20th Jun 2014 15:04
(An item published at 1202 BST gave incorrect details on NCC's history. The corrected version follows.)
LONDON (Alliance News) - NCC Group PLC Friday said it will launch a new secure internet community aimed at tackling cyber crime within its domain services division, its new unit which it expects to generate GBP1.0 million in revenue in the current financial year and GBP5.0 million in the next year.
NCC expects the domain services division to make a GBP4.3 million operating loss in its current financial year. It is anticipated to make a positive contribution in the financial year to May 2016.
In a statement, NCC said it will use the new .trust internet domain for the new cyber security community. It acquired the right to operate .trust in February from Deutche Post AG for an undisclosed fee. It was the first domain name NCC bought, although it is still working with the domain name assigning authority to complete the assignment of the name.
Deutsche Post acquired the .trust domain from the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers, the private sector, non-profit corporation created in 1998 with responsibility for assigning top level domains. However, the German postal operator decided not to use it.
A top level domain name is the suffix of an internet address, such as .com or .net, which is designated to approved organisations by ICANN. Recent changes to the rules governing domain names is allowing far more suffixes to be used than had previously been allowed.
NCC said it had invested GBP8.7 million in its .trust project up to the end of its last financial year to May 30, with GBP5.4 million of that capitalised. NCC said it expects to invest a further GBP5.0 million on capital expenditure in the current financial year. In the next financial year, investment is expected to drop to about GBP1.6 million, and GBP500,000 after that.
"With .trust, NCC Group plans to create a universal environment, a secure gated community, that will provide a safer and more trustworthy Internet for both businesses and consumers," it said in a statement.
"A .trust domain will help protect an organisation's brand, reputation and sensitive customer information by enforcing the highest level of security and reliability. For consumers, it will provide a clear signal that a web site is what it claims to be and is a safe place to do business, interact and share information. For businesses, it will protect their brand, reputation and customer data," it added.
NCC said this should enable it to go live with its first customer in October 2014, once the .trust assignment is completed.
In the year to May 2016, the group expects the number of customers for its domain services to have risen to approximately 70, most taking two sub-domains, with 95% expected to renew annually.
"The internet is a lawless world - ungovernable, unmanageable and insecure - with almost daily reports of cyber-crime around the world. Consumer confidence has gone whilst businesses are at a loss as to how to combat the risks," Chief Executive Rob Cotton said in a statement.
"Cybersquatting and phishing are already big issues but with the introduction of thousands of new [generic top-level domains], these problems are set to get exponentially worse," Cotton said. "Amidst this confusion, the .trust gated community will give a clear signal that a site is a safe place to do business and interact with, while also protecting an organisation's brand, reputation and customer data," Cotton said.
NCC was established in 1999 when the National Computing Centre sold its commercial divisions to their management team.
NCC shares were late Friday quoted at 186.75 pence, up 3.8%.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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