The Domain Name System (DNS) associates various information with domain names; most importantly, it serves as the "phone book" for the Internet by translating human-readable computer hostnames, e.g. www.example.com, into IP addresses, e.g. 208.77.188.166, which networking equipment needs to deliver information. It also stores other information such as the list of mail servers that accept email for a given domain. In providing a worldwide keyword-based redirection service, the Domain Name System is an essential component of contemporary Internet use. Read the full background at DNS Wikipedia
Over the past few weeks I have been seeing reports that some ISP's are actually subverting DNS queries to their own DNS server. Oh the humanity! What this means is that when you (your computer) does a UDP or TCP Port 53 DNS query the ISP is intercepting that and directing it to their own servers. Has anyone been told by their ISP that they are doing this? No? I didn't think so... more»
Some of the root server operators post public statistics for their domain name traffic at the top-level. For example, the graph (which can take a bit of time to generate, given ICANN's slow servers) for the L-root server's most popular Top-Level Domain (TLD) queries demonstrates, to no one's surprise, that .com is king. What's more interesting, though, especially given the new generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) debate, is to look at the most popular invalid (non-existent) TLDs. more»
I'm interested in CircleID community's take on NeuStar's recent announcement of Cache Defender. While only effective for domains the company is authoritative for, that does cover a large number of big Internet brands and financial institutions. Why wouldn't an ISP deploy this now, while waiting for all the myriad issues involved in DNSSEC to be resolved? more»
As I've been getting ready to catch my plane for ICANN 35 (Sydney), I can't help but thinking that there are a lot of things going down these days that will dramatically affect makeup of the Internet for years to come. Next year at this time, the root could be a very, very different place. A few of the items that will be getting deconstructed, discussed, debated Down Under are outlined below... more»
The ICANN Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) working group has published its final report, which I decided to analyze a bit further. I already made a few comments last month, both in the At-Large Advisory Council framework and on my own. There are several issues raised by the recommendations of this report. The Uniform Rapid Suspension system (URS) is one. more»
Before we get into what DNSSEC is and the benefits of it, let's talk about some of the other potential pitfalls of DNS. One of the most significant issues we have to deal with are denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. While DoS attacks are not specific to DNS we have seen DNS be a frequent target of these attacks. more»
I gave a talk yesterday at Northwestern called A DNS in the Air. My idea is that, in order to scale, the emerging wireless Internet needs something analogous to the domain name system (DNS) -- the infrastructure that allows you to reach sites across the Net. Billions of mobile phones, and even more billions of connected sensors and other wireless devices will completely overwhelm our current spectrum management regime. AT&T Wireless estimates we will need between 250 and 600 TIMES the current wireless capacity in 2018, less than a decade from now. more»
ICANN staff recently posted on its website an updated timeline on the new gTLD process. Attempting to be "fair and balanced," I see some good, some bad, and some potential ugly in this timeline. I know there are a lot of good people at ICANN working very hard to conclude the Herculean task of implementing the new gTLD process. However, ICANN just can't help shooting itself in the foot with poorly worded and ambiguous statements... more»
Viviane Redding, the Information Society and Media Commissioner for the EC posted a video blog this week noting that the JPA between ICANN and the US Department of Commerce ends this September. In it she proposes that ICANN be overseen by a "G-12 for Internet Governance" with 12 geographically balanced government representatives from around the world. That's such a non-starter that I'm baffled that she would even propose it... more»
News broke this week about an attack in Puerto Rico that caused the local websites of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Coca-Cola, PayPal, Nike, Dell and Nokia to be redirected for a few hours to a phony website. The website was all black except for a taunting message from the computer hacker responsible for the attack... more»
This vulnerability, brought to public attention last year by security researcher Dan Kaminsky, allows criminal elements to engage in "DNS cache poisoning" for the malicious hijacking of domain names and results in consequent damage from large-scale identity theft, among other illegal activities. ›››
In 1999, Rodney Joffe -- now senior vice president and senior technologist at NeuStar implemented the first large-scale commercial applications of IP Anycast for DNS while at UltraDNS, the Reston, Virginia-based managed domain name services company he founded. A decade later, in the wake of NeuStar's April 2006 acquisition of UltraDNS, this initiative has enabled NeuStar to build one of the world's leading managed DNS services, renowned for performance, reliability and security. ›››
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has recently released a number of important documents. This post includes brief synopses of these newly released documents. ›››
Today, .ORG, The Public Interest Registry, the company behind the .ORG domain name, is the first open generic Top-Level Domain to successfully sign the .ORG zone file with Domain Name Security Extensions (DNSSEC). To date, the .ORG zone is the largest domain registry to implement the security measure. ›››
The DNSSEC Industry Coalition Symposium is announced today in collaboration with Google, Nominum, Inc. and ICANN and will be held June 11-12, 2009, in Washington, DC. The purpose will be to discuss and identify potential and perceived issues with the Domain Name System (DNS) and DNSSEC deployment due to signing the DNS root zone. ›››
NeuStar, Inc. has announced that NDTV Convergence, the digital arm of New Delhi Television (NDTV), India's largest news and infotainment network, has chosen NeuStar's UltraDNS Managed DNS Service to bolster the scalability of its online properties. ›››
According to the latest figures released Monday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, online advertising last year reached $23.4 billion... One of the issues, which isn’t discussed in the report, is one that is of special interest to brand rights holders; registration of domains containing variations of famous marks. ›››
By now, most companies have begun the process to understand how the introduction of new gTLDs (Generic Top-Level Domains) will impact their respective businesses. Some companies are considering submitting applications to operate their own branded gTLDs. Many others are focused on how to address the anticipated launch of new gTLDs defensively... ›››
DNSstuff.com has announced in partnership with Trusteer that it is offering Rapport, a tool that protects your transactions from being tampered with and private information from being stolen, through its website, dnsstuff.com.
Rapport is an easy-to-use browser plug-in that provides users with a secure connection to any online site they log into, protecting their most valuable online assets — login credentials. ›››
MarkMonitor has announced AntiFraud Solutions, offering patented technology to enable brand owners to prevent, detect and respond to phishing and malware attacks. MarkMonitor AntiFraud Solutions leverage the extensive MarkMonitor network of relationships and technology designed to thwart phishing attacks in order to combat the rapidly expanding problem of malware targeting brands.
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