July 15, 2010 (yesterday) marked the end of the beginning for DNSSEC , as the DNS root was cryptographically signed. For nearly two decades, security researchers, academics and Internet leaders have worked to develop and deploy Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). DNSSEC was developed to improve the overall security of the DNS, a need which was dramatized by the discovery of the Kaminsky bug a few years ago.

If researchers have been working on this for years, one might ask: why is this only the “end of the beginning?” The answer is, of course, that “overnight changes” usually occur only after a decade or more of hard work. Until recently, DNSSEC was often criticized as a solution in search of a problem. However, the now famous “Kaminsky bug,” a cache poisoning exploit that DNSSEC fixes, changed all that in a hurry.

DNSSEC deployment first became real when .SE (Sweden) announced in 2007 that it had signed its zone. Another DNSSEC leader, .ORG, managed by the Public Interest Registry, opened its DNSSEC testbed in the same year. Soon thereafter, the number of countries and other operators deploying DNSSEC in their infrastructure started to swell.

Yesterday, ICANN, VeriSign and the NTIA, after months of careful work, completed the signing of the Root zone, fully enabling DNSSEC queries to be validateable down the “chain of trust.” For the first time ever, it became possible to have a DNS query for a signed zone completely validated from an end-user’s computer all the way to the root of the DNS.

The seal of trust that DNSSEC now delivers at the root level of the Domain Name System is a testament to an idea whose time has come – an idea chaperoned by scores of engineers, technicians and policy makers, and executed by operators of networks and names. As DNSSEC deployment enters its next phase, let us take a moment to salute the work done by all those who have come before us, and all those who are in this with us.

July 15, 2010 marks the end of the beginning for DNSSEC, and the opening of a new chapter in the task of securing the core infrastructure on which the global Internet relies. We are now in the era of DNS 2.0.

HORSHAM, PA - May 22, 2002: Afilias, a global provider of domain name registry services, announced Wednesday that it has provided all Afilias-authorized registrars with the list of names being offered in Land Rush 2 (LR2). Land Rush 2 is the process Afilias is using to redistribute inappropriately registered .INFO Sunrise names that have been canceled as a result of Afilias' challenge process. Afilias expects to begin the LR2 submission process in June of 2002 and award the names in mid-July 2002.

The LR2 process will run simultaneously with Afilias' current real-time registration system for .INFO. LR2 names are available as a result of the successful Sunrise Challenge Process that opened for the public last summer. This process enabled Afilias to identify, challenge, and cancel names that did not meet the specific requirements of the Sunrise Period, which was designed to allow qualified trademark holders to register their marks in advance of the general public. LR2 restores these inappropriately registered names to the public with no trademark restrictions.

"As the first to implement a process designed to help protect intellectual property holders in the rollout of a new top-level domain, Afilias is pleased to return over 17,000 names to the public through Land Rush 2," said Roland LaPlante, Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias. "While the Sunrise period has already served as a blueprint for other registries, such as the rollout of the .US country code, our Challenge process is a major step forward in expediting the dispute resolution process and ensuring the protection of the Internet public during the birth of new domains."

Name Selection Process
Registrants should apply for LR2 names through their registrar of choice. Each participating registrar will then send the requests to Afilias in the form of a queue (or batch of names). Each registrar's queue will be processed utilizing the same randomized, round-robin name selection method employed during .INFO's initial launch. 

Registration Schedule
While many registrars have already begun accepting requests for LR2 names, Afilias expects to accept requests from registrars beginning in early June and continuing through July 2, 2002. Requests received from registrars during this time period will be placed into each registrar's individual queue. Following the close of the queues on July 2, Afilias will process all requests using the randomized, round-robin name selection method. Results of the awarding process for LR2 names will be published to the WHOIS database of .INFO names in mid-July.

Those interested in applying for LR2 names should contact their Afilias-authorized registrar of choice to determine availability of names and the registrar's individual pricing and policies. 

Over 700 .INFO Sunrise registrations have been challenged

NEWTOWN, PA - January 17, 2002 - Afilias announced Thursday that it has submitted its first set of challenges against names that may have been inappropriately registered during the .INFO Sunrise period. Through the Sunrise Challenge process, managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the registrants of these names will now need to produce proof of their valid trademark in order to maintain the registration of the domain name.

"Our Sunrise Process was designed to enable trademark holders to protect their intellectual property during the launch of the .INFO domain," said Roland LaPlante, Chief Marketing Officer of Afilias. "We have believed from the outset that the challenge provisions built into the process would enable us to eliminate names that might be inappropriately registered. Those provisions will now be put to work by our Challenge Task Force, which will execute a series of bulk challenges against names that may have been inappropriately registered.

Afilias' Challenge Task Force is currently finalizing an review of all Sunrise names. In doing so, it is working closely with the United States Patent and Trademark Office trademark database, the U.K. Patent Office, intellectual property counsel in Germany, concerned Internet citizens, and other resources around the world. As a result of this work, Afilias will submit additional challenges to WIPO over the coming weeks.

"Afilias is committed to returning ineligible Sunrise names to the general public", said LaPlante. "Our task force will continue its review and expects to challenge thousands of additional names in the coming weeks. "