nic.at is pleased to gain two important top level domains for its Anycast service RcodeZero DNS. EURid - the registry manager of the .eu and ею (Cyrillic script) country code top-level domains, and soon of the .ευ (Greek script) – extensively tested RcodeZero DNS. Convinced by the network’s reliability and performance, EURid will use the secondary Anycast service for its 3.6 million domains.

Alexander Mayrhofer has managed the R&D department since 2002 - this is, where the many innovative research projects, ideas and numbers that surround nic.at originate. Among other activities, he participates in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and often travels to speak at events, where both his talks and his eye-catching illustrations (see below) are always popular. In this interview, he also reveals on which projects he is currently working on, what awaits us in the future and how to keep yourself innovative.

Ever wondered where the many innovative research projects, ideas and numbers that surround our company originate? Or which tools inform our forecasts and strategic decisions? In this edition of the nic//report, we invite you to take a look behind the scenes at our R&D department and find out about the projects they are working on.

Domain holders will now receive a link to a survey at marketagent.com in the email confirmation of each of their domain registrations, terminations, or registrar transfers. Together with Austria's leading online market research institute, nic.at is asking current (and former) domain holders about their domain usage, as well as their satisfaction with the domain transaction and their domain provider.

In the first week of July, .at domains reached the 10,000 mark for DNSSEC-signed domains. Although the security extension DNSSEC has been available for .at domains since 2012, it has enjoyed only moderate popularity – in contrast to other countries. Arsen Stasic, who is jointly responsible for the operation of the .at zone at the Vienna University Computer Center, explains why this is now changing.

The DNSheads Vienna is an informal group of people who are responsible for the operation and the software development of recursive and authoritative DNS servers. Founded by Head of nic.at R&D Alexander Mayrhofer, the group has already met 6 times to discuss the changing landscape of DNS. A review.

Exciting political times not only bring unusual hit rates to media, they also inspire internet users‘ creativity when it comes to domain name registrations. Quotes, word creations and election speculations: A look into the .at zone is a mirror of current events in Austrian internal polictics.

The General Data Protection Regulation is celebrating its one-year anniversary: On May 25 last year the European Union implemented the most extensive and attention-grabbing measure in the field of data protection law in Europe. What were the impacts the GDPR regulation had on us as the Austrian registry, which measures have been implemented, and how does our position compared internationally? Time to assess the situation with our legal department’s lawyers Barbara Schloßbauer and Bernhard Erler.

Our anniversary year is drawing to a close. In the last nic//report for this year, we take a look back on all the milestones and highlights. We also interviewed to very interesting people: Oliver Hauser - SEO specialist from Salzburg. He talks about his very own domain strategy and what the trends 2019 are. Secondly our beloved Oma Elfriede - respectively the woman behind our campagne heroine. Happy reading!

The nic.at research and development team focuses on topics relating to the future of the DNS and the internet. Two meetings are coming up this October: the informal DNSheads Vienna and a meet-up dedicated to blockchains. We talk to Alexander Mayrhofer, head of the nic.at R&D team.

.at is the chosen home for many Austrians online. In fact, 936,857 .at domains are registered to postal addresses in the country – 72.6 % of all .at domains out there. But which towns, cities and districts lead the way when it comes to domain names? To mark the 30th anniversary of the .at domain, we went off in search of answers. The good news right away: there is not a single district in Austria without at least one .at registration. Even tiny places like Namlos, Tschanigraben, Gramais and Kaisers – each with a population of below 70 – are home to owners of .at domains.

We’re really pleased that you have picked up this special anniversary edition of the nic//report. This year we are celebrating our 80th birthday. That can’t be right? Well, it is if you add up all of our jubilees: 10 years of CERT.at, 20 years of Stopline,

Promoting the Internet in Austria is one of the goals enshrined in the articles of incorporation of the Internet Foundation Austria, nic.at’s owner. Over recent decades the Internet has not only become an essential element of numerous business processes, but is also an integral part of many people’s daily lives. As a result, we have to ensure that we are ideally placed to meet and counter threats and security risks as they emerge. A national CERT as an independent information hub presented itself as the ideal opportunity to leverage the available synergies while promoting the goals of the foundation. The greatest challenge that we faced was establishing an effective team to rapidly embed us in national and international networks and help us establish the level of trust required for quality information exchange. As face to face contact and direct communications are an essential part of this, a significant amount of our initial work focused on building up a network of dependable contacts at home and abroad, rather than the technical side of things.

Stopline was an independent initiative set up by the Austrian Internet service providers to combat illegal content online, after images of child abuse were discovered on the server of an Austrian host provider. ISPA (then newly founded), nic.at, representatives of the police reporting centres, legal experts and other national stakeholders were involved in establishing Stopline. The challenge at the time was to raise awareness of illegal content online and publicise the existence of the new reporting centre without demonising the Internet as a whole.

Due to the GDPR nic.at has undertaken changes in the Whois policy as well as the registration and management of .at-domains and has published all necessary data protection information. These are the most important points: