DNS, DNSSEC and the Future

The domain name system (DNS) is the means by which hosts find out the IP addresses of other machines from their universal resource locator. The key to DNS is its hierarchical nature that makes delegation so easy. It is very important to set-up and document the DNS with best practices firmly in mind or the corporate system will crumble. The aim is to mitigate the risks of mis-configuration and attack so down time is kept to a minimum or compensated for by reducing the single point of failure. Best practices move us towards secure authentication of the information held in the DNS structure by means of the DNS Security Extension (DNSSEC). Although it is still in need of full implementation, DSSEC is the only viable path to follow for the next generation of the domain name system.