VeriSign Moves DNS Server To Boost Security

November 8, 2002 

In an effort to protect the Internet from future hacking attacks, VeriSign has moved one of the Net's root servers to an undisclosed physical and virtual location. 

VeriSign, based in Mountain View, California, controls two of the 13 domain name service (DNS) servers that form the backbone of the Internet. Prior to the move, both DNS servers were located in the same room in VeriSign's North Virginia office, making them physically vulnerable. 

Additionally, both DNS servers were connected to the Internet through the same system subnet, making them unnecessarily susceptible to simultaneous network attack. 

These two servers, known as the "A" and "J" root servers, were the only two of the 13 DNS servers that were in the same physical and virtual location. This proximity made the pair of servers a particularly vulnerable point in the Internet's security. 

Network security analysts note that VeriSign had long wanted to make this move. But it could not do so until it received approval from the U.S. government and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Internet's chief governing body. 

ICANN approved the move last week at its quarterly meeting in China. ICANN had recommended moving the J server soon after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. 

More details at: http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19918.html

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