ENISA investigating the use of Domain Name System Security Extensions

The EU Agency ENISA is investigating the use of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) and other advanced technologies for improving the resilience of public communication networks. Recently a vulnerability of Domain Name System (DNS) caught a lot of media attention. A flaw in the DNS threatened to bring chaos to the Internet by poisoning the servers that translate domain names into Internet protocol addresses.

The European Network and Information Security Agency, ENISA, is stock taking the policies and regulations that exist across the EU Member States, the measures operators take and the technologies available to improve the resilience (availability and integrity) of public eCommunication Networks. This work is undertaken in close collaboration with regulators, policy makers, network operators, network equipment vendors and academia.

Three technologies, namely MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching), DNSSEC, IPv6, have been identified as promising to ensure this. To assess their effectiveness and identify potential problems or gaps that could compromise the availability of networks and services, the Agency is interviewing a number of network operators in the EU. The collected input will be analyzed, in direct consultation with all leading stakeholders, and lead to EU guidelines. The final results will be presented at an Agency workshop “Resilience of Public eCommunication Networks”, that will take place in Brussels, 12-13 November.