AuDA cracks down on registrar system security

Australian domain authority auDA is preparing to impose minimum IT security requirements on .au registrars.

The authority today released a draft of its Information Security Standard, which it said had been prepared "following a serious security incident involving an accredited registrar in mid-2011".

DistributeIT was hit by a malicious attacker in June last year. The system downtime affected a number of domain resellers.

In an issues paper (pdf), auDA said its security standard was "intentionally flexible" to operate within a range of business models.

It is intended that registrars will have to pass an independent vetting of their compliance with the standard every three years, along with more frequent "interim assessments". The frequency was being floated among industry members.

The standard would be phased in for existing registrars over the next two years.

Those who do not pass either interim or full compliance checks would be suspended and have three months to right their systems.

Accreditation could be terminated after this time "on the grounds that auDA can have no confidence in the registrar's ability to protect the security of their registry connection or their registrant data".

auDA is seeking input from the domain industry on the current security standard proposal.