Category: DNSSEC

Jan 11

Weekend Project: Enable DNSSEC Validation On Your DNS Resolver

SURFnet whitepaper on deploying DNSSECLooking for a weekend project to learn more about a new technology?  How about seeing if you can enable DNSSEC on the DNS resolver you use in your home network?  (or in your business network?)

This whitepaper from SURFnet about deploying DNSSEC validation on recursive caching name servers provides an excellent guide to get started.

If you operate your own home server/gateway/router and use any of these three recursive name servers, the document provides step-by-step instructions:

  • BIND 9.x
  • Unbound
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012

Once have DNSSEC validation configured, you should be able to go to our list of DNSSEC test sites to test your installation. Specifically you should NOT be able to get to the sites with bad DNSSEC signatures.

If you do not operate your own home server, or if you just have a wireless “home router” from one of the various manufacturers, you may need to do a bit more digging to see where your DNS resolution is happening.

To start, you may want to download the DNSSEC-check tool from the DNSSEC Tools Project and run that tool on one of the computers on your network.  It may be that your ISP is already providing DNSSEC validation and if so you can congratulate yourself and go find another project to work on!

If that doesn’t show that you have DNSSEC validation, you need to figure out where your DNS resolvers are located.  The DNSSEC-check tool will give you the IP addresses of the DNS resolvers your computer is configured to use.  Alternatively you can go into one of your computers on your home network and look in the network settings where you should be able to find the IP addresses for whatever DNS servers are being given out by DHCP on your local network.

If the IP address of the DNS resolver is in the same address range as your computer’s IP address (i.e. the same subnet), you are most likely using a DNS resolver located on your home router.  You’ll need to go into the administrative interface for the home router (assuming you have access to it) and look around to see if there is a setting there for DNS resolution and if so if there is a setting to enable DNSSEC.

If you don’t see a way to enable DNSSEC, your home router vendor doesn’t support DNSSEC yet. If you have the time and patience, it would be great if you could go to the website for that router vendor and see if there is a way to file a feature request or bug ticket.  It might be in support forums or in a bug tracker somewhere.

If the IP address of the DNS resolver is in a different address range from your computer’s IP address, odds are that it is probably operated by your Internet service provider (ISP) or is perhaps from a service such as Google’s Public DNS (although if it was from Google, the DNSSEC-check tool would have already shown that DNSSEC validation was working).

Again, if you have the time and patience, it would be great if you would contact your ISP to ask if you can get DNSSEC validation. We hear from both ISPs and vendors that “customers aren’t asking for DNSSEC”  - and we need to change that!

Thanks for your help!  Working together we’ll make a more secure Internet!

Jan 05

DNSSEC Deployment Statistics For TLDs (Rick Lamb)

Rick Lamb DNSSEC StatsRecently DNSSEC advocate Rick Lamb made available publicly a site he’s maintained for some time offering statistics about what top level domains (TLDs) are signed with DNSSEC.  The interesting aspect is that his scripts list the TLDs in reverse chronological order and so right now you can easily see when the “new generic TLDs” (newgTLDs) are being added as they all must be signed with DNSSEC from their launch.  Rick’s site is available at:

http://rick.eng.br/dnssecstat/

Scrolling back the site provides a useful history of when various TLDs were first signed.

Jan 04

Weekend Project: Find Out If Your Domain Name Registrar Supports DNSSEC – And Request It If They Don’t

dnssecLooking for a quick weekend project that could help make the Internet more secure?

Find out if the registrar you use for your domain name(s) supports DNSSEC – and if not, file a bug report or feature request asking them when they will support DNSSEC.  We have some information about some of the registrars that support DNSSEC and ICANN has a longer list of registrars that support DNSSEC, but there are many more registrars out there who are not yet on that list.

We’ve heard repeatedly from registrars that they haven’t implemented DNSSEC because “no one is asking for it.”

So let’s change that.

Let’s make sure as many registrars as possible hear from their customers that we want a more secure Internet.

