Category: ICANN51

Oct 16

Root DNSSEC KSK Rollover Workshop Streaming Live Today From ICANN 51

ICANN 51 Los Angeles

Today (Oct 16, 2014) from 9:00 am to 12 noon US Pacific, a special public workshop about implications of a “rollover” of the “Root Key Signing Key (KSK)” that serves as the ultimate “trust anchor” for DNSSEC will be streamed live from ICANN 51 in Los Angeles. Information about how to participate remotely can be found at:

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/thu-dnssec-key-rollover

(Note: the times on that page have not yet been updated.  The workshop will be from 09:00-12:00, although it may extend later if discussions continue.  It will definitely conclude by no later than 13;30 PDT.)

ICANN Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Conrad has organized this public discussion about issues related to changing the Root KSK.  This will be a chance to publicly discuss what we collectively see as potential issues when the Root KSK is rolled or changed and what we need to do about those issues.  This is a critically important topic and so it is great to see ICANN holding this session.

The public workshop is aimed to be a discussion forum to collect guidance from a wide range of people.  An adhoc program committee was established of Joe Abley, Duane Wessels, Roy Arends, Jakob Schlyter, David Conrad and myself.  I was asked to act as a moderator to ensure that the flow moves appropriately and that all get to contribute.  The proposed agenda is:

1. INTRODUCTION

A brief level setting of why the workshop has been called, where we are at in the process (ICANN public consultation in early 2013, SSAC report, ICANN Board resolution in Nov 2013), and what we hope to do in the workshop.  (See my recent “Background Information” post for links for more info.)

2. HOW a Root KSK Rollover might occur

We would like to discuss how an automated (RFC5011) would occur as well as non-5011 roll options and options for a staggered roll.  Joe Abley will discuss a couple of relevant Internet Drafts.

3. WHAT a Root KSK Rollover might involve

We would like to discuss what changes might be made during a Root KSK Rollover. Specifically two points:

  a. ALGORITHM CHANGE – Geoff Huston will give a presentation about potential impacts of a change of the algorithm. (Geoff also presented this information about the DNS-OARC meeting this past weekend.)

  b. Length of KSK – There has been some discussion about changing the length of ZSKs and KSKs and moving to longer key sizes.  We would like a discussion around this idea and the potential impacts.

4. IMPLICATIONS

Discussion of additional implications beyond those discussed earlier.  For instance, issues around response sizes.

5. POTENTIAL TIMELINE (unanchored)

We would like to discuss what a potential timeline might look like for the entire process.  The intent is NOT to establish a fixed date but rather to establish what a timeline might look like for the full process to take place.

6. NEXT STEPS

We want to spend the end of the session identifying specific steps and actions that will occur coming out of this workshop.

If you are interested in this topic, you can join ICANN’s “ksk-rollover” mailing list and read the archives.

And if you want to get started NOW with deploying DNSSEC, why not visit our Start Here page to find resources tailored for your type of organization?

 

Oct 15

Watch LIVE Today – DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN 51

ICANN 51 Los AngelesStarting in just a few minutes will be the large DNSSEC Workshop from 08:30-14:45 PDT in the Pacific Palisades room at ICANN 51.  This is the BIG session of the week related to all things about DNSSEC and DANE.  The full agenda, slides and remote participation information can be found at:

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-dnssec

(Slides and detailed agenda are not online yet but should be soon.)

The bulk of the session includes 5 panels for which we have assembled an excellent collection of speakers:

  • DNSSEC Activities in North America
  • Impact of Root Key Rollover
  • DNSSEC Deployment in Operating Systems
  • DNS/DNSSEC Monitoring
  • DANE and Email Services

Additionally I’ll be providing some DNSSEC deployment statistics and the beginning and wrapping it up with a “How You Can Help” session at the end.

These DNSSEC Workshop sessions bring together an outstanding group of technical people involved with DNS and DNSSEC and are well worth attending either in person or remotely.

And if you want to get started NOW with deploying DNSSEC, why not visit our Start Here page to find resources tailored for your type of organization?

 

Oct 13

Watch LIVE Today – DNSSEC For Everybody: A Beginners Guide (ICANN51)

ICANN 51 Los AngelesAs we mentioned last week, in just a few hours you’ll be able to watch and listen live to this event coming out of ICANN 51 in Los Angeles:

17:00 – 18:30 PDT – DNSSEC for Everybody: A Beginner’s Guide

In this session we’ll once again go back to the caveman days and talk about blue smoke in a light-hearted session aimed at helping people understand DNSSEC.  We’ll also do our “skit” acting out DNS and DNSSEC again… and typically answer a great number of questions from people.  You can participate remotely and view the handout at:

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-dnssec-everybody

It’s usually always a good time with many great questions.  I’ll be there doing the introduction and then helping with the answering of questions.

