DNS

Offerings such as Google Public DNS, OpenDNS and other public domain name system services promise increased security and privacy but can fall short on Web performance, according to a Northwestern University research team that has developed a tool it says can address that shortcoming.

A new, free tool from OpenDNS promises to make domain name system (DNS) lookups--the conversion of a plain-English domain name into a numeric Internet address--more secure. DNSCrypt prevents third parties from intercepting your DNS requests and rewriting them to point your browser, email client, or other software to malicious or fake sites. That may sound like a tedious bit of Internet plumbing, but it profoundly improves your security.

A new vendor-sponsored study of the 1,000 biggest websites quantifies how much better third-party managed service providers are doing at operating DNS services across the Internet cloud than enterprises that run this critical network service themselves.

Infoblox is adding two new features to its DNS appliances to help its service provider and enterprise customers transition to IPv6, the long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol.

Within days of the ICE/DHS seizures, at least three separate initiatives to work around the DNS had been announced. Here's a look at some of these proposals — two to route around and one to supplant the DNS — and the obstacles they face.

Some of the shady crowd behind the Pirate Bay file sharing Website have announced plans for a peer-to-peer domain name system (DNS), called P2P DNS.