Thanks!

Jan 01

Your New Year’s Resolution for 2014 – Does It Include IPv6, DNSSEC or BGP Security?

2014Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014! We’re VERY excited for this next year and look forward to bringing you another year of the best in real-world deployment information to help you make your networks better, faster, more complete and more secure!  We’ll be continually adding more resources about IPv6, DNSSEC and routing security - and we may add in some more topics, too!  We’ll be holding ION conferences around the world. We’ll be writing on our blog and posting video, audio, slides and more to all our various sites and services. We’ll be speaking and participating at events from ICANN, IETF and many, many more.

We’re looking forward to 2014 being a great year!

How about you?  What are your plans for 2014?  Have you made a New Year’s Resolution yet?  If so, does it include IPv6, DNSSEC or BGP security?

If not, we’d encourage you to consider one of these as a goal for 2014:

  • Implement IPv6 within your office (or home) network. View our IPv6 resources for ideas.
  • Set up your DNS resolvers to perform DNSSEC validation – there’s a great whitepaper that shows how easy this is!

Those are just a few thoughts… we could keep on going, but you get the idea – let’s make 2014 the year that IPv6 and DNSSEC get deployed!

What are you going to do?  And how can we help you?

Happy New Year!

Dec 20

Call For Participation – Submit Your Idea For The ICANN 49 DNSSEC Workshop In Singapore

ICANN 49 LogoDo you have an idea for a great presentation you’d like to give around DNSSEC?  Perhaps a demonstration of a new tool or service?  Or new DNSSEC statistics or measurements?  Or a new application that works with the DANE protocol?

If you’re going to go the ICANN 49 meeting in Singapore in March 2014, there will be another DNSSEC Workshop happening on Wednesday, March 2014 and the program committee is actively looking for proposals for presentations.  We’d particularly be interested in including some demonstrations this time now that DNSSEC and DANE are getting more widely deployed.

The full Call for Participation is included below.  If you have an idea, please email a couple of sentences about your idea to dnssec-singapore@shinkuro.com.

Call for Participation — ICANN DNSSEC Workshop 26 March 2014

DON’T READ THIS MESSAGE!  We know it’s the holiday season and many of you will ignore this message completely, so we’ll be sure to send another message in early January – but  for those of you who might have some time over the holidays to think about ideas for a presentation related to DNSSEC, please read on…

The DNSSEC Deployment Initiative and the Internet Society Deploy360 Programme, in cooperation with the ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), are planning a DNSSEC Workshop at the ICANN meeting in Singapore on 26 March 2014.  The DNSSEC Workshop has been a part of ICANN meetings for several years and has provided a forum for both experienced and new people to meet, present and discuss current and future DNSSEC deployments.  For reference, the most recent session was held at the ICANN meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 20 November 2013. The presentations and transcripts are available at: http://buenosaires48.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-dnssec.

We are seeking presentations on the following topics:

1.  DNSSEC Activities in the Asia Pacific region:

For this panel we are seeking participation from those who have been involved in DNSSEC deployment in the Asia Pacific region and also from those who have not deployed DNSSEC but who have a keen interest in the challenges and benefits of deployment.  In particular, we will consider the following questions:  What can DNSSEC do for you? What doesn’t it do?  What are the internal tradeoffs to implementing DNSSEC?

2. The Operational Realities of Running DNSSEC

Now that DNSSEC has become an operational norm for many registries, registrars, and ISPs, what have we learned about how we manage DNSSEC? What is the best practice around key rollovers? How often do you review your disaster recovery procedures? Is there operational familiarity within your customer support teams? What operational statistics have we gathered about DNSSEC? Are there experiences being documented in the form of best practices, or something similar, for transfer of signed zones?

