As a reminder, DNSSEC — Domain Name System Security Extensions — is a trust upgrade to the decades-old DNS protocol. Using DNSSEC, resolvers are able to ensure that no one or nothing has tampered with DNS messages by validating their cryptographic signatures. The technology goes a long way in protecting Internet users from attacks, like cache poisoning, that have the potential to undermine the trust we all place in electronic commerce.

According to ICANN's latest statistics, more than 20% of the world's TLDs have now implemented DNSSEC in their zones: 69 are signed, and 62 have also published the signatures in the root zone, meaning they are fully DNSSEC-compatible. This rapid uptake has been driven by the concerted efforts of TLD registries. Since the landmark DNSSEC signing of .org in 2010, Afilias has been rolling out the technology to all of the gTLDs and ccTLDs for which we provide registry services as part of our “Project Safeguard.” Registrants of .info domains can now use DNSSEC, and we have also announced the signing of the .in, .me, .gi, .mn and .sc zones, among others.

Other ccTLDs have also recently been signed, but two of the largest recent DNSSEC deployments have occurred in .net and .com, which together account for more than half of the world's existing domain name registrations. While the .net implementation is now complete, .com is currently serving DNSSEC information that deliberately cannot be validated. The .com domain will not be fully "switched on" until the end of the month. When this happens, of the seven "original" gTLDs, only .mil and .int will remain unsigned.

DNSSEC availability in .com will also prove to be a landmark in terms of raising awareness among domain name registrants. It's great that so many TLDs are being signed, but this is of little use to Web surfers until second-level registrants also begin to sign their zones. Registrars are already launching services to simplify what is a complex technology to deploy and manage, but these need to be used.

When major corporations that have their primary website at a .com domain begin to publicly deploy the technology, DNSSEC will likely begin to market itself in a viral manner. Much like a newly launched TLD needs well-known brands to adopt its domains, a few big "anchor tenants" will also prove priceless for spreading the word about DNSSEC. When major e-commerce, financial services and social networking sites start to openly embrace the specification, it should become a competitive imperative for others to do the same so that they avoid appearing less secure than their rivals. With a bit of luck, at this time next year, I will be writing about the encouraging level of DNSSEC adoption at the second level of the domain name system, rather than at the top level.

DNSSEC is being rolled out quickly in top-level domain registries around the world, but there's still some way to go to encourage other Internet stakeholders to adopt the new security technology. That was one of the key takeaways from a day-long, comprehensive session on Domain Name System Security Extensions implementation worldwide, held during ICANN's public meeting in Cartagena, Colombia, last week.

More than 50 registries have now signed their TLD zones using DNSSEC. Notably, VeriSign last week announced that it has enabled DNSSEC in the .net TLD, and that .com signing is scheduled for early 2011, two moves which will significantly increase adoption at the TLD registry level. These efforts complement others such as Afilias' own ongoing Project Safeguard, which is committed to implementing DNSSEC across TLDs for which we currently provide registry services. During the ICANN workshop, Steve Crocker, co-chair of the DNSSEC Deployment Initiative presented data showing the growth of fully operation DNSSEC TLDs over the last 12 months.

But it takes more than just TLD registries to deploy DNSSEC for the full benefits of a more secure DNS to be felt by all Internet users. Domain registrars, software and hardware developers, ISPs and end users all need to do their part to support the technology. The main challenges for DNSSEC adoption in the coming year lie beyond the registry level.

DNSSEC is a complex technology so, when communicating its value, it is important to keep the message simple. Users of anti-virus software do not need to know how malware works in order to understand the need for good security; the same should be true for the DNS. A common view among ICANN delegates was that Web browser developers will need to visibly support DNSSEC in their interfaces – through, for example, an TLS/SSL-style "green bar" – before there is widespread understanding of the value it brings.

The registrar community is largely still exploring its go-to-market options for DNSSEC, but some have already started to back up verbal support commitments with tangible new services. GoDaddy, for example, said in Cartagena that it will offer managed signing as part of a Premium DNS package that will include unrelated value-added services. Panelists agreed that most domain name customers are unaware of the security benefits that DNSSEC offers, but that corporate customers are more aware of the problems inherent in not using DNSSEC than others.

