auDA to trial DNSsec in .au

The .au Domain Administration will kick off a trial of Domain Name System Security (DNSsec) to cryptographically sign and secure the .au domain zone.

DNSsec is a set of security extensions that provide for authentication of domain name system queries.

The chief executive of auDA, Chris Disspain, told iTnews the layer of security that is introduced can be built upon, and forms part of the chain of trust in the DNS.

"Once validation is ubiquitous business and users can take advantage of this trust by having the confidence that the website they are viewing is as intended by the domain name owner," Disspain said.

"Business and end user data is captured, viewed and stolen everyday. This is done through attacks such as cache poisoning, man-in-the-middle-attacks or via malicious resolvers," he said. 

"Confidence in online transactions has been reduced over the last decade as more and more sophisticated methods of attack have emerged."

auDA said while DNSsec adds a layer of security and trust through authenticated and verified queries and responses, it also carries risks to operators.