from the US government. A condition of the sale was Verizon continuing to honour "open internet" rules that ensure data speeds are not slowed.

Capacity crunch

The proposal would mean that at times of high demand, 4G customers could experience lag when using high-bandwidth applications such as "streaming high-definition video or during real-time, online gaming", said the operator in an explanation posted on its website.

The announcement drew a swift response from the FCC, which oversees network operators. Mr Wheeler said Verizon's decision should be made on the basis of "network architecture or technology" not the different plans customers have signed up for.

"I know of no past commission statement that would treat as 'reasonable network management' a decision to slow traffic to a user who has paid, after all, for 'unlimited' service," wrote Mr Wheeler.

In addition, he said, Verizon's plan could conflict with its obligation under the FCC's open internet rules, which limit what operators can do to massage data rates on 4G networks.

In a statement, Verizon said it would respond fully to the FCC letter once it had reviewed the document.

It added that the policy was a "highly targeted and very limited network optimisation" plan that would only be used on phone base stations that were experiencing high demand.

"The purpose is to ensure there is capacity for everyone in those limited circumstances, and that high users don't limit capacity for others," said the spokesman.

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Israeli Iron Dome firms 'hacked'

31 July 2014 Last updated at 16:44 By Joe Miller Technology reporter

The BBC has seen evidence that appears to confirm hackers stole several secret military documents from two government-owned Israeli companies that developed the Iron Dome missile defence system.

The breaches were first publicised by security blogger Brian Krebs on Monday.

The companies denied their classified networks had been infiltrated.

However, the team that discovered the incidents has given the BBC access to an intelligence report, which indicates hundreds of files were indeed copied.

The documents, which were stolen over a period of many months, relate to:

• Arrow III missiles
• unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones
• ballistic rockets

Continue reading the main story

The data collected makes strong indications that the actors behind this attack originated from China"

End Quote CyberESI report

Cyber Engineering Services (CyberESI) tracked the activities of the hackers over eight months between 2011 and 2012.

It said the data taken by the hackers suggested they had been after intelligence relating to Iron Dome.

Iron Dome is a complex anti-missile defence system, which can intercept and destroy rockets and shells.

The technology has been widely credited with preventing the deaths of many Israeli civilians during the ongoing conflict with militants from Gaza.

CyberESI's report, compiled in 2013, also indicates the attacks were made using highly sophisticated tools resembling those used by Chinese hackers to infiltrate US defence firms - an attack in which the Chinese government denies any involvement.

"The data collected makes strong indications that the actors behind this attack originated from China," it says.

"This assertion is based on the activity during the past year that Cyber Engineering Services has observed on compromised networks, as well as the geo-location of the IP [internet protocol] addresses retrieving the exfiltrated data."

"The nature of exfiltrated data and the industry that these companies are involved in suggests that the Chinese hackers were after information related to Israel's all-weather air defence system called Iron Dome."

Gigabytes stolen

CyberESI, which operates out of Maryland in the US, monitored data being stolen from two leading Israeli defence contractors:

• Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a government-owned company that develops missiles and aircraft
• Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, a government-owned company established in 1948, which develops surface-to-air missiles

A spokeswoman for IAI initially confirmed to Mr Krebs the attack had taken place and been "reported to the appropriate authorities".

However IAI subsequently said the "information reported regarding the leakage of sensitive information is incorrect" and only its "civilian non-classified" network had been hacked.

A spokesman for Rafael said the company did "not recall such an incident".

But the report seen by the BBC suggests sensitive data was taken from IAI and that Rafael's network was compromised, with hackers able to deactivate security software and harvest authentication data, including passwords.

In total, the report says, gigabytes of data were stolen from the Israeli companies, including:

• word documents
• power point presentations
• spreadsheets
• PDFs
• executable (.exe) files

Some of the stolen technical documents are said by CyberESI to have contained intellectual property data and were marked as being controlled by US government International Traffic in Arms (ITAR) regulations.

US connections

Both IAI and Rafael were heavily involved in developing the Iron Dome missile defence system, which allows Israel to intercept rockets fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.

The US, which already collaborates with Israeli firms over Arrow III - jointly designed by IAI and Boeing, now wants to invest in future versions of Iron Dome technologies.