While DNSSEC outreach is necessarily a cross-community effort, some TLD registries have already started DNSSEC awareness-raising efforts. The Public Interest Registry, which signed .org with Afilias' support earlier this year, has launched a "Practice Safe DNS" campaign aimed at everybody from hardware manufacturers and web developers to domain registrants themselves.

In the coming months, DNSSEC will go from being supported by a relatively small numbers of TLDs to one which is available to the large majority of registrants worldwide. The challenge now, agreed panelists at the ICANN DNSSEC workshop last week, is to ensure that the consumer benefits of a more secure DNS are effectively communicated to technology enablers and early adopters.

Ten years ago today, November 16^th 2000, the ICANN Board voted to approve the first new top-level domains (new TLDs) to be added to the Internet root, ever.  Of the 47 applicants, only 44 were considered valid and paid the application fee. Ultimately seven were chosen that day, including .INFO.

If you search for the ICANN archives of the Board minutes of that day, interestingly the meeting minutes say:

The Board began its consideration of the applications by discussing the methodology it would use in its selection. The Report on New TLD Applications discussed the 44 complete applications in eight categories. The Board decided to go through each category and discuss promising candidates for selection. In the process, the sentiment of the Board would be used to place proposals into a conceptual "basket". As the process proceeded, the contents of the basket would be reviewed to evaluate the degree of diversity and the proposals' overall appropriateness for a proof of concept. The Board could then make adjustments by adding or removing proposals from the basket.

Those who were present at the public Board meeting remember the seemingly endless hours of debate on the merits of each string, what it would mean for the Internet, how Internet users would use it, and how likely it was that it would be a "success" (whatever that meant).

We have come a long way from creating conceptual baskets of possibly good TLD strings to consider for addition to the Root. ICANN's newest new TLD round has set out to establish high and objective expectations for the string itself, the technical registry system powering the proposed TLD, and the supporting business plan.  And while some of the applications back in 2000 may not have passed the current tests, some of them produced business models and domains that have changed the entire landscape of the domain name industry.  Indeed, the lessons from those launches have been the foundation for competitive advantage in subsequent rounds, and the basis for success of many of the TLD introductions that have followed.

Of all of the seven chosen in 2000, .INFO has clearly been the most successful.  With nearly 7 million domains, .INFO represents approximately 44% of the entire new TLD registration market and is more than double the size of any other new TLD in the market today.

Despite the recent global economic issues, .INFO continues to fare well behind a careful designed program that reflects the experience from 10 years of new TLD management. Leveraging this experience, .INFO's growth continues to outpace the market. As of September 2010, analysis shows that the global domain market is up 7%, while .INFO has grown 31% over its 2009 base of domains under management[1].

While everyone is eager for a new TLD round to start, it is important to take a lesson from history in how to launch a new TLD brand and build its momentum over time.  The .INFO experience is one illustration of how to create success, especially by leveraging the strengths of an effective and globally diverse registrar distribution channel.  Our more than 360 accredited registrars have always believed in .INFO and so have the millions of registrants and site owners that choose .INFO over other TLDs to communicate their INFOrmation with the world.

[1] Afilias analysis based on Zooknic.com data through September 2010.

DUBLIN, IRELAND – 15 November 2010 – Afilias, a global provider of domain name registry and DNS services, announced that it is now offering domain name registrars a full suite of registry and DNS services to ensure that both their proposed new top-level domain (new TLD) applications and registries are successful.

On November 9, 2010, the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted to allow domain name registrars, the retailers of the domain name industry, to act as wholesale registries in the upcoming new TLD round. This decision ends the separation that has existed between registries and registrars, creates new opportunities for both, and is published in the Final Applicant Guidebook posted on November 12.

“Afilias launched the first new TLD registry ever when it introduced .INFO in 2001,” said Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Afilias. “Afilias has supported TLD applications and has successfully launched more new TLDs than any other registry provider in the marketplace. We are pleased to offer registrars access to our world class services to power their own new TLD offerings.”

