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Web Will Be More Secure Thanks to DNS Security Extensions

by Terrence O'Brien on January 21, 2010 at 08:29 AM

The domain name system, or DNS, is an essential part of keeping the Internet running. Without it, URLs can't be translated to IP addresses, and browsers become useless. But DNS has a serious flaw: a lack of basic security features. It's because of this that hackers are able to easily perpetrate attacks, like the one the Iranian Cyber Army recently launched against Twitter.

To address this glaring flaw in the system, DNSSEC (domain name system security extensions) were developed -- in their most primitive form back in 1999. But adoption has been nearly non-existent. That is finally about to change as both ICANN and VeriSign (operator of the .com and .net domains) have agreed to introduce those extensions to their root DNS servers over the next several months. Seeing as those servers prop up much of the Internet, it's about time.

Of course, this is just the first step towards strengthening the Web's defenses against cybercriminals and pranksters. Many ISPs, large Web sites, and even Google run their own DNS servers higher up the chain. Having DNSSEC on the root servers will greatly increase security, but making them a standard part of all DNS servers would further buttress the wall keeping hackers out.

If all goes well, VeriSign and ICANN will have DNSSEC running permanently on all of their root servers by July 1st. We can expect larger sites (and thus more attractive targets) like Twitter to jump on the bandwagon shortly thereafter. [From: Pingdom]

Tags: dns, dnssec, icann, safety, security, verisign, web

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