3.  Implementing DNSSEC Validation At Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) play a critical role by enabling DNSSEC validation for the caching DNS resolvers used by their customers.  We have now seen massive rollouts of DNSSEC validation within large North American ISPs and at ISPs around the world.  We are interested in presentations on topics such as:
* What does an ISP need to do to prepare its network for implementing DNSSEC validation?
* How does an ISP need to prepare its support staff and technical staff for the rollout of DNSSEC validation?
* What measurements are available about the degree of DNSSEC validation currently deployed?
* What tools are available to help an ISP deploy DNSSEC validation?
* What are the practical server-sizing impacts of enabling DNSSEC validation on ISP DNS Resolvers (ex. cost, memory, cpu, bandwidth, technical support, etc.)?

4.  DNSSEC and DANE In The Enterprise

Similar to ISPs, enterprises can play a critical role in both providing DNSSEC validation to their internal networks and also through signing of the enterprises’s own domains. We are seeking presentations from enterprises who have implemented DNSSEC on either or both validation and signing and can address questions such as:
* What are the benefits to enterprises of rolling out DNSSEC validation? And how do they do so?
* What are the challenges to deployment for these organizations and how could DANE and other DNSSEC applications address those challenges?
* How should an enterprise best prepare its IT staff and network to implement DNSSEC?
* What tools and systems are available to assist enterprises in the deployment of DNSSEC?
* How can the DANE protocol be used within an enterprise to bring a higher level of security to transactions using SSL/TLS certificates?

5.  DANE and DNSSEC Applications

The DNS-based Authentication of Named Entitites (DANE) protocol is an exciting development where DNSSEC can be used to provide a strong additional trust layer for traditional SSL/TLS certificates. There is strong interest for DANE usage within web transactions as well as for securing email and Voice-over-IP (VoIP). We are seeking presentations on topics such as:
* What are some of the new and innovative uses of DANE and other DNSSEC applications in new areas or industries?
* What tools and services are now available that can support DANE usage?
* How soon could DANE and other DNSSEC applications become a deployable reality?
* How can the industry used DANE and other DNSSEC applications as a mechanism for creating a more secure Internet?

We would be particularly interested in any live demonstrations of DNSSEC / DANE applications and services.  For example, a demonstration of the actual process of setting up a site with a certificate stored in a TLSA record that correctly validates would be welcome.  Demonstrations of new tools that make the setup of DNSSEC or DANE more automated would also be welcome.

6.  When Unexpected DNSSEC Events Occur

What have we learned from some of the operational outages that we have seen over the past 18 months? Are there lessons that we can pass on to those just about to implement DNSSEC? How do you manage dissemination of information about the outage? What have you learned about communications planning? Do you have a route to ISPs and registrars? How do you liaise with your CERT community?

7.  Preparing for Root Key Rollover

For this topic we are seeking input on issues relating to root key rollover.  In particular, we are seeking comments from vendors, ISPs, and the community that will be affected by distribution of new root keys.

8.  DNSSEC Automation

For DNSSEC to reach massive deployment levels it is clear that a higher level of automation is required than is currently available. Topics for which we would like to see presentations include:
* What tools, systems and services are available to help automate DNSSEC key management?
* Can you provide an analysis of current tools/services and identify gaps?
* Where in the various pieces that make up DNSSEC signing and validation are the best opportunities for automation?
* What are the costs and benefits of different approaches to automation?

9.  Guidance for Registrars in Supporting DNSSEC:

The 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for Registrars and Resellers requires the support of DNSSEC beginning on January 1, 2014. We are seeking presentations discussing:
* What are the specific technical requirements of the RAA and how can registrars meet those requirements?
* What tools and systems are available for registrars that include DNSSEC support?
* What information do registrars need to provide to resellers and ultimately customers?

We are particularly interested in hearing from registrars who have signed the 2013 RAA and have either already implemented DNSSEC support or have a plan for doing so.

10.  APIs Between the Registrars and DNS Hosting Operators

One specific area that has been identified as needing focus is the communication between registrars and DNS hosting operators, specifically when these functions are provided by different entities.  Right now the communication, such as the transfer of a DS record, occurs primarily by way of the domain name holder copying and pasting information from one web interface to another. How can this be automated?  We would welcome presentations  by either registrars or DNS hosting operators who have implemented APIs for the communication of DNSSEC information – or from people with ideas around how such APIs could be constructed.