Afilias-supported new TLDs are, on average, three times as successful in terms of total volume of registrations as non-Afilias supported TLDs. Afilias’ registry technology already powers more than 54 percent of all registrations in the 15 new TLDs launched since 2001. In total, Afilias supports 15 TLDs across more than 17 million domains.

“Afilias’ new TLD launch model is proven to be the best in the market. Today we provide our TLDs with access to more than 360 registrars, representing more than 95 percent of the domain registrations. If a registrar wishes to operate as a registry in the new TLD round, they need a trusted and proven registry technology provider that allows them immediate access to the broadest distribution channel,” added LaPlante.

Afilias’ Global Registry Services are available to registrars under a white-labeled service and include: full thick EPP registry, WHOIS, a globally diverse and redundant Anycast DNS network, zone file publication, registrar accreditation services, 24/7 call-center and technical support, Web-based administrative tools, as well as sales and bid consultation services. All Afilias services are DNSSEC and IPv6 ready, and reflect nearly 10 years of experience supporting gTLDs operating under ICANN contracts.

In addition, Afilias offers other premium solutions to augment its registry offering, including: 1) GoMobi mobilization services to enable any website on any mobile phone; 2) managed DNS services which can be extended to a registrars’ existing hosting business via a RESTful API; and 3) a unique IDN-capable e-mail solution that enables fully internationalized email functionality for Web-based or mobile e-mail offerings.

For more information on Afilias’ new TLD services, please visit http://www.afilias.info/ntlds

About Afilias

Afilias is a global provider of Internet infrastructure services that connect people to their data. Afilias’ reliable, secure, scalable, and globally available technology supports a wide range of applications including Internet domain registry services, Managed DNS, and services in the RFID and supply chain market with its Afilias Discovery Services. For more information on Afilias please visit www.afilias.info.

DUBLIN, IRELAND – 8 November 2010 – Today, Afilias announced the winner of its 2010 .INFO Awards Program. The Awards Program highlighted some of the best .INFO sites of 2010 and awarded the top three .INFO sites with cash prizes totaling over US$15,000. First place was awarded to greentravelclub.info, a portal where site visitors can search for eco-friendly hotels while traveling throughout Europe. Second place was awarded to glutenfreehelp.info, a website dedicated to providing information on the subjects of gluten intolerance, gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. Third place was awarded to klimaretter.info, an information source on climate change and global warming.

“.INFO has proven itself as an intuitive top-level domain with millions of great websites,” said Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias. “Our 2010 winners have embraced the need to globally share information on the Web with a secure and information driven domain name.”

Over 130 sites were submitted from over 20 countries for this year’s Awards and thousands of votes were received from the public. .INFO site owners were able to submit their sites from August 9 – September 10, 2010. A short list of the top 10 sites was selected by a panel of judges was then opened for public vote between October 5 and November 2.

The 2010 panel of judges included seven distinguished individuals from the online, media and technology industries. They included: Dominik Grollmann, editor in chief, Internet World Business (Germany); Grant Allaway, group managing director, AD2ONE (UK); Peter Prestipino, editor in chief, Website Magazine (US), Liam Eagle, editor in chief, the Web Host Industry Review (Canada); Anand Parthasarathy, editor, IndiaTechOnline.com (India); Katy Tafoya, creator and editor, ConstantChatter.com (US); and Philipp Grabensee chairman of the board, Afilias (Germany).

“We are overwhelmed by this amazing success for our company and website,” said Yvette Schlutter, from greentravelclub.info, the .INFO Awards first place winner. “This is definitely a confirmation that we are on the right track and have been able to successfully spread the word about eco-friendly hotels on the Web.”

Prizes for the .INFO awards are allocated as: US$7,500 for the winner, US$5,000 for second place, and US$3,000 for third place. More information on the .INFO Awards program can be found at http://www.info-award.info

About .INFO

.INFO was the first generic, unrestricted TLD to be launched since .com and is the most successful new TLD launched in over 25 years. Registrations in .INFO first became available in 2001. Since then, .INFO has grown to become the fourth largest gTLD in the world with over 6.5 million domain names registered. .INFO Domains are currently available in ten Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) scripts. For more information on .INFO please visit www.info.info.

