GOVERNMENT

The Internet Society has announced that it has deployed DNSSEC, a set of extensions to the domain name system that provides a level of assurance, for its ISOC.org domain. The announcement builds on today’s announcement by the Public Interest Registry that they have implemented DNSSEC for the entire .ORG top-level domain.

“We are pleased to be among the first organisations in the .ORG top level domain to deploy DNSSEC, as DNSSEC provides an important building block for increasing user confidence in the Internet”, said Lynn St.Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. “Implementing DNSSEC for the .ORG top-level domain is an important step in ensuring the global Internet serves as a trusted channel for communication and collaboration and we applaud the Public Interest Registry's efforts in this area”.

DNSSEC ensures the integrity of domain name data, complementing technologies such as SSL, which ensures the integrity of the content of a webpage’s transmission.

“DNSSEC acts like tamper-proof packaging to make sure that when you type in the website name of your bank you actually get the server IP address your bank wants you to use, ” said Leslie Daigle, Chief Internet Technology Officer of the Internet Society. “In this way, DNSSEC allows us to have more confidence in the online activities that are increasingly becoming a part of our lives at work, home, and school.”

DNSSEC technology used today is the result of careful protocol engineering and standardisation within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the premier Internet standards body in the world; implementation by various DNS vendors; and operational trials by DNS operators. In addition to .ORG, DNSSEC is currently implemented by several country-specific top-level domains: Brazil (.br), Bulgaria (.bg), Czech Republic (.cz), Puerto Rico (.pr), and Sweden (.se).