In May 2013, the Pentagon accused China of carrying out a sophisticated cyber-spying campaign on US diplomatic, economic and defence organisations.

The raid on the Israeli companies bore similar characteristics, experts at CyberESI told the BBC, using tools that were "known to originate from" China.

The attacks were part of an advanced persistent threat (APT) - a form of highly organised and targeted hacking.

APTs have been used for industrial espionage in the past and tend to use sophisticated methods not easily available to the vast majority of cyber-thieves.

Executive emails stolen

CyberESI's report also featured a third Israeli company, Elisra, originally a US company and now a leading supplier to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Elisra, which is not involved in Iron Dome, appears to have been comprehensively infiltrated by the hackers, who stole data from folders named "Military Spacs" and "UAV" and infiltrated the email accounts belonging to the chief executive and several senior managers.

The attackers also stole passwords and sign-in details, allowing them to roam around the networks undetected.

Elisra did not respond to a BBC request for comment.

In January 2014, another security company reported that 15 Israeli defence computers had been compromised via a malicious email attachment.

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Sleep sensor smashes Kickstarter goal

30 July 2014 Last updated at 00:01

A 22-year-old British entrepreneur's new sleep-tracking kit has cracked $1.3m (£809,000) in its first week on Kickstarter's crowdfunding platform.

James Proud launched his product, Sense, on 23 July with a goal of raising $100,000 within 30 days.

But it passed the $1m-mark on Sunday, and has been forecast to raise more than $4m by the period's end.

Sense includes an orb that monitors the bedroom, a clip that attaches to the pillow, and a mobile phone app.

The equipment produces a unique score for the previous night's sleep and aims to wake the owner up at the best point in their sleep cycle.

It is due to be released in November and can be ordered in advance for $129.

Mr Proud said sleep was a natural area to focus on.

"We spend a third of our day doing it," he told the BBC.

"It's the most critical part of the day, as how we perform when we're awake depends on how well we slept."

Sense is one of a growing number of sleep-focused products as "smart" technologies start to filter into homes, offering new ways to track our health.

Apps such as Sleep Cycle, Sleepbot and Sleepmaster are already used by iPhone, Android and Windows Phone users to track their slumber using sensors built into the handsets.

There are also specialist hardware devices such as Aura, from the French firm Withings, and a $8,000 "snore-stopping" bed.

Sleep tech sceptic

Earlier this year, Apple announced its forthcoming Healthkit app, which can gather sleep-related data from third-party devices. The 9to5Mac news site also reported the company had hired Roy Raymann, a Dutch sleep research expert, fuelling speculation the company may be about to release its own sleep-monitoring smart watch.

Its rival Samsung, already offers the Gear 2 smartwatch, which runs sleep-tracking software. And most recently, China's Xiaomi began selling one of the cheapest sleep-monitoring wearables on the market - the $13 MiBand.

But one expert told the BBC such products had limited use beyond "nagging" the user to go to bed earlier.

"If you want to learn whether you sleep on certain nights and not on others, then it should be looked at as a form of harmless entertainment," Prof Jerry Siegel from University of California, Los Angeles' Center for Sleep Research said.

"But the most common sleep problem is insomnia, and there's nothing that you're going to get from one of these devices that is going to be useful in treating insomnia.

"The other problem that is important to identify is sleep apnoea [a condition where the walls of the throat relax and interrupt breathing].

"We know that this will shorten your lifespan and we have several treatments... but none of these devices will help you detect it."

However, the US's National Sleep Foundation was more optimistic about the potential benefits of such innovations in May, when it announced a partnership with the US's Consumer Electronics Association to create new standards for sleep-related tech.

"We know that getting enough sleep and getting quality sleep have amazing health benefits, including improved mood, concentration, memory and productivity, and the ability to maintain a healthy weight," said David Cloud, chief executive of the foundation.

"Given the technology to properly monitor their own sleep quality, consumers can better understand the link between their sleep and their health, and set goals for improvement."

'Critical'

Mr Proud, was born in South London but developed Sense in California.

He took a gap-year break between school and university. "If I went to university, I quickly realised I couldn't code 18 hours a day," he told the BBC.

He ended up moving to California to take a "fellowship" from Peter Thiel, the co-creator of PayPal and one of the first people to put money into Facebook.