About Afilias

Afilias is a global provider of Internet infrastructure services that connect people to their data. Afilias’ reliable, secure, scalable, and globally available technology supports a wide range of applications including Internet domain registry services, Managed DNS, and services in the RFID and supply chain market with its Afilias Discovery Services. For more information on Afilias please visit www.afilias.info.

A very real and potentially dangerous issue for brands is the continual reliance on obscure country code domains for URL shortening services. Recent reports have emerged that the country code domain .ly will no longer allow domains with 4 or less characters to be registered by users outside of Libya. What exactly does that mean for marketers that are using popular URL shorteners like bit.ly and ow.ly today? It means more risk. As a brand owner who is spending thousands or even millions of dollars on your social media campaigns, the solution is very simple – get your own top-level domain, and control your own destiny.

While some country codes are responsibly managed (Afilias supports over 10 country codes including .ME which Facebook and WordPress have adopted as URL shorteners), not every country code registry can claim the same. Country code TLDs are subject to the whims of the ccTLD domain authority and are outside the purview of ICANN. Most have no agreement with ICANN; many are not supported by standards compliant registry software or technical administrators that specialize in this area; and some don’t even have a globally redundant, load-balanced Anycasted DNS network ensuring their reliability.

Given these serious issues, there are a few critical issues that any brand owner should address about URL shortening services based on a country code domain:

Registration: Is the registry for the ccTLD domain operated professionally with internationally-standardized registration policies that you can count on? As I mentioned, .ly has recently changed their registration policy to prohibit the registration of domains with less than 4 characters for owners that do not reside in Libya. While they say they will grandfather in existing sites (presumably bit.ly and ow.ly), they also have taken down and suspended other sites according to changes in their registration policies. It also means that no other non-Libyan companies will be able to use a .ly address the purpose of URL shortening – at least not unless you wish to incorporate in Libya and likely be subject to their Internet policy, privacy and access standards. There is certainly no guarantee that other country code operators won’t change their policies either or levy onerous censorship standards on content displayed on links within their domain.

Domain Hijacking: Both a registry and registrar are involved in creating a domain name that can be used as a URL shortener. For example, “bit” is a second level domain name registered via a domain name registrar with the .ly registry (sometimes it can be confusing for countries where the registry is also the registrar). You want to ensure that, whatever the process to obtain a name, the access to the ownership information about the name is secured and that there are policies to prevent someone who is not the real owner, from claiming ownership and stealing the name. Imagine what would happen if someone hijacked bit.ly and all the active short URLs were redirected to malware!

DNS stability: DNS is the technology that converts the name you type into your browser into an IP address, looks it up in the global “phone book” we call the DNS Root, and transports you to the website you want to see. While corporations are responsible for their own DNS (e.g.: bit.ly as a company runs DNS for all lookups to bit.ly), registry operators also have to run DNS for lookups to the TLD itself (.e.g.: .ly). If you use a URL shortener in a ccTLD that is under-provisioned, you run the risk of failure if usage is so heavy that the TLD’s capacity is overwhelmed. If responsible, country code registry operators will either beef-up their own DNS network or enable adequate capacity by outsourcing DNS operations to a managed DNS provider that has a large, global network. Has the shortening service YOU use done this? If you are like most users of URL shorteners, you have no idea.

These questions and issues are all very scary for a brand owner that needs to make sure their press releases and digital marketing campaigns get published online, whether in search engines or social media. The good news is that all of these issues simply go away for an organization if they get their own top-level domain when ICANN opens up its application process for new TLDs (which is expected soon).

Owning a new TLD provides any organization with the ability to completely control their Internet address across the Web, before and after the dot. It also removes the risk of anyone hijacking any of the domains that you own. But most importantly, it can allow the organization to communicate with its global online audience via trusted links with its known brand, under its own control.

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Afilias can provide registry services for prospective new TLD applicants. View more information on our services for new TLDs. 

Top 10 nominees for the .INFO Awards are revealed

DUBLIN, IRELAND – 5 October 2010- Today, Afilias, a global provider of Internet infrastructure services and the registry operator for the .INFO top-level domain (TLD), announced that the 2010 .INFO Awards is now open for public vote. Anyone around the world can now vote for their favorite of the top 10 .INFO nominees selected by a panel of judges. Each voter will also automatically be entered to win a new Apple iPad.