Please do look at our larger list of DNSSEC activities happening at ICANN 51 this week – MANY great activities going on!

And if you want to get started NOW with deploying DNSSEC, why not visit our Start Here page to find resources tailored for your type of organization?

See (some of) you in L.A.!

Oct 10

Background Information For The DNSSEC Root KSK Rollover Workshop At ICANN51

ICANN 51 Los AngelesAs I mentioned yesterday, there is a great amount of DNSSEC-related activity happening at ICANN 51 in Los Angeles next week.  One of the new items is the Root KSK Rollover Workshop on Thursday, October 16, 2014, from 9:00-12noon US Pacific time (UTC-7).  This workshop will be accessible remotely from links off of this page:

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/thu-dnssec-key-rollover

The point of this session is to publicly discuss what potential impact we see might happen with a change of the Root Key Signing Key (KSK) that is at the heart of the DNSSEC “global chain of trust”. What impacts might there be on people using DNSSEC validation in their daily operations?  And how do we help mitigate those potential issues?

If we change the Root KSK, all the DNSSEC-validating DNS resolvers out there might update their local trust anchors to the new Root KSK and everything will be perfectly fine.  Or… they might not and so when the old Root KSK disappears those DNS resolvers might start failing to return valid DNSSEC-signed records… effectively breaking Internet usage for many people and giving DNSSEC a very bad reputation (and slowing/reducing deployment).  How do we prevent that?

It is a very important discussion!

ICANN Public Consultation

For some background on this whole issue, you can go back to the public consultation ICANN performed about the KSK rollover back in early 2013:

https://www.icann.org/public-comments/root-zone-consultation-2013-03-08-en

A report summarizing the public comments is available here:

https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/report-comments-root-zone-consultation-08apr14-en.pdf

That document also contains the list of “ICANN Recommendations” that were given to the ICANN Board.

The public comments themselves are available individually here:

http://forum.icann.org/lists/comments-root-zone-consultation-08mar13/

They include the comments that Andrei Robachevsky and I submitted on behalf of the Internet Society which could effectively be summarized as: we believe the Root KSK should be rolled as soon as possible and as frequently as possible.

SSAC Report

Additionally, SSAC released SAC063 with their advice on DNSSEC Key Rollover in November 2013:

https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/sac-063-en.pdf

All of these documents  (the comments and the SSAC report) do provide some background information into the views of various people and organizations into the implications of a KSK rollover and also motivation for the views of most that we need to roll the KSK sooner rather than later.

ICANN Board Resolution

I would also note that on November 21, 2013, the ICANN Board adopted a resolution directing ICANN’s President and CEO to evaluate the SSAC advice and provide a recommendation to the board regarding the acceptance of that advice within 90 days:

https://features.icann.org/board-advice#advice-to-board_f=dnssec%20key%20rollover&advice-to-board_d=false&advice-to-board_e=18

That process started… but then stalled when the larger “IANA Transition” issue was injected by the NTIA last year.  This workshop next week, as well as the private interop testing, is, in my view, an effort by ICANN’s new CTO, David Conrad, to try to get this effort back on track and make some actions happen.

Going Forward

A key point about this workshop on Thursday, October 16, is that most people are not talking about IF the Root KSK will be rolled, but rather HOW the Root KSK can be rolled most effectively and how we can mitigate any potential issues that arise.  It is also interesting to note that some of the discussion has changed from the need to roll the key for cryptographic/security reasons to talking about the need to change the Root KSK to, for instance, utilize a better and faster encryption algorithm.

Ksk-rollover Mailing List

Much of this discussion is happening on the ksk-rollover mailing list hosted by ICANN. This list is open to the public and anyone can join.  The ksk-rollover list archives provide additional background info for the meeting on Thursday.

This public workshop should be an interesting discussion next Thursday.  I do encourage anyone interested in this important issue to join in and participate.

Oct 09

A Great Amount Of DNSSEC/DANE Activity At ICANN 51 In L.A. Next Week

ICANN 51 Los AngelesStarting in just a few days there is going to be a great amount of activity related to DNSSEC and DANE happening in conjunction with the ICANN 51 meeting in Los Angeles from October 12-16, 2014.

As usual, there will be the large DNSSEC Workshop on Wednesday, October 15 that always happens with ICANN meetings, as well as the “DNSSEC for Everybody” and “DNSSEC Impelementer’s Gathering” on Monday.

