Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
Jun 17
FIR #708 – 6/17/13 – For Immediate Release
Three new interviews are up, one more and two book reviews coming; Quick News: Upworthy is fastest growing site ever, Line is biggest social network you've never heard of; Ragan promo: News That Fits: IABC update, Michael Netzley's Asia report, Twitter evolves with analytics and FollowMe, the language of social images, Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop, listener comments, Deskcamping connects spare desks with freelancers, Dan York's report, WashingtonPost enters sponsored content fray; music from Zac Mac Band; and more.
Jun 14
IPv6hackers Group To Meet In Berlin on July 28, 2013
Interested in IPv6 security? Want to see presentations by people working in the field? If so the members of the “ipv6hackers” mailing list are planning to hold their first face-to-face meeting in Berlin on July 28, 2013, the Sunday prior to IETF 87 in Berlin, Germany. From the announcement email:
We’re planning to have our first in-person meeting on July 28th, 2013, in Berlin (most likely in the afternoon, between lunch and the IETF welcome reception). The venue would be either the IETF venue (InterContinental Berlin), or some nearby hotel/room (to be confirmed soon).
We’re planning to have some presentations (which MUST be accompanied with code
), and might also have an IPv6 mini-hackathon (i.e., work on code, test implementations, try stuff).
Fernando Gont has asked people who are interested in attending to complete a short survey so that he can know how many people are planning to attend.
If you are interested in IPv6 security, I have found the IPv6 hackers mailing list to be a useful list to monitor as a good number of IPv6 security researchers do participate in the list. You can see from the archives some of the topics that are discussed. It is open for anyone to subscribe. There is also a LinkedIn group but as Fernando notes he created the group to help people connect on LinkedIn not as a discussion forum – discussion happens on the email list.
Jun 14
InfoWorld Promotes DNSSEC To Boost Internet Security
We were very pleased to see InfoWorld publishing this week an article by Roger Grimes titled “Boost your Internet security with DNSSec” that lays out the case for implementing DNSSEC and explains the validation side of DNSSEC. Given the large audience that InfoWorld has it is good to see DNSSEC getting this coverage.
I’d suggest another useful resource for people reading that article would be SURFNet’s white paper about enabling DNSSEC validation in DNS resolvers as that paper provides step-by-step guidance to enabling validation in BIND, Unbound and Windows Server 2012.
I’d also note for people wanting to experiment with DNSSEC validation, Google’s Public DNS servers do now support DNSSEC and so you can at least temporarily point your system to Google’s servers to try out validation. As we’ve also noted in the past, anyone who is a Comcast subscriber in North America also has DNSSEC validation happening by default, as do people using many of the ISPs in Sweden, Brazil and the Czech Republic.
As I noted at the beginning, the article covers the validation side of DNSSEC, but for that to really work we also need to get more domains signed with DNSSEC. I would encourage people to look at our tutorials on how to sign your domain using common registrars – and to ask your registrar when they will let you use DNSSEC if they are not on the list of DNSSEC-capable registrars maintained by ICANN.
Again, it’s great to see InfoWorld covering DNSSEC and I do hope they’ll provide more such articles in the future. If we can get DNSSEC deployed more widely we’ll go very far in upgrading the security of the Internet!
P.S. I was also intrigued by Grimes’ link to this video of a DNSSEC app for Android from back in 2011. It looks like a basic browser to check the DNSSEC status of sites. I may have to investigate a bit more..
Jun 13
DNSSEC Test Sites
If you have a new application or service where you want to test how DNSSEC validation works, the sites listed below are ones you can use. If you want to test validation of the DANE protocol, please see our separate page of DANE test sites.
Note that the sites below are domain names and websites with either good or deliberately mis-configured DNSSEC signatures. If you are looking for web sites offering tools or services where you can test the status of DNSSEC, please see our list of DNSSEC tools.
Sites With Good DNSSEC Signatures
Today there are millions of domain names out there with valid DNSSEC signatures and so you have many, many options. Two of the domains you can use to obtain valid signatures are:
- internetsociety.org
- ietf.org
If you are testing web validation, the addresses are:
Sites With Bad DNSSEC Signatures
The more interesting tests to perform are with domains that are bad and will generate an error in your application or service. The following sites have been deliberately mis-configured with bad DNSSEC signatures:
- dnssec-failed.org (operated by Comcast)
- rhybar.cz (operated by CZ.NIC)
On the web, they are:
The DNSSEC Tools site at http://www.dnssec-tools.org/ also provides a test in that if you connect to the site and do not perform DNSSEC validation you will see an image appear on the page telling you that you are connecting insecurely.