“With over six and a half million domain names and millions of live sites, .INFO is the home of information on the Web and we look forward to the opportunity each year to reward the best .INFO sites out there,” said Roland LaPlante, Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias. “Now you have the opportunity have a voice in the program, and show your support for your favorite of this year’s nominees.”

The 2010 panel of judges included seven distinguished individuals from the online, media and technology industries. They included: Dominik Grollmann, editor in chief, Internet World Business (Germany); Grant Allaway, group managing director, AD2ONE (UK); Peter Prestipino, editor in chief, Website Magazine (US), Liam Eagle, editor in chief, the Web Host Industry Review (Canada); Anand Parthasarathy, editor, IndiaTechOnline.com (India); Katy Tafoya, creator and editor, ConstantChatter.com (US); and Philipp Grabensee chairman of the board, Afilias (Germany).

This panel selected the following websites as the top 10 nominees for the Best .INFO website of 2010:

• http://www.mailworx.info
• http://www.greentravelclub.info
• http://www.eifel.info
• http://www.hotel.info
• http://www.baden-wuerttemberg.info/
• http://www.biohotels.info
• http://www.glutenfreehelp.info
• http://www.traumpfade.info
• http://www.klimaretter.info
• http://www.slimaway.info

Over 130 sites were submitted from over 20 countries for this year’s Awards. Entries spanned a number of categories including: business websites (25 percent), personal websites (23 percent), blogs (17 percent) and non-profit websites (10 percent).

Members of the public can vote for their favorite of these top 10 sites at www.info-award.info now. Public voting will remain open until 11:59 p.m. ET November 2, 2010. The public votes will be combined with the judges’ scores to select the top 3 winners, with first place being named the “Best .INFO website of 2010.” Prizes for the awards are allocated as: US$7,500 for the winner, US$5,000 for second place, and US$3,000 for third place. In conjunction with the announcement of the Award winners, one voter will be chosen at random to receive an iPad.

For more information on the .INFO Awards or to vote please visit info-awards.info

About .INFO

.INFO was the first generic, unrestricted TLD to be launched since .com and is the most successful new TLD launched in over 25 years. Registrations in .INFO first became available in 2001. Since then, .INFO has grown to become the fourth largest gTLD in the world with over 6.5 million domain names registered. .INFO Domains are currently available in ten Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) scripts. For more information on .INFO please visit www.info.info.

About Afilias

Afilias is a global provider of Internet infrastructure services that connect people to their data. Afilias’ reliable, secure, scalable, and globally available technology supports a wide range of applications including Internet domain registry services, Managed DNS, and services in the RFID and supply chain market with its Afilias Discovery Services.

On Saturday, you were probably enjoying a quiet morning, sipping your coffee as you consumed headlines about news from New York to New Delhi. The headlines related to Internet business were probably much different than what you would have seen 10 years ago. Then, there were just 20 million domain names in use, ten percent of what is now our domain universe.  But ten years ago, many of us in the industry weren’t enjoying an easy morning with our coffee; we were harried from a sleepless night of poring over hundreds of pages that would constitute the first new TLD bids submitted to ICANN, ever.

On October 2, 2000 47 applications were sent to ICANN in response to its first-ever call to open up the domain name space. At that time, there were no specific rules about eligibility (anyone with $50,000 could apply),  intellectual property protection (e.g. “has the proponent considered intellectual property interests?”), ensuring stability (e.g. “minimize unscheduled outages”), or criteria for winning (this was the “proof of concept” round). Strings were proposed from .INFO, to .MUSEUM, to .ZIP.

While we all showed up to the “beauty contest,” no one knew who would be prettier or more fit to win. In fact, we didn’t even know if there would be one bid crowned or if more than one of us would get lucky. In the end, 7 strings were approved (info, biz, name, pro, aero, coop, museum).