However, at ICANN 51 there will be three other activities:

Due to some schedule conflicts I will be unfortunately missing the DNS-OARC meetings but I’ll be out there on Monday afternoon and look forward to seeing many of you there!

To walk through the activities, let me break it down day by day.

Saturday and Sunday, October 11-12

DNS-OARC will be holding its 2014 Fall Workshop and Annual General Meeting this weekend.  Saturday the 11th is primarily focused on organizational matters but on Sunday the 12th the group gets into detailed technical discussions.  Some of the sessions that may be of interest to Deploy360 readers include:

  • Measuring the cost of DNSSEC
  • Improved NSEC3 performance in DNSSEC
  • NSEC5: Provably Preventing DNSSEC Zone Enumeration
  • A Survey of Current DANE/TLSA Deployment

Many of the other sessions look quite fascinating as well (to a “DNS geek” such as myself!). Per the Overview page, you can participate remotely using these means:

Monday, October 13

10:30 – 17:00 PDT – Tech Day (combined ccNSO/DNS-OARC)

On every Monday of an ICANN week the ccNSO (for country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs)) holds a “Tech Day” full of technical presentations on a wide range of topics. For ICANN 51 they have combined with DNS-OARC and the result is an excellent session full of DNS and DNSSEC talks.  Remote participation info is available at:

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-tech

although the actual agenda is on the DNS-OARC site.  Some of the sessions that may be of interest to Deploy360 readers include:

  • DNSViz – powerful and extensible DNS analysis
  • Low-Cost Threshold Cryptography HSM for OpenDNSSEC
  • DNS Bake-off

This last “bake-off” session I mention is one in which the different vendors/organizations behind various DNS servers all get up in front of the room and talk about what is new or different in their latest software. When this panel has happened before at Tech Day it’s been a great way to learn what is new with the different DNS software implementations.

A number of other sessions will probably be quite interesting and the opening keynote at 11:00 by Paul Mockapetris should be quite educational as well.

17:00 – 18:30 PDT – DNSSEC for Everybody: A Beginner’s Guide

In this session we’ll once again go back to the caveman days and talk about blue smoke in a light-hearted session aimed at helping people understand DNSSEC.  We’ll also do our “skit” acting out DNS and DNSSEC again… and typically answer a great number of questions from people.  You can participate remotely and view the handout at:

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-dnssec-everybody

19:30 – 21:30 (or later) PDT – DNSSEC Implementers Gathering

After that session is over there will be a smaller informal gathering at a nearby restaurant where people who are actually involved in deploying DNSSEC and/or creating the tools to deploy DNSSEC will gather together for food, drinks and conversation to explore what more can be done to accelerate DNSSEC deployment. These sessions have created strong connections and usually generated new projects and ideas for further work.

Alas, there is no way that anyone can participate remotely. :-)  We would like to thank Comcast, NBC Universal and the MPAA for providing sponsorship money so that we could hold this gathering and make it accessible to all who will attend.  (Attendance has now been closed due to space limitations.)

Wednesday, October 15

08:30 – 14:45 PDT – DNSSEC Workshop

This is the BIG session of the week related to all things about DNSSEC and DANE.  The full agenda, slides and remote participation information can be found at:

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-dnssec

(Slides and detailed agenda are not online yet but should be soon.)

The bulk of the session includes 5 panels for which we have assembled an excellent collection of speakers:

  • DNSSEC Activities in North America
  • Impact of Root Key Rollover
  • DNSSEC Deployment in Operating Systems
  • DNS/DNSSEC Monitoring
  • DANE and Email Services

Additionally I’ll be providing some DNSSEC deployment statistics and the beginning and wrapping it up with a “How You Can Help” session at the end.

These DNSSEC Workshop sessions bring together an outstanding group of technical people involved with DNS and DNSSEC and are well worth attending either in person or remotely.

09:00 – ? – Root KSK Rollover Interoperability Testing

At the same time as the public DNSSEC Workshop is taking place, there will be a private meeting of service providers, vendors, application developers and others who will be focused on performing some actual interoperability testing to determine what exactly will be some of the technical issues when we as a community roll (or change) the “Root Key Signing Key (KSK)” that is at the top of the global “chain of trust” in DNSSEC.

