Nominet Begins DNSSEC Implementation for .uk Domain Protection

Nominet, the U.K.'s domain name registry, will begin implementing a security protocol on Monday designed to protect the DNS (Domain Name System). The system, called DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), uses public key cryptography to digitally "sign" the DNS records for Web sites. It is designed to stop attacks such as cache poisoning, where a DNS server is hacked, making it possible for a user to type in the correct Web site name but be directed to a fake Web site. In 2008, security researcher Dan Kaminsky showed it was possible to poison a cache in just a few seconds with a special kind of attack. Almost every organization running a DNS server have deployed a patch, but DNSSEC is a long-term fix.

Nominet will begin signing the ".uk" top-level domain beginning Monday, a process which will conclude a week later, said Simon McCalla, director of IT at the registry.

Interestingly, there are just a little over a dozen Web sites that use ".uk" since a decision was made more than a decade ago to close off registrations, he said. Much more common are second-level domains, such as ".co.uk" and ".org.uk," among others.

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