Security of .edu Internet Domain to Increase

[Valerie Vogel <vvogel () EDUCAUSE EDU>]

The following announcement was made earlier today regarding DNSSEC and
the .edu domain. 

*Press release,
http://www.educause.edu/About+EDUCAUSE/PressReleases/SecurityofeduIntern
etDomaintoI/178963 

*DNSSEC for .edu FAQ,
http://net.educause.edu/edudomain/show_faq.asp?code=EDUDNSSEC

*DNSSEC resources, http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/DNSSEC/34405

Thank you,
Valerie
_____________

Valerie M. Vogel, Program Associate, EDUCAUSE
Phone: 310-396-7033
E-mail: vvogel () educause edu
http://www.educause.edu/security



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SECURITY OF .EDU INTERNET DOMAIN TO INCREASE
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September 3, 2009, Washington, D.C.--EDUCAUSE and VeriSign announced
today the initiation of a project to enhance Internet reliability and
stability. By the end of March 2010, the project will deploy a security
system known as Domain Name Security Extensions (DNSSEC) within the .edu
portion of the Internet, which EDUCAUSE manages under a cooperative
agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce. When the project is
completed, institutions whose domain names end in .edu will be able to
incorporate a digital signature into those names to limit a variety of
security vulnerabilities.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the part of the Internet that translates
names such as "educause.edu" into numeric addresses (for example,
198.59.61.90). All Internet applications--from electronic mail to online
banking--depend on the accuracy and integrity of this translation. Over
the years, Internet security experts have discovered a variety of ways
that DNS translation may be compromised. The DNSSEC security system
limits the problem by allowing owners of domain names to provide a
digital signature that adds an extra level of authentication to the
translation process.

The project plan includes a test-bed implementation, targeted for
September 2009, to allow predeployment testing by a number of selected
campuses in a nonproduction environment. Final deployment of DNSSEC for
.edu will build on the previously announced U.S. Department of Commerce
project to deploy DNSSEC at the authoritative root zone of the Internet.

Diana Oblinger, president and CEO of EDUCAUSE, said, "We are very
pleased to be working with VeriSign and the U.S. Department of Commerce
to add this important element of security to the Internet. Higher
education is increasingly dependent on trustworthy and reliable digital
communication for learning, research, and outreach. Adding DNSSEC to the
.edu domain is a major step forward for our community and for the
Internet. What we learn will be of value to other organizations around
the world."

Shel Waggener, chief information officer of the University of California
at Berkeley, noted, "Berkeley is pleased to support EDUCAUSE and
VeriSign in testing the improved security of DNSSEC. By digitally
signing DNS responses with public-key cryptography, we will be improving
the security of one critical aspect of the Internet--the Domain Name
System--which otherwise could be exploited for the purposes of fraud or
even cyberterrorism. It is our hope that with widespread deployment
DNSSEC will help improve Internet security for the higher education
community."

Pat Kane, vice president of VeriSign, said, "VeriSign and EDUCAUSE share
a common goal of ensuring that the Internet infrastructure be as secure
as possible. That is why we are working together to implement DNSSEC
into .edu. EDUCAUSE and VeriSign understand that as a complex
initiative, DNSSEC must be introduced carefully and methodically. Our
two organizations are committed to that approach."

"The Internet plays a vital role in higher education by facilitating
online learning, collaboration, and research," said Lawrence E.
Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at
the Department of Commerce. "We are pleased that DNSSEC will be
implemented in the .edu domain, which complements work already underway
to better secure the Domain Name System overall."

EDUCAUSE is the association for information technology in higher
education, encompassing over 2,300 colleges, universities, and related
organizations. Since October 2001, EDUCAUSE has operated the .edu domain
under a cooperative agreement with the U. S. Department of Commerce.

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