By Byron V. Acohido
Domain Name Service. DNS. It’s the phone directory of the Internet.
Related: DNS — the good, bad and ugly
Without DNS the World Wide Web never would never have advanced as far and wide as it has.
However, due to its intrinsic openness and anonymity DNS has also become engrained as the primary communications mechanism used by cyber criminals and cyber warfare combatants.
If that sounds like a potential choke point that could be leveraged against the bad actors – it is. And this is where a fledgling best practice — referred to as “protective DNS” – comes into play.
What has happened is this: leading security vendors have begun applying leading-edge data analytics and automated remediation routines to the task of flagging DNS traffic that’s clearly malicious.
Guest expert: David Ratner, CEO, HYAS
One sure sign that protective DNS has gained meaningful traction is that Uncle Sam has begun championing it. Last fall the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) began making a protective DNS resolver availabile to federal agencies.
With RSA Conference 2023 taking place at San Francisco’s Moscone Center next week, I had the chance to visit with David Ratner, CEO of Vancouver, Canada-based HYAS, security company whose focus is on delivering protective DNS services. Ratner explains what protective DNS is all about, and why its widespread adaption will make the Internet much safer.
For a full drill down, give the accompanying podcast a listen. I’ll keep watch and keep reporting.
Acohido
Pulitzer Prize-winning business journalist Byron V. Acohido is dedicated to fostering public awareness about how to make the Internet as private and secure as it ought to be.
(LW provides consulting services to the vendors we cover.)
April 18th, 2023 | For technologists | Podcasts | RSA Podcasts | Steps forward | Top Stories
