NIST SP 800-81 Revision 1

"When you type www.irs.gov—or the Web address of your bank or an e-commerce site—into your web browser, you want to be sure that no one is hijacking your request and sending you to a bogus look-alike page. You’re relying on the integrity of the Internet’s “phone book,” the Domain Name System (DNS).

Computer scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are playing a major role in making sure that what you type is what you get by providing standards, guidance and testing necessary to bolster the trustworthiness of the global DNS. A draft update of NIST’s guidelines for DNS security is now available for public comment. "

Source: Safer Net Surfing Is Goal of NIST Domain Name Security Experts, NIST, Retrieved on 03/16/2009 from nist.gov/public_affairs/techbeat/tb2009_0310.htm#dns

ISC Introduces DLV Web Interface for Rapid DNSSEC Deployment

ISC announced a new web-based interface for its DNSSEC Look-aside Validation (DLV) registry, a mechanism to allow domain holders to secure their domain information using the DNSSEC protocol extension to DNS in advance of a signed root or TLD zone.

ISC is introducing DLV and other DNSSEC and secure DNS services at the Government Security (GovSec) Expo and Conference in Washington, D.C. The new interface makes it easier for DNS administrators to join the DLV registry and maintain their data. DLV means that DNS administrators aren't dependent on others to get the full benefit of DNSSEC for their own portion of the name space.

For more information about ISC's DLV registry and DNSSEC services, please visit https://dlv.isc.org/

Kaminsky Reluctant on DNSSEC

Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing at IOActive, got a lot of attention last year when he discovered a flaw in the Domain Name System, which underlies the Internet, that could allow poisoning of DNS caches. Since then, he said, he has become a believer in the DNS Security Extensions (DNSsec) for digitally signing DNS servers so that queries and responses can be trusted.

“I’ve never been a DNSsec supporter,” he said at the recent Black Hat DC security conference in Arlington, Va. But nothing scales like DNS, he said, including security tools. So he sees no other solution but to use DNSsec.

That doesn’t mean he’s happy about it. He said DNSsec is too complex to implement and administer, sentiments shared by many who have worked with the technology. But help is on the way as vendors develop appliances to automate the processes that generate and update keys and do the signing.

In the meantime, 25 percent of DNS servers have not been updated with the quick-fix patch issued last year for the vulnerability, and stealthy exploits have appeared. Kaminsky estimated that 1 percent to 3 percent of unpatched servers have been poisoned. It’s never too late to patch your servers, and it’s easier than implementing DNSsec.

Source: Government Computer News, "Kaminsky embraces DNSsec, reluctantly", Retrieved from gcn.com/articles/2009/03/09/cybereye-box-dnssec.aspx from Mar 06, 2009

dot-GOV DNSSEC Signed

The Dot-GOV top-level domain is now an active DNSSEC signed zone. All dot-GOV delegation DNSSEC information added to U.S. government agencies domain delegation records is now considered signed by the dot-GOV TLD.

A GSA hosted website has been developed (dotgov.gov/dnssecinfo.aspx) to support the project and for hosting a link to the current dot-GOV public key (plain text file - dotgov.gov/publickey.txt), which should be used as the published trust anchor for dot-GOV. The site also includes additional links and help pages for implementing DNSSEC for U.S. federal agencies dot-GOV domains.

Government implements DNSSEC on the .gov domain

The government has digitally signed the .gov top-level domain, effectively implementing the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) protocols throughout the top tier of the federal Internet space.

“On Feb. 28, 2009, DNSSEC became operational on .gov after the program successfully completed all required DNSSEC testing,” the General Services Administration, lead agency in the program, said today in a statement.

The signing came one month after the January deadline set by the Office of Management and Budget in August. The deadline had been pushed back when GSA officials found during testing that an additional feature was needed in the DNSSEC software being used.

“The .gov DNSSEC public key was registered [Feb. 28] with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Interim Trust Anchor Repository (iTAR) and became available for use as the published trust anchor for .gov validation,” GSA said in its statement. “The .gov Top Level Domain is now considered an active DNSSEC signed zone.”

The next step in the governmentwide effort to better secure its DNS is for agencies to begin deploying DNSSEC within their second-level domains, such as gsa.gov, by the end of the year.

Source: Government Computer News, "Government implements DNSSEC on the .gov domain", William Jackson, Retrieved from gcn.com/articles/2009/03/05/dnssec-on-dot-gov.aspx from Mar 05, 2009