In addition, we welcome suggestions for additional topics.

If you are interested in participating, please send a brief (1-2 sentence) description of your proposed presentation to dnssec-singapore@shinkuro.com by **Friday, 31 January 2014**

We hope that you can join us.

Thank you,

Julie Hedlund

On behalf of the DNSSEC Workshop Program Committee:
Steve Crocker, Shinkuro
Mark Elkins, DNS/ZACR
Cath Goulding, Nominet UK
Jean Robert Hountomey, AfricaCERT
Jacques Latour, .CA
Xiaodong Lee, CNNIC
Luciano Minuchin, NIC.AR
Russ Mundy, Sparta/Parsons
Ondřej Surý, CZ.NIC
Lance Wolak, .ORG, The Public Interest Registry
Yoshiro Yoneya, JPRS
Dan York, Internet Society

Dec 06

Want To Quickly Create A TLSA Record For DANE / DNSSEC?

Generate-TLSA-Record-3Would you like to use the DANE protocol to secure your SSL/TLS certificate via DNSSEC?  If so, the first step is to generate and publish a “TLSA record” in DNS – and that record generation can be a stumbling block for some people.  While there are command-line tools such as just the basic “openssl” or Paul Wouter’s “hash-slinger“, Shumon Huque recently released a web interface that lets you easily create a TLSA record.  As Shumon writes about on his blog, the tool is at:

https://www.huque.com/bin/gen_tlsa

All you need to do is to set the type of TLSA record you want to create, paste in the X.509 certificate, and enter the appropriate port number, protocol and domain name.  Shumon’s script then generates the appropriate TLSA record that you can paste into your DNS zone file.

Last year, Shumon wrote a post on “DNSSEC and Certificates” where he walked through how to do this using openssl on the command line – this latest post now builds on that to make it even easier.

It’s excellent that Shumon has made this tool available and we look forward to seeing many more TLSA records out there!  (If you have a SSL/TLS cert for your website, how about adding a TLSA record today?)

Dec 05

Can You Help With A Quick Survey About The ICANN DNSSEC Workshops?

dnssecIf you have ever attended – either in person or remotely – one of the DNSSEC Workshops that have taken place at ICANN meetings, could you please take just a couple of minutes to complete this survey about the workshops?

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KGZKLLC

After a great DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN 48, the program committee (of which I am a member) is starting to plan for the next DNSSEC Workshop on March 26 at ICANN 49 in Singapore.  As we do that planning, we’d really like to hear from participants about what they find most valuable in the workshops.

We’d particularly welcome any comments left in the open text box near the end of the survey.  What else could we add to the workshops?  Do you find them helpful as you go out and deploy DNSSEC?  Is there anything we could do to make them better?

Please do let us know!

Thank you,

Dan (on behalf of the ICANN DNSSEC Workshops Program Committee)

Dec 02

Afnic Publishes Issue Paper: “Securing Internet Communications End-to-end Using DANE Protocol”

Afnic paper on DANELast week, the great folks over at Afnic released an outstanding issue paper about how the DANE protocol and DNSSEC can bring a higher level of trust and security to Internet-based communications.  The issue paper, “Securing End-to-end Internet communications using DANE protocol“, is available in PDF (direct link) and walks through how DANE can be used to increase the security used in TLS/SSL certificates (PKIX).  The document describes the problems associated with the current world of certificates and then explains how DANE can make the situation more secure.

Readers of this Deploy360 site will know that we’ve produced similar types of documents ourselves, but not in an “issue paper” form that can be distributed.  The Afnic folks have done a great job with this and I like the graphics they are using.

As they note on the final page, DANE is for much more than web browsing – and in fact the major implementations we’re seeing right now are in other services like email and XMPP (Jabber). The browser vendors have so far not seen enough requests (we are told) to look at including DANE in their browsers.