The move secured him a $100,000 grant to forgo higher education and instead build his own tech start-up.

The young entrepreneur raised more money and started Hello, the company that makes Sense.

Hello currently employs about 20 people, including engineers and product designers, who are responsible for its distinctive look.

"We wanted to make something that didn't look like technology, but that looked like it should be there regardless," said Mr Proud.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

BBC's Dave Lee tries out a $8,000 "smart bed" in Las Vegas earlier this year

He added that he planned to use the additional cash raised from Kickstarter to fulfil more orders and get the kit into the hands of more people.

Based on the amount of money the campaign has raised so far, the analytics site Kicktraq projects that Sense should raise between £4m and $7m by the end of its funding period.

But Mr Proud said he created the crowdfunding campaign not for cash but rather for feedback.

"The valuable thing about Kickstarter is the community," he said.

"The amount of feedback we've had is amazing, which we wouldn't have had if we had just put it up on our website."

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Broken robots 'learn to keep going'

31 July 2014 Last updated at 00:08

Engineers have taken a step towards having machines that can operate when damaged by developing a robot that can teach itself to walk, even with a broken leg.

Using "intelligent trial and error", their six-legged robot learned how to walk again in less than 2 minutes.

"This new technique will enable more robust, effective, autonomous robots," the engineers behind the robot said.

They said the aim was to mimic the behaviour of injured animals.

The trial-and-error methodology could have ramifications for robots used in the workplace and for military purposes. A robot that can keep attacking - no matter how damaged - brings to mind the relentless android from the Terminator films.

According to one expert, adaptive robotics is the cutting edge of the field. Most robots currently sit in factories and perform very specific functions. Scientists want to get robots to understand new and changing situations.

Continue reading the main story

There are lots of applications beyond the military... such as robots on the Moon and Mars"

End Quote Dr Fumiya Iida University of Cambridge

"The real challenge we are pursuing in robotics is robots that can adapt to uncertain and unstructured environments," Dr Fumiya Iida, of the Machine Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC.

The scientists - Antoine Cully and and Jean-Baptiste Mouret of the Sorbonne in Paris and Jeff Clune of the University of Wyoming - published a research paper on their robot on Arxiv, a platform to release early versions of academic research that is overseen by Cornell University's library.

Locomotion 'a challenge'

"When animals lose a limb, they learn to hobble remarkably quickly," Arxiv said in a blog post on the research. "And yet when robots damage a leg, they become completely incapacitated."

The scientists' robot has solved this by trying to mimic animals - by discovering which leg is broken and then then using trial and error to figure out the best way to continue walking.

"Locomotion is a major challenge," Dr Iida said. "It's an issue of energy efficiency. Robots are unusually very inefficient compared to animals."

Other companies are also trying to mimic animals, such as Boston Dynamics, which is now owned by Google. It makes a variety of robots, including the internet sensation Big Dog, which can attain locomotion on a variety of different and difficult terrains.

Big Dog was funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) and Boston Dynamics contracts for the US military - which is an area where the trial-and-error algorithms could be applied, especially to machines injured in warfare.

But Dr Iida said that military use was only one aspect of better adaptive robots.

"There are lots of applications beyond the military," he said. "You can think of robots in extreme environments, so not only in warfare, but in space such as robots on the Moon and Mars, and in nuclear power plants. Think of Fukushima, for example, where humans can't go."

While these engineers are focused on self-learning robots, others are developing robots and materials that can "heal themselves" when they are damaged.

BAE Systems said recently that in the future, it could build drones that contained a lightweight fluid that would allow jets to heal themselves from damage sustained in flight, as well as on-board 3D printers that can make new parts, while a new plastic that can fix itself has been developed by engineers at the University of Illinois.

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Facebook expands Africa push

31 July 2014 Last updated at 09:01

It's the new frontier for the internet - connecting billions of people in Africa and Asia who have yet to sample the delights of the digital world. Through an organisation called Internet.org, Facebook has put itself at the forefront of this mission.

Today it unveils a clever plan to get millions of people in Zambia online. It is without doubt a laudable philanthropic mission - but in the long run it could also be hugely important to Facebook's growth.

