On the Internet, the Domain Name System (DNS) performs the critical role of translating human-readable domain names into the underlying IP addresses needed by computers to connect. The challenge is that attackers can subvert and modify DNS messages with the result that users and applications can be directed to wrong (and potentially malicious) sites. In response to this threat, the IETF community created DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), which is now being deployed across the Internet.
Dan York