This closed interop workshop will then lead to…

Thursday, October 16

09:00 – 12:00 DNSSEC Key Rollover Workshop

ICANN Chief Technology Officer (CTO) David Conrad is organizing a public discussion about issues related to changing the Root KSK.  This will be a chance to publicly discuss what we collectively see as potential issues when the Root KSK is rolled or changed and what we need to do about those issues.  This is a critically important topic and so it is great to see ICANN holding this session.  Information about how to participate remotely can be found at:

http://la51.icann.org/en/schedule/thu-dnssec-key-rollover

(Note: the times on that page have not yet been updated.  The workshop will only be from 09:00-12:00.)

I would expect some of the discussion will involve the results of the interop testing happening on Wednesday but the intent is to have it be a wider discussion during this workshop.  If you are interested in this topic, you can join ICANN’s “ksk-rollover” mailing list and read the archives.

It is also worth noting that ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) will hold its public meeting from 08:00 – 09:00 immediately prior to this workshop.  The SSAC public meetings usually include topics of interest to those of us working with DNSSEC and “DNS security” in general.

And… after all of that we’ll all make our journeys home rather exhausted from so much conversation about DNSSEC! :-)

Seriously, though, it will be an excellent week full of DNSSEC and DANE conversations.  If you are out at ICANN 51 please do find me at one of the events and say hello, or drop me an email message and we can arrange a time to connect.  You will of course find info on our Deploy360 social media channels during the events next week.

And if you want to get started NOW with deploying DNSSEC, why not visit our Start Here page to find resources tailored for your type of organization?

See (some of) you in L.A.!

Jul 30

Call For Proposals: DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN 51 in L.A. on October 15, 2014

ICANN 51 logoDo you have an idea for a better way to work with DNSSEC?  Have you created a new tool or service for DNSSEC or DANE that you would like to present to the wider community?  Could you provide a “case study” of how you implemented DNSSEC within your organization?  Have you started using DANE to secure your email communication?

If you would be interested in speaking about any of those points – or any of the other topics we have listed below, WE WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU!  We’re working on creating the program for the ICANN 51 DNSSEC Workshop that will be held in Los Angeles on October 15, 2014.  As you’ll note in the full call for participation included below, we are in particular seeking participants on three topics:

  • DANE / DNSSEC as a way to secure email
  • Potential impacts of Root Key Rollover
  • Experiences from new gTLD registries and administrators

If you have any ideas, or would like to ask questions about what is involved with the workshop, please email us at dnssec-losangeles@isoc.org.  Initially, we don’t need a full abstract – just a couple of sentences about what you would like to speak about is perfectly fine.

Thanks,
Dan

Call for Participation — ICANN DNSSEC Workshop 15 October 2014

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 51 meeting in Los Angeles, California, on 15 October 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 London on 25 June 2014. The presentations and transcripts are available at: http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-dnssec.

We are seeking presentations on the following topics;

1. DNSSEC activities in the North America region

For this panel we are seeking participation from those who have been involved in DNSSEC deployment in the North America 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?
  • What did you learn in your deployment of DNSSEC?

We are interested in presentations from both people involved with the signing of domains and people involved with the deployment of DNSSEC-validating DNS resolvers.

2. DANE / DNSSEC as a way to secure email

The DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities (DANE) protocol is an exciting development where DNSSEC can be used to provide a strong additional trust layer for traditional SSL/TLS certificates. We are both pleased and intrigued by the growing usage of DANE and DNSSEC as a means of providing added security for email. Multiple email servers have added support for DANE records to secure TLS/SSL connections. Some email providers are marketing DNSSEC/DANE support. We would like to have a panel at ICANN 51 focusing on this particular usage of DANE. Are you a developer of an email server or client supporting DANE? Do you provide DANE / DNSSEC support in your email service? Can you provide a brief case study of what you have done to implement DANE / DNSSEC? Can you talk about any lessons you learned in the process?

3. Potential impacts of Root Key Rollover

Given many concerns about the need to do a Root Key Rollover, we would like to bring together a panel of people who can talk about what the potential impacts may be to ISPs, equipment providers and end users, and also what can be done to potentially mitigate those issues. In particular, we are seeking participation from vendors, ISPs, and the community that will be affected by distribution of new root keys. We would like to be able to offer suggestions out of this panel to the wider technical community. If you have a specific concern about the Root Key Rollover, or believe you have a method or solution to help address impacts, we would like to hear from you.

4. New gTLD registries and administrators implementing DNSSEC

With the launch of the new gTLDs, we are interested in hearing from registries and operators of new gTLDs about what systems and processes they have implemented to support DNSSEC. As more gTLDs are launched, is there DNSSEC-related information that can be shared to help those launches go easier?

5. 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?

6. 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 are the best opportunities for automation within DNSSEC signing and validation processes?
  • What are the costs and benefits of different approaches to automation?

