>From Wired.com (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60473,00.html):
"VeriSign's controversial "typo-squatting" Site Finder service is about to be bypassed by an emergency software patch to many of the Internet's backbone computers." Paul Chinnery Network Administrator Mem Med Ctr -----Original Message----- From: Fyodorov, Andrey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 9:09 AM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: RE: All .COM / .NET domain names now exist All you base are belong to us Sincerely, Andrey Fyodorov Systems Engineer Messaging and Collaboration Spherion -----Original Message----- From: Jason Clishe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 11:22 PM To: Exchange Discussions Subject: RE: All .COM / .NET domain names now exist I'm surprised how quiet this group is being regarding this issue. This has potentially enormous ramifications. For one thing, this effectively breaks reverse-DNS lookups that anti-spam applications use to verify sending domains as being valid. Come on now, Verisign is masking the difference between a valid domain and NXDOMAIN for all protocols, all users, and all software. Doesn't anyone here have an opinion? Jason > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 8:02 PM > To: Exchange Discussions > Subject: All .COM / .NET domain names now exist > > > > [My apologies for the cross-post, but this has the potential > to impact just > about everybody who uses the Internet...] > > As of a little while ago (it is around 7:45 PM US Eastern > on Mon 15 Sep > 2003 as I write this), VeriSign added a wildcard A record to > the .COM and > .NET TLD DNS zones. The IP address returned is > <64.94.110.11>, which reverses > to <sitefinder.verisign.com>. > > What that means in plain English is that most mis-typed > domain names that > would formerly have resulted in a helpful error message now > results in a > VeriSign advertising opportunity. For example, if my domain name was > "somecompany.com", and somebody typed "soemcompany.com" by > mistake, they > would get VeriSign's advertising. > > (VeriSign is a company which purchased Network Solutions, > another company > which was given the task by the US government of running the > .COM and .NET > top-level domains (TLDs). VeriSign has been exploiting the > Internet's DNS > infrastructure ever since.) > > This will have the immediate effect of making network > trouble-shooting > much more difficult. Before, a mis-typed domain name in an > email address, > web browser, or other network configuration item would result > in an obvious > error message. You might not have known what to do about it, > but at least > you knew something was wrong. Now, though, you will have to > guess. Every > time. > > Some have pointed out that this will make an important > anti-spam check > impossible. A common anti-spam measure is to check and make > sure the domain > name of the sender really exists. (While this is easy to force, every > little bit helps.) Since all .COM and .NET domain names now > exist, that > anti-spam check is useless. > > VeriSign's commentary: > > http://www.verisign.com/resources/gd/sitefinder/implementation.pdf > http://www.verisign.com/resources/gd/sitefinder/bestpractices.pdf > > Third-party reference: > > http://www.cbronline.com/latestnews/d04afc52ae9da2ee80256d9c0018be8b > > -- > Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > | The opinions expressed in this message are those of the > author and do | > | not represent the views or policy of any other person or > organization. | > | All information is provided without warranty of any kind. > | > > > _________________________________________________________________ > List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm > Web Interface: > http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=exchange&t ext_mode=&lang=english To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=exchange&text_mode=&; lang=english To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=exchange&text_mode=&lang=english To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=exchange&text_mode=&lang=english To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