As Guy Rosen of Internet.org explained to me over a video link from Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters, 85% of those people who aren't connected to the internet are in places with mobile phone coverage. There are two reasons why, despite the widespread use of mobile phones, they have not tried the internet - affordability and awareness. In other words, data use on a mobile phone is far too expensive for most people and they have no idea of what advantages it might offer them.

The plan in Zambia is to address both those issues. The mobile operator Airtel - like a number in Africa - has been offering a simple Facebook experience for free on mobile phones. Now in Zambia it will offer an Internet.org app which will supply Facebook but also a number of other web services. Users will get access to Wikipedia, job sites, weather forecasts, and information about health, all without paying any data charges.

Users will be able to access these web services from simple feature phones by visiting the internet.org website, and they will get a warning if they stray onto sites where data charges apply. Only 15% of the 15 million people in Zambia have used the internet so far - now it is hoped that many more will try it. If the pilot is successful, the same method will be used with other mobile operators in other parts of Africa.

Now Airtel is obviously forgoing some revenue from data to get this scheme off the ground, in the hope that some of those who try out the internet on a mobile will pay for the service in the future. But I was somewhat surprised to learn that Facebook is making no contribution to the cost of the data.

Mobile phones will provide the first experience of the internet for the vast majority of those now trying it for the first time. The words "internet" and "Facebook" are already said to be interchangeable in some places in Africa. Now this initiative is bound to make millions more see Facebook as the gateway to the online world.

Mark Zuckerberg's passionate interest in internet.org's mission certainly seems genuine. But a business with 1.3 billion users that needs to to show investors that those numbers are continuing to rise will now be looking to Africa and Asia to increase its audience. So the philanthropic mission of internet.org and Facebook's long-term business strategy are in perfect alignment.

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Bid to stop Iran web name seizure

31 July 2014 Last updated at 14:32

Net overseer Icann has asked a US court to stop an attempt to seize the web space of Iran, Syria and North Korea.

The attempt to seize the .ir, .sy and .kp domains is being made by families of victims of terrorism.

Once seized, the domains would be used to compensate victims who have already been awarded damages in a US court almost a decade ago.

In its filing, Icann said any seizure would render the domains worthless and thus provide no compensation.

'Self-defeating'

The attempt to grab the domains is part of a court case begun by the families of four Americans injured in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 1997 for which Hamas claimed responsibility.

The families sued Iran because of its support for Hamas and sought compensation through the courts for the injuries their relatives sustained.

The group won its case by default because Iran did not turn up to defend itself and in 2003 it was awarded $109m (£65m) in damages. Since 2003, the group has been trying to take control of Iranian assets known to reside in the US in an attempt to collect that cash.

The group has enjoyed limited success over the past decade and its bid to grab the domains is the last item on its list of Iranian assets. It is not clear why it is also keen to gain control of the North Korean and Syrian domains.

The suffixes are known as "country code top-level domains" and almost every nation on Earth has one from which hang all the domains for websites run from those territories.

Icann has filed a motion with the US district court in Columbia asking for the seizure bid to be "quashed" despite the organisation's "great sympathy" for the underlying claim made by group.

Icann, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, oversees the running of the net's addressing system.

It said transferring the domains to the family group would be "largely self-defeating" as it would destroy any value they had.

The value inherent in the .ir and the other domains derives from their use and through the many companies, individuals, government agencies, organisations and others that run a website using one of the suffixes.

Handing over the domains "would simply destroy a resource utilised by the internet community" said the court papers.

Icann added that even if the court authorised the seizure it had no technical means by which to transfer the running of the respective domain systems to the family group.

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Dark net drugs ads have 'doubled'

31 July 2014 Last updated at 17:01 By Angus Crawford BBC News

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Supervisor Christian Crawford shows Angus Crawford around the postal facility in Los Angeles where US Customs try to halt the flow of illegal drugs

The number of listings offering illegal drugs for sale on the "dark net" appears to have more than doubled in less than a year, BBC News has learned.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) closed down the original online illegal drug market, Silk Road, in 2013.

But new figures suggest the trade has actually increased since then.

And other research indicates one in four British drug users has accessed hidden websites.

'Big problem'

In October 2013, there were 18,174 drugs listings across four main markets, according to the internet safety organisation Digital Citizens Alliance, based in the US.

A recent trawl of the dark net by BBC News revealed there were now 43,175 listings across 23 markets.