7. 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?

8. DANE and DNSSEC applications

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 use 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.

9. DNSSEC and DANE in the enterprise

Enterprises can play a critical role in both providing DNSSEC validation to their internal networks and also through signing of the domains owned by the enterprise. We are seeking presentations from enterprises that have implemented DNSSEC on validation and/or signing processes 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?

10. Guidance for Registrars in supporting DNSSEC

The 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for registrars and resellers requires them to support DNSSEC from 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.

11. 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.)?

12. 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. Currently, the communication, such as the transfer of a DS record, often occurs 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.

13. Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) use cases and innovation

We are interested in demonstrations of HSMs, presentations of HSM-related innovations and real world use cases of HSMs and key management.

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-losangeles@isoc.org by Friday, 13 August 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
Yoshiro Yoneya, JPRS
Dan York, Internet Society

Jul 30

Call for Participation: DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN 51 on 15 Oct 2014

ICANN 51 logoThe call for participation is now out for the DNSSEC Workshop to be held on  October 15, 2014, at ICANN 51 in Los Angeles.

If you have any ideas, or would like to ask questions about what is involved with the workshop, please email us at dnssec-losangeles@isoc.org.  Initially, we don’t need a full abstract – just a couple of sentences about what you would like to speak about is perfectly fine.  We are asking that all proposals be sent to us by no later than Friday, August 13, 2014 (but sooner is better as we expect this program to be quite full and we may not be able to accommodate all proposals).

Call for Participation — ICANN DNSSEC Workshop 15 October 2014

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 51 meeting in Los Angeles, California, on 15 October 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 London on 25 June 2014. The presentations and transcripts are available at: http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-dnssec.

We are seeking presentations on the following topics;

1. DNSSEC activities in the North America region

For this panel we are seeking participation from those who have been involved in DNSSEC deployment in the North America 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?
  • What did you learn in your deployment of DNSSEC?

We are interested in presentations from both people involved with the signing of domains and people involved with the deployment of DNSSEC-validating DNS resolvers.

2. DANE / DNSSEC as a way to secure email

The DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities (DANE) protocol is an exciting development where DNSSEC can be used to provide a strong additional trust layer for traditional SSL/TLS certificates. We are both pleased and intrigued by the growing usage of DANE and DNSSEC as a means of providing added security for email. Multiple email servers have added support for DANE records to secure TLS/SSL connections. Some email providers are marketing DNSSEC/DANE support. We would like to have a panel at ICANN 51 focusing on this particular usage of DANE. Are you a developer of an email server or client supporting DANE? Do you provide DANE / DNSSEC support in your email service? Can you provide a brief case study of what you have done to implement DANE / DNSSEC? Can you talk about any lessons you learned in the process?

3. Potential impacts of Root Key Rollover

Given many concerns about the need to do a Root Key Rollover, we would like to bring together a panel of people who can talk about what the potential impacts may be to ISPs, equipment providers and end users, and also what can be done to potentially mitigate those issues. In particular, we are seeking participation from vendors, ISPs, and the community that will be affected by distribution of new root keys. We would like to be able to offer suggestions out of this panel to the wider technical community. If you have a specific concern about the Root Key Rollover, or believe you have a method or solution to help address impacts, we would like to hear from you.

4. New gTLD registries and administrators implementing DNSSEC

With the launch of the new gTLDs, we are interested in hearing from registries and operators of new gTLDs about what systems and processes they have implemented to support DNSSEC. As more gTLDs are launched, is there DNSSEC-related information that can be shared to help those launches go easier?

5. 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?

6. 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 are the best opportunities for automation within DNSSEC signing and validation processes?
  • What are the costs and benefits of different approaches to automation?

7. 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?

8. DANE and DNSSEC applications

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 use 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.

9. DNSSEC and DANE in the enterprise

Enterprises can play a critical role in both providing DNSSEC validation to their internal networks and also through signing of the domains owned by the enterprise. We are seeking presentations from enterprises that have implemented DNSSEC on validation and/or signing processes 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?

10. Guidance for Registrars in supporting DNSSEC

The 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) for registrars and resellers requires them to support DNSSEC from 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.

11. 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.)?

12. 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. Currently, the communication, such as the transfer of a DS record, often occurs 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.

13. Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) use cases and innovation

We are interested in demonstrations of HSMs, presentations of HSM-related innovations and real world use cases of HSMs and key management.

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-losangeles@isoc.org by **Friday, 13 August 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
Yoshiro Yoneya, JPRS
Dan York, Internet Society