Hopefully this document from Afnic will help people further understand the very real value DANE can bring in ensuring that you are using the correct TLS/SSL certificate when you are connecting to a web site.

Kudos to the Afnic team for creating this document – and I encourage everyone to share this document widely! (Thanks!)

Nov 25

Celebrating 30 Years Of The Domain Name System (DNS) This Month!

dns-250Thirty years ago this month, in November 1983, two RFCs were published that defined the critical Internet service that we now take for granted and use every day – the Domain Name System or more generally just “DNS”. Those two RFCs, authored by Paul Mockapetris, were:

These two RFCs formed the basis for what was to become the DNS system we use today.  There was a great amount of discussion in the early 1980′s around how to move beyond the flat naming convention used in the early “ARPA Internet”.  Several proposals were out there that make for interesting reading today, including RFC 799, RFC 819 and RFC 830.  As Paul Mockapetris relays in a video for the Internet Hall of Fame (IHOF) Internet timeline, his boss at the time, Jon Postel, asked Paul to look at the various ideas and come up with a proposal of his own for how it should work.  The result was RFCs 882 and 883.

Four years later, in November 1987, these two original RFCs (882 and 883) were then “obsoleted” by RFC 1034 and RFC 1035 in which Paul updated and expanded the original RFCs based on the experience of those four years in actually implementing DNS. These newer RFCs 1034 and 1035 are still the basis of DNS today, although they have been “updated” many times since, including by the addition of DNSSEC in RFCs 4033, 4034 and 4035.

Today the DNS is a critical part of our Internet infrastructure and is the service guiding us in connecting to all the other services we use across the Internet. We all use DNS all the time every day even though, as Paul Mockapetris wrote earlier this year, we may not even be aware that we are using DNS.

Here at the Deploy360 Programme we are focused on how we collectively can make the DNS more secure using DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and through that how we can make the overall Internet safer and more secure.  But as we do that, we do also need to step back and just think about how amazing the overall DNS system is – and how incredibly critical it has become!

Happy 30th anniversary to the DNS!  It will be fascinating to see where it goes next!

P.S. Many thanks to Ondřej Surý of NIC.CZ who pointed out this 30-year anniversary today on the dns-operations mailing list.

UPDATE: Our colleague Andrei Robachevsky also provided some commentary in a post, Happy 30th Birthday, DNS!, where he points to some other briefing papers, studies and reports around DNS, and also touches on issues relating to the abuse of DNS.

An audio commentary on this topic is also available:

Nov 20

Watch Live TODAY The DNSSEC Deployment Workshop At ICANN 48

icann48As mentioned previously, there is an excellent “DNSSEC Workshop” happening TODAY, November 20, 2013, at the ICANN 48 meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The agenda, slides, and links for remote participation can be found at:

http://buenosaires48.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-dnssec

Both and audio and video live stream will be available. The workshop begins today at 9:45 am local time in Argentina, which is 12:45 UTC and 7:45 am US Eastern.

UPDATE: THE WORKSHOP BEGINS AT *8:30am* LOCAL TIME. Or 11:30 UTC / 6:30am US Eastern.

This technical workshop at ICANN meetings continues to be one of the best gatherings of the DNSSEC community and the sessions here again look to be extremely useful and educational. Today’s sessions include:

  • DNSSEC Deployment Statistics
  • DNSSEC Activities in Latin America
  • DNSSEC For The Enterprise
  • Guidance For Registrars in Supporting DNSSEC
  • DNSSEC Root Key Rollover
  • Automated Update of DNSSEC Information
  • Operational Realities of Running DNSSEC
  • DNSSEC Innovation: DANE Tools and Ideas

The sessions will be recorded if you are unable to watch live, but in watching live you’ll also have a chance to ask questions.

We’re looking forward to a great session today and we’ll be discussing more of what happened there in this blog in the days and weeks ahead.