News
Current news around the product and service of ironDNS®.
Our Team at ICANN's Annual General Meeting 2023
We do not want to miss the opportunity to visit an ICANN event in our home country. So ironDNS® will be present at the last ICANN conference of the year. The Annual General Meeting takes place from October 21 to 26 in the Congress Center Hamburg, Germany.
Possibly this is also a good chance for you to get learn about latest developments and new options? Meet our team and get to know our products and services on the spot. In addition to ironDNS®, we will present our domain portfolio management tool mambo+ and our registry backend TANGO Registry Services®. Our experts can show you live demos of the software and answer all your questions. We can also set up free trial accounts so that you can look into ironDNS® and mambo+ in more detail.
You can schedule an appointment with us now or directly talk to us on the ground.
We are looking forward to seeing you!
The 77th ICANN conference takes place from June 12 to June 15 in Washington, D.C. It goes without saying that a team of ironDNS® will be present at the meeting. So use the opportunity to contact us and make an appointment. We would love to demonstrate the features and services of ironDNS® in a live presentation and to illustrate the handling of the system to you.
Our experts are also ready to answer your questions around our domain portfolio management tool mambo+ and our registry backend TANGO Registry Services®. Simply get in touch!
The ironDNS®-team is looking forward to seeing you in Washington, D.C.!
The 76th ICANN conference takes place from March 11th to 16th in Cancún. The city is on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea and is one of Mexico's easternmost points.
A team of ironDNS® will be also present at the meeting. Use the opportunity to contact us and make an appointment. We would love to demonstrate the features and services of ironDNS® in a live presentation, or to tell you about the latest improvements that we are currently preparing for roll-out.
Our experts are also ready to answer your questions around our domain portfolio management tool mambo+ and our registry backend TANGO Registry Services®.
It is even possible to get demo accounts for a thorough testing during and even after the meeting. Simply get in touch! The ironDNS®-team is looking forward to seeing you in Mexico.
This year's host of the annual Domain pulse conference is the country code top-level domain (ccTLDs) registry for .ch (Switzerland) and .li (Liechtenstein), SWITCH, which has invited to the Swiss city of Winterthur on 6 and 7 February 2023. The participants of the largest domain name conference for the European German-speaking ccTLD registries can look forward to two days full of lectures and discussions all around the main topic Critical Infrastructure Internet.
About 300 experts, Internet Service Provider, Registrars and interested parties use the opportunity for the exchange of know-how, networking, and to get new perspectives on well-known as well as new topics. A team of Knipp will also be present in Winterthur. We are already looking forward to having interesting conversations and answering curious questions around all our products and services.
Aside from ironDNS®, you also have the chance to learn about our domain analysis tool mambo+ and our Registry back-end solution TANGO Registry Services®. You can see live demonstrations and even get demo accounts to be able to check out all functionalities of mambo+ and ironDNS® during and after the event.
You can schedule an appointment with us now, or directly talk to us at the site.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Winterthur!
ironDNS® at ICANN75 in Kuala Lumpur
The 75th ICANN meeting will be held from 17-22 September 2022 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) in the capital of Malaysia.
ICANN holds three Public Meetings each calendar year, which traditionally take place in different regions around the world. With Kuala Lumpur, which most inhabitants colloquially simply refer to as »KL«, the Asia Pacific region was selected for the Annual General Meeting 2022.
The ICANN75 meeting will be conducted as a hybrid event to accommodate both in-person and virtual attendance. A team of ironDNS® will be present in Kuala Lumpur and would be pleased to welcome you. Make an appointment for a meeting or simply contact us there.
We would love to demonstrate the features and services of ironDNS® in a live presentation and to illustrate the handling of the system to you. Our experts are also ready to answer your questions around our domain portfolio management tool mambo+ and our registry backend TANGO Registry Services®. Simply get in touch!
The ironDNS®-team is looking forward to seeing you in Malaysia!
Protection and security for your DNS. With ironDNS®.
We are happy to be able to attend this year's Domain pulse in person again. For this first face-to-face event since a long time we have prepared something special: visitors can get vouchers from Knipp that are valid for an ironDNS protection package for three zones for a full three years. And consistently, each voucher comes with a waterproof rain jacket as a useful giveaway to keep you safe and dry.
Domain pulse is the yearly forum organized by the German-speaking registries DENIC, nic.at and SWITCH. This year, DENIC invites the industry to Bonn on May 17 and 18 for a two-day conference. Topics include the consequences of the pandemic on society and the industry, questions around digital policy, and of course the latest news and developments in the domain business.
Meet our team in Bonn and get to know our services. Learn about our software products in more detail, for example with live demonstrations. This year's focus lies on our name server infrastructure ironDNS®. Next to that, we will also be happy to explain our domain portfolio management tool mambo+ and our Registry back-end solution TANGO Registry Services®. Profit from getting demo accounts for mambo+ and ironDNS® and check out all their useful functionalities during and after the event.
Make an appointment with us or simply come and talk to us directly at our booth.
See you there!
Our security measures satisfy also the latest versions of international standards, as the periodical reviews by independent certifiers show.
Information are our core business. This is why handling data in a responsible, self-critical way is a crucial part of our corporate culture. The renewal of our ISO 27001 certification underlines that.
The ISO 27001 certificate has to be renewed regularly. This process includes a comprehensive audit that put our information security management system to a thorough test.
A lot has happened since our first certification, for example when the GDPR became effective last year. We have continuously scrutinized and adapted our security concept and now reap the fruits of our hard work. The recertification encourages us to keep going – and it can strengthen your trust in us because you can rely on the fact that we handle your data with utmost care and security.
Zero-day exploit threatens computer systems worldwide
Since the last weekend, large parts of the IT world have been in a state of turmoil because a security gap has been discovered in the widely used software library Log4j, which makes many computer systems worldwide potentially vulnerable. Servers affected by the flaw can be attacked and taken over by criminals with little effort and then be used for their own purposes.
The Federal Office for Information Security in Germany (BSI) has issued a security alert in the highest warning level Red for the so-called zero-day vulnerability in the Java library, after countless attack attempts have been observed, which apparently have already been successful, at least in parts.
Knipp Support also had numerous inquiries from customers who were concerned about the issue. However, we can give the all-clear for the software products of Knipp. Although Java plays an important role in our software development, we rely on an alternative framework to Log4j for logging system events. Our products TANGO Registry Services®, mambo⁺ and ironDNS® as