RE: Verisign DNS "attack"
- From: "John Tolmachoff \(Lists\)" <johnlist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "'[ISAserver.org Discussion List]'" <isalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 14:24:50 -0700
I got through fine.
John Tolmachoff MCSE CSSA
Engineer/Consultant
eServices For You
www.eservicesforyou.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Poole [mailto:EPoole@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 2:12 PM
To: [ISAserver.org Discussion List]
Subject: [isalist] RE: Verisign DNS "attack"
http://www.ISAserver.org
This is interesting. I have several personal sites that stopped working
today, <http://www.hauntmasters.com> www.hauntmasters.com being the most
important. West Coast people I've spoken with can't connect but they can
ping and tracert. East Coast seem ok. Hmmmmm...
_______________________________________________
Eric Poole
IS Security Analyst
<http://communitymedical.org/> Community Medical Centers
1140 "T" Street, Fresno, California 93721
559-459-6784 (phone) 559-459-2045 (fax)
-----Original Message-----
From: "Frederic Giroux" <fgiroux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>@CHCC
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 12:02 PM
To: [ISAserver.org Discussion List]
Subject: [isalist] Verisign DNS "attack"
http://www.ISAserver.org
Hello All!
For those of you that do not know yet, Verisign made changes to the
structure of the .com and .net DNS root structure (see article below). At
first, I was fuming about it but them I realized that we could take profit
of the situation by redirecting anything that goes to
sitefinder.verisign.com to of web page of our choice. Since you know for a
fact that the domain name does not exist, you simply build a page stating
that instead of having a "host unknown" that could just mean that their
domain name server is unavailable. If sitefinder shows, it is because the
name is not registered.
Fred
All your Web typos belong to us
By John Leyden << File: mailto:john.leyden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >>
Posted: 16/09/2003 at 11:28 GMT
Network administrators are fuming about changes made by domain registrar
Verisign to the DNS system yesterday that they say violate longstanding
Internet standards.
Verisign yesterday added wildcard DNS records to all .com and .net domains
- redirecting surfers who get lost on the Net to a search page, called Site
Finder, run by the company. Those who type in non-existent addresses will
also be served up Site Finder << File: http://sitefinder.verisign.com/ >> ,
instead of an error message.
There's widespread concern the alterations will frustrate commonly used
anti-spam techniques. Mail packages often check to see whether the domain
an email is coming from is valid but with the changes all domains have
suddenly become valid, frustrating the technique.
The radical, and largely unheralded, changes were made yesterday and
followed up by a post << File:
http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg13603.html >> by Verisign to
the NANOG mailing list. This did little beyond stating that Verisign has
added a "wildcard A record to the .com and .net zones" and pointing users
to a white paper << File:
http://www.verisign.com/resources/gd/sitefinder/implementation.pdf >> that
Verisign has prepared.
So, Verisign has turned domain name typos into an advertising opportunity.
Critics believe this is an abuse of Verisign's role, via acquired company
Network Solutions, in administering the .com and .net registry DNS servers.
And then there are the practical issues: sysadmins are fuming at the
knock-on effects of the changes.
The concerns raised by Reg reader Pete Farrow, who believes the move will
lead to more spam, are typical.
"This means that the basic 'sender domain does not resolve' check in
sendmail and many other mail server software is now obsolete because any
.net and .com now resolves. This will open the internet up to more spam,"
said Farrow.
"Perhaps mail servers should check to see if the sender domain for a
particular piece of email resolves to the IP above. If it does, forward the
email to Verisign," he adds.
Ray Bellis, technical director of ISP Community Internet, echoes these
concerns.
"This frustrates spam prevention techniques, where mail servers verify that
the *sender's* domain is legitimate before accepting an email," Bellis
said.
"This breaks all sorts of things horribly," he added.
Sys admins are still analysing the effects of the changes and there's
dispute among experts like Beliis about the effect of the changes.
Already a backlash is building, with Net admins being urged to block
Verisign's catch-all domain. This could all get very messy.
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