-- The Internet-facing DNS server count increased to 11.5 million (up from ~9 million in 2006 and 7.5 million in 2005) -- The domain name system is growing, a good indicator of the overall growth of the Internet, users, traffic and applications. -- BIND 9 usage grew to 65% in 2007 (up from 61% in 2006 and 58% in 2005) -- The growing use of the most recent and secure version of open- source domain name server software indicates that organizations are paying attention to the version of BIND they are running and that they are increasingly aware of related security issues. -- BIND 8 usage decreased to 5.6% in 2007 (down from 14% in 2006 and 20% in 2005) -- The decreased usage of BIND 8 -- an older version recently "end-of- lifed" by ISC -- by almost two-thirds year-over-year, indicates that many organizations are making the effort to deploy the most reliable and secure DNS implementations and are making the global DNS infrastructure more secure. -- Usage of the Microsoft DNS Server cut in half (a decrease to 2.7% from 5% in 2006 and 10% in 2005) -- The significant reduction in usage of the Microsoft DNS Server by nearly one-half reflects concerns over risks associated with deploying Microsoft Windows servers that are exposed to the public Internet. -- Support for SPF increased to 12.6% in 2007 (up from 5% of the zones sampled in 2006) -- This increase in usage of SPF (the Sender Policy Framework) increases the effectiveness of the technology, and indicates that organizations are taking email fraud seriously.The Bad News Continued deployment and configuration mistakes are leaving the global DNS system as vulnerable as ever.
-- Still more than 50% of Internet name servers allow recursive queries (consistent with 2006) -- This form of name resolution often requires a name server to relay requests to other name servers, which can leave name servers vulnerable to pharming attacks and allow those servers to be used in DNS amplification attacks that can take down important Internet infrastructure. -- DNS servers surveyed allowing zone transfers to arbitrary requestors grew to 31% in 2007 (up from 29% in 2006) -- Allowing zone transfers to arbitrary queriers enables duplication of an entire segment of an organization's DNS data from one DNS server to another and can leave them as easy targets for denial-of-service attacks. -- Still ~75% of zones surveyed have low expire values and almost 78% still use negative-caching TTL settings outside the suggested range of one to three hours -- These figures, consistent with 2006, indicate that many DNS servers are not configured correctly, which can significantly increases the risk of service outages to an organization. -- Only .002% of zones tested support DNSSEC -- Limited adoption of DNSSEC, the IETF standard that adds cryptographic authentication and integrity checking to DNS, indicates that administrators are not convinced of its importance, are perhaps intimidated by its complexity, and that the standard seems unlikely to succeed on its own merits as a means to improve DNS security.To view the complete 2007 DNS survey results and to access several best practices guides and tools, like the Infoblox DNS Advisor, which helps assess the vulnerability of an organization's DNS infrastructure, visit: http://www.infoblox.com/library/dns_resources.cfm. About Infoblox Infoblox appliances deliver utility-grade core network services, including domain name resolution (DNS), IP address assignment and management (IPAM/DHCP), authentication (RADIUS) and related services. Infoblox solutions, which provide the essential "glue" between networks and applications, are used by over 1,900 organizations worldwide, including over 100 of the Fortune 500. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and operates in more than 30 countries. For more information, call +1.408.625.4200, email info@infoblox.com, or visit www.infoblox.com. About The Measurement Factory The Measurement Factory provides a variety products and services related to Internet testing and measurement, with a current focus on DNS, HTTP, and ICAP. Most of the Factory's products are available under open-source licenses. For more information, call +1-303-938-6863, email info@measurement-factory.com, or visit www.measurement-factory.com.
Contact Information: Media Contacts: Jennifer Jasper Infoblox 408.625.4309