Adding More Sites
If you have a site with an interesting DNSSEC configuration you think would be useful for others to use in testing, please contact us so that we can consider adding it to this list.
Please note that our list of DANE test sites includes sites and domains that are also signed with DNSSEC.
Jun 12
TDYR #016 – The Washington Post Changes Its NSA PRISM Story – How Should They Let Us Know?
When a media site substantially changes a story published on their web site, what is their responsibility to let the readers know? And do we as readers view stories on media sites as "done" or as "works-in-progress" that are updated and changed? This came up in the context of the NSA PRISM story when the Washington Post rather massively changed their lead story on the issue, as chronicled by Ed Bott over on ZDNet:
http://www.zdnet.com/the-real-story-in-the-nsa-scandal-is-the-collapse-of-journalism-7000016570/
It's an interesting question. On the one hand, updating the original article is a great way to ensure that readers have the most accurate information. On the other hand, it *is* a change from how we have traditionally viewed news stories out of the media.
Jun 10
Boom! Apple Disrupts Media Coverage of WWDC 2013 By Streaming The Keynote Live
Apple?
Streaming a WWDC keynote... LIVE???
HUH?
Given Apple's intense focus on secrecy, and the fact that the WWDC keynotes have NOT been streamed live in the past, an entire mini-industry has grown up around supplying "live" feeds out of the WWDC keynote. Sites like Engadget, Gizmodo, 9to5Mac, MacWorld and a zillion others have maintained "live blogs" posting the latest updates out of WWDC. These sites have been populated by reporters actually in the WWDC room using smartphones, laptops or whatever other tools they can. Photos were posted from phone cameras. Updates went out to social media.
In fact, past WWDC keynotes have been proving grounds for various forms of "live blogging" software and platforms - as many have collapsed under the crushing load of massive numbers of viewers wanting the latest news out of Apple. It's also been interesting in the past to watch the different outlets and their strategies... having one person typing updates while another posts photos, for instance, while yet another is tweeting or updating other social media channels.
The scarcity of information led to truly creating a "spectacle", as Apple is so good at doing. You had to visit these sites and watch the social media streams if you wanted to know in the moment what Apple was announcing.
It's the way we've become used to monitoring WWDC keynotes within the tech community. We expected today's speech to be more of the same. Each tech news site has been focused on providing the best and most comprehensive coverage of WWDC, knowing that doing so would garner them a large number of new visitors and potential subscribers. They were all gearing up for covering today's event.
And then this morning... BOOM! ... Apple just deflated and disrupted an entire way of covering the event.
First word started circulating that Apple had rolled out an "Apple Events" icon on Apple TV allowing Apple TV owners to watch the stream live. Then a link appeared on Apple's website where you can watch the WWDC lifestream. And then Apple actually issued a press release stating that they would be live streaming the event.
With one action, Apple just removed the primary need for all of those live blogs by all the major tech sites, as well as the need to follow streams on Twitter and other social networks. Sure, you can still follow them to get analysis or snarky commentary but there is no longer the need to follow them.
One site, 9to5Mac, has already stated they will be adjusting their coverage:
Update: Since Apple will be live streaming the event on the Web, iOS and AppleTV, we will be doing real-time updates only on our Twitter account and posting stories as they become available.
I expect some of the others will do so as well.
Now... will this actually lead to better coverage of the event for us as readers? In the past, these tech media sites have been competing with each other to churn out the live updates as fast as possible. But with the live stream available directly from Apple, will these news sites instead be able to focus on assembling articles about the announcements? (And will there then be even more articles churned out by the sites?)
It will be interesting to see... we'll find out in about two hours... :-)
P.S. This morning I published an audio commentary on this topic at:
I'll note that at the time I recorded this podcast it was not yet known that Apple would be streaming the keynote live on their website.
If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:
Jun 10
Seeking DNSSEC Speaking Proposals For ICANN 47 DNSSEC Workshop in Durban, South Africa
Interested in sharing your experience implementing DNSSEC? Have a new tool or service for DNSSEC you would like to demonstrate? Are you experiencing a challenge with getting DNSSEC implemented that you think the larger community should be aware of? Have you found a new and interesting use for DNSSEC? Or done something new with the DANE protocol?
