DNS

Why is DNSSEC worth your attention?

DNSSEC – What does it mean?

DNSSEC is the short version for Domain Name System Security Extensions, and it is an effective method for boosting the security of your domain. It is an additional DNS trait. Once you start implementing it, DNSSEC is going to add a digital signature to every DNS record. That way, it ensures that the source of the domain is authentic.

It was invented to protect the users on the Internet from falsified DNS data. The IP address of a particular website could be malicious and mislead the users to a different web page instead of the actual one they requested.

With DNSSEC, the DNS lookups are verifying that the source of the website’s DNS is actually true, thanks to the digital signatures. As a result, some of the malicious attempts of the attackers could be prevented. The browsers of the users are not going to open a website when the digital signatures don’t match.

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How does it work?

As we mentioned, the main purpose of DNSSEC is to keep the users safe. 

The resolver verifies the digital signature once the user types the domain name in a browser. There should be a match between the digital signatures in the data and those in the Primary DNS server. Only, in that case, the data could access the devices of the user. With the digital signatures, it is possible to ensure that the user reaches the exact website requested.

DNSSEC utilizes a combination of public keys and digital signatures to validate the data. In addition, it adds new records to the existing DNS records. The new ones are RRSIG and DNSKEY that stick to the popular records, such as A, CNAME, and MX. They digitally “sign” the data with a technique called public-key cryptography.

The name server holds s public and private key for each DNS zone. Once a user makes a query, the server transfer the data signed with its private key. Then the receiver should unlock it with the public key. So, if the information is falsified and misleading, it won’t be able to unlock it correctly with the public key. As a result, the recipient is going to recognize that the data is fraudulent.

Why is DNSSEC important?

DNSSEC is important because it boosts your security and provides a way for securing your DNS records. You receive strong protection and reduce the chance for criminals to perform DNS cache poisoning

If an attacker manages to modify DNS records, the user is going to obtain them and then get pulled to a separate server that is under the attacker’s control. 

Additionally, DNSSEC lets you authenticate the origin of DNS information. That is an essential point. It is gold to have the assurance that information actually belongs to the authority they claim to be, meaning to the correct authoritative name server. Besides, it lowers the possibility of artificial servers running successfully.

By activating DNSSEC, DNS recursive servers are capable of authenticating data they function that truly comes from a legit source, and it is reliable. It will discard fake data. If, by any chance, the recursive is not able to authenticate the data, it won’t use it and maintain the security. It is going to retry the authentication process and avoid the usage of unreliable or falsified data.