While October 2^nd 2010 was a more pleasant morning for most of us, there remains striking parallels in the new TLD process of today. There are still questions about consumer need, technical feasibility, IP protection, and even how many new TLDs ICANN will award. More fundamentally, there is no empirical evidence of what constitutes the best new TLD string. 

But we do know some things now that we didn’t know 10 years ago. For example, we know what it takes to run a stable and secure registry system to support a new TLD. Registrars also know how to market and support new TLDs. Both registries and registrars know how to price new domains, host IP protection processes, use premium name auctions to fund initial operations, and  award high-value names to those that will use them to generate awareness and acceptance among Internet users.

This weekend also represented another milestone for Afilias.  Our domain, .INFO, was not only the first new TLD awarded by ICANN but it was also the first of the new TLDs from the 2000 round to launch with a live registry system. On October 1, 2001, the Internet public was, for the first time, able to register any .INFO domain name in a live, real-time registration system.  This was also the first time that domain names propagated to the DNS in under 5 minutes (the previous industry standard had been 12 hours or longer).  Nine years since that successful launch, .INFO now has over 6.5 million registrations, is the 7^th largest TLD in the world, and is far and away the largest new TLD ever created.

As we look ahead in the new TLD process, we can be sure of more sleepless nights of application writing. But this time, we have the benefit of ten more years of experience and the example of more than a dozen new TLDs that have launched before to guide us along the way. 

Recognized for Excellence in Registry Services for DNSSEC and Anti-Abuse efforts

DUBLIN, IRELAND – 24 September 2010 - Afilias, a leading provider of Internet infrastructure services and the registry provider for the .INFO domain, has been awarded a 2010 Excellence in Registry Services award from the Online Trust Alliance. Afilias was recognized on Thursday, September 23rd at the Online Trust Alliances’ fifth annual 2010 Excellence in Online Trust Awards in Washington D.C. for its innovative leadership role in online safety initiatives over the past year.

Afilias’ cyber security initiatives included its pioneering Anti-Abuse Policy for the .INFO domain, which has helped .INFO to continuously score one of the lowest phishing uptimes for all generic top-level domains (TLDs). It also includes cross-industry collaboration initiatives which have helped suppress two of the largest cyber-gangs and incidents in the Internet’s history, Avalanche and Conficker. In addition, Afilias has worked to increase implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), which is the only known protection against cache-poisoning and man-in-the-middle attacks.

"We appreciate the recognition of our work to enable a more trustworthy Internet and owe thanks to a very cooperative industry, including our domain name registrars who have been responsive in helping us address domain abuse,” said Ram Mohan, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Afilias. "We will continue to strengthen our anti-abuse program and will add DNSSEC protection to more than a dozen registries in the months ahead.”

The Online Trust Alliance specifically cited Afilias as exemplifying excellence in online trust “for the commitment to working with the registry community, ICANN, APWG and other organizations advancing DNSSEC and developing .ORG. Their development of tools successfully have helped to block over 2.5 million Conficker domains and aided anti-abuse policies, resulting in the suspension in over 100,000 abusive domains.”

“Afilias is committed to defeating abusive uses of domains and, since introducing our anti-abuse policy in 2008, we have demonstrated measurable results in fighting phishing, malware, and spam,” added Greg Aaron, Director of Domain Security for Afilias. “Collaboration with our registrars, the Anti-Phishing Working Group, law enforcement, and security vendors and researchers have helped make our efforts successful. This results-oriented approach and expertise sets our registry services apart.”

About The Online Trust Alliance (OTA)

The OTA’s mission is to create and promote business practices and technologies to enhance online trust and the vitality of e-commerce and online services. Formed in 2004, the OTA is a global non-profit organization representing the Internet ecosystem, supporting user choice and controls, protection of critical infrastructure, privacy and data governance, promoting marketing best practices and self-governance. For more information on OTA please visit https://otalliance.org/

About Afilias

Afilias is a global provider of Internet infrastructure services that connect people to their data. Afilias’ reliable, secure, scalable, and globally available technology supports a wide range of applications including Internet domain registry services, Managed DNS, and services in the RFID and supply chain market with its Afilias Discovery Services.

Afilias' Director of Domain Security, Greg Aaron accepts the award on September 23, 2010.