If so, and if you are planning to attend ICANN 47 in Durban, South Africa, the program committee (of which I am a member) for the DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN 47 is actively seeking proposals to include in the workshop. As noted in the Call For Participation, we are seeking presentation ideas on topics such as:
- DNSSEC Activities in Africa
- The Operation Realities of Running DNSSEC
- DNSSEC and Enterprise Activities
- When Unexpected DNSSEC Events Occur
- Preparing for Root Key Rollover
- DNSSEC: Regulative, Legislative and Persuasive Approaches to Encouraging Deployment
- DANE and Other DNSSEC Applications
- Use of DNSSEC in the Reverse Space
Please see the Call For Participation for more details.
We are also open to presentations related to DNSSEC that don’t fit exactly in one of these listed topics. We’ve already got a great list of presentations but we still could add a few more.
You can view the program and presentations from the ICANN 46 DNSSEC Workshop in Beijing to understand the kind of presentations we are seeking. I’ll note that we’re changing the format a bit for ICANN 47 to have fewer presentations for longer periods of time. We felt it was a bit rushed in the Beijing workshop.
If you are interested, all you need to do is send a brief description (1-2 sentences) of your proposed presentation to dnssec-durban@shinkuro.com, ideally by today, June 10th, as we are working to finalize the program to publish it on the website.
Thanks – and we’re looking forward to another great event in Durban! If you are not able to attend in person, the event will be streamed live and also archived for later viewing.
Jun 10
TDYR #015 – Apple WWDC Keynote – The Day The Tech Community’s Productivity Goes Toward Zero
Today the tech community's productivity will take a dive as eyes focus on what happens at the Keynote of Apple's WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) happening at 10am US Pacific / 1pm US Eastern. With Apple's maniacal focus on secrecy, they are extremely successful in building anticipation. A few things are believed to be known... but how accurate are the rumors? For the first time I can remember, Apple's WWDC Keynote will be streamed live on Apple TV devices, which should be a change in the coverage. John Gruber also had some great thoughts about how Apple originally needed to get people comfortable with a touchscreen interface, and it's time for something more...
http://daringfireball.net/2013/06/wwdc_2013_expectations
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324798904578531661685819892.html
http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/09/what-ios7-looks-like/
http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/06/wwdc-2013-roundup-ios-7-os-x-10-9-macbooks-genius-like-radio-app-plus-new-tidbits/
Jun 10
FIR #707 – 6/10/13 – For Immediate Release
New Speakers and Speeches and Jeremiah Owyang interview are up, interviews with Glenn Gaudet and CEOs and cofounders of Festicket and Farmhopping coming; Alice Marshall's blog gets a new address; you can leave FIR audio comments directly from the website; IABC report coming next week; Quick News: a brilliant use for Vine, compliance not to blame for pharma's lack of social media engagement, Amazon's Storyteller turns scripts into storyboards, study finds social networks improve internal access to information; Ragan promo; News That Fits: Cheerios gets it right by standing its ground in the face of social media backlash, Dan York's report, impressions from LeWeb London 2013, Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop, listener comments, four reports from the frontlines of digital and social media, Michael Netzley's Asia report, Anonymous enters the news business; music from Belladonna; and more.
Jun 07
TDYR #014 – Duh! Of Course The NSA Is Spying On The Internet – We Told Them To!
Today there is an enormous amount of outrage and anger out on the Internet about revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) apparently has connections into 9 major Internet companies and has also been receiving all "metadata" about phone calls. The reality is that we as a country granted the NSA and other intelligence agencies broad sweeping powers of electronic surveillance in October 2001 when the US Congress passed the US PATRIOT Act and President Bush signed it into law. Those powers have only expanded in the time since. The big question is how to balance the legitimate needs of governments to track down criminals and terrorists against the legitimate needs of citizens for privacy and freedom. How much freedom/privacy are you willing to give up in the name of security and safety?
Some of the many articles: http://www.techmeme.com/130606/p47#a130606p47
Who voted for the PATRIOT Act: http://educate-yourself.org/cn/patriotact20012006senatevote.shtml
EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/confirmed-nsa-spying-millions-americans
Timeline: https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/timeline/
Bruce Schneier's call for more transparency: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/what-we-dont-know-about-spying-on-citizens-scarier-than-what-we-know/276607/
