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Quad9’s Post-Deployment Observations of Malawi’s Cybersecurity Landscape. Quad9 is a global DNS service that offers enhanced cybersecurity measures, privacy protection, and improved Internet performance. Quad9’s arrival in Malawi marks a pivotal advancement in fortifying the country’s digital infrastructure, bringing with it enhanced cybersecurity safeguards, robust privacy protection, and a boost in Internet performance.

While our case in Germany has been found in favor of Quad9, we have been served with another demand from commercial interests in an EU nation to block domain names, again based on alleged copyright violations. Italian legal representatives have presented us with a list of domains and a demand for blocking those domains. Now we must again determine the path to take forward fighting this legal battle, in another nation in which we are neither headquartered nor have any offices or corporate presence.

Today marks a bright moment in the efforts to keep the internet a neutral and trusted resource for everyone. Quad9 has received word from the courts in Dresden, Germany in the appeal of our case versus Sony Entertainment (Germany). The court has ruled in favor of Quad9, clearly and unequivocally. Needless to say, we are elated at the news.

In the third quarter, our users were targeted by a variety of threats, including phishing, banking trojans, crypto-malware, and stalkerware. This quarterly report analyses the top malicious domains blocked by Quad9 DNS and the threats associated with them. For more detailed data on the specific threat categories and volumes of attempted access, please refer to the dedicated sections of this report.

Quad9 has been part of a potentially precedent-setting legal case involving Sony Music Entertainment (Germany). The suit involves Sony’s demand that Quad9 block DNS resolution for our users for a specific domain, unrelated to Quad9, on which Sony asserts there are web-based links that lead to copyright-infringing content.

This month, Quad9 will begin presenting the region’s top identified and blocked threats. In April 2023, we observed three areas where users were targeted with DDoS, crypto-miners, and banking trojans.

During March 2023, malvertising and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) continued to be one of the most frequently identified and blocked threats. Observations of this threat type have become increasingly common in recent months.

While AI tools have the ability to enhance security measures and combat threats, they can also be misused by threat actors to accelerate the deployment of malicious tools and increase the frequency of attacks. However, AI can be used to predict, identify, and combat cybersecurity threats and it can also serve as a cybersecurity advisor for average internet users. Users should still take precautionary measures to protect their online privacy and security, including using cybersecurity-focused DNS resolvers like Quad9.

Last month, Quad9 observed a diverse array of threat categories. Among the many categories of threats blocked and analyzed, the top three were malvertising, DDoS, and banking trojans. The graphic below represents Quad9’s identified malware trends by threat category during February 2023 — all of which were blocked by Quad9.

Last month, Quad9 observed a diverse array of threat categories. Among the many categories of threats blocked and analyzed, the top three were malvertising, information stealing, and DDoS threats. The graphic below represents Quad9’s identified malware trends by threat category during January 2023 — all of which were blocked by Quad9.