In this context, the term "dark net" refers to parts of the internet that cannot be reached easily unless specialised software is used.

Its content is hidden from conventional search engines such as Google and Bing. Commonly used apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Evernote - whose content does not show up in search results either - are not covered by the term.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

They are dealing in illegal drugs and they are dealing in misery"

End Quote Caroline Young, National Crime Agency

Britain's National Crime Agency recognises the drug trade on the dark net is a threat.

"It's a big problem," says Caroline Young, deputy director of the NCA's Organised Crime Command.

"In our threat assessment we have cocaine and heroin as a high priority, and because it's cyber-enabled that makes it even more of a high priority."

However, she said the figures might be misleading.

"The numbers of vendors in the UK has reduced by 40%, each vendor may have more than one listing," she says.

One internet safety campaigner was concerned by the findings.

"We still think the internet can be a wonderful tool for consumers and businesses, but we do worry good people and companies get caught up in the web spun by criminals and rogue operators," said Adam Benson, deputy executive director of Digital Citizens Alliance.

"That will slowly erode the trust and confidence we have in the internet."

The dealer's view

After months of negotiations, a dark net drug dealer based outside the UK agreed to answer my questions.

He would only do it anonymously and using encrypted messages.

"To us the dark net is all about anonymity and freedom," he said.

I put it to him that he was still selling dangerous substances and supporting organised crime.

"A street dealer could sell you anything without you knowing what it is exactly," he replied.

"Because of the strong community on the dark net, this almost never happens. And when it happens, the vendor in question will lose all of his clients."

He added that the online drugs trade showed no signs of reducing.

"I've seen the dark net market grow almost exponentially."

Undesired publicity

Californian Ross Ulbricht was arrested last year and is awaiting trial charged with being the administrator of the original Silk Road site, which he denies.

Customers and dealers used encrypted email and paid using the virtual currency Bitcoin, which can be hard to track.

The FBI seized the site and confiscated all funds.

But some observers say that has only increased interest in the markets.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

No-one's going to find out who I am, I just feel safe using it"

End Quote Sam Dark net drugs buyer

DeepDotWeb is a website that observes developments on the hidden web.

A representative from the site said: "The Silk Road bust was the best advertising the dark net markets could have hoped for."

Anonymous network

One of the most popular access methods for the dark net is the TorBrowser.

It allows people to use Tor, an "onion-routing" system that makes a PC's net address untraceable.

It bounces encrypted data through several randomly selected computer servers on a volunteer network - before it reaches its destination.

There are also many hidden sites on the network ending in the dot-onion suffix, including drugs markets.

Tor was first created by the US military and is now also used by pro-democracy campaigners, whistleblowers and journalists operating under repressive regimes.

But criminals too are taking advantage of its anonymity.

Cocaine clicks

One buyer agreed to talk to me, but only if his identity was hidden.

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Views from both sides of the internet drugs market

Sam, not his real name, admitted he used to buy drugs from a dealer in London.

"I bought cannabis, around every two to three weeks from a street vendor, it was pretty terrifying," he said.

He then showed me the cannabis he bought online - it was delivered to his house by first-class post.

"I don't have to reveal my identity at all, it's completely anonymous, no-one's going to find out who I am, I just feel safe using it."

And there is evidence he is part of a growing number of people going online to buy illegal drugs.

The Global Drug Survey has taken place each year since 1999.

For the 2014 survey, more than 79,000 people worldwide were questioned about their drug habits.

Some 25% of British respondents said they had accessed dark net drugs markets.

The survey's founder, Adam Winstock, said it was just like the growth of any e-commerce.

"Better quality, better range, more convenient," he said, "and certainly in the case of drugs, avoiding having to come into contact with dealers."

Targeting dealers

Those who observe the dark net believe sales will continue to grow.

DeepDotWeb expects methods may change.

"We will see movements toward decentralised markets as they have better potential for being safer, are impossible to shut down, and can provide better solutions for handling transactions," said its editor, who asked to remain anonymous.

Britain's National Crime Agency says it will do all it can to disrupt the trade.

"We will use all and every tool and technique we possibly can," said Caroline Young.

"Whether they are dealers and buyers online or on the street - they are exactly the same.

"They are dealing in illegal drugs and they are dealing in misery."

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