In 2008 a major flaw was discovered in the Domain Name System (DNS) which regulates traffic on the Internet. Network World reported that as a result it is “possible for hackers to launch cache poisoning attacks, where traffic is redirected from a legitimate website to a fake one without the website operator or end user knowing.”
Dan Kaminsky discovered this DNS vulnerability as a security researcher in 2008 and reported his discovery widely, and although apparently most of the Internet security world including the US government and CERTagreed with the DNS vulnerability apparently 5 years later few major companies have deployed DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC ) to alleviate this threat including:
- Apple,
- Cisco,
- Google,
- IBM,
- Symantec,
- Fifth Third Bancorp,
- Bank of America,
- Cardinal Health,
- Charles Schwab,
- Delta Air Lines,
- Disney,
- eBay,
- Target,
- WellPoint, and
- Wells Fargo
A recent survey conducted weekly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology indicates that only 10 out of more than 1,000 U.S. industry websites have fully deployed DNSSEC including:
- Comcast,
- Data Mountain Solutions,
- Infoblox,
- PayPal, and
- Sprint.
Other companies have partial DNSSEC deployments including:
- Dyncorp,
- Simon Property Group, and
- Juniper Networks
So maybe this is not a big problem since the major companies have failed to deploy DNSSEC, but if we have a cyber disaster with the DNS perhaps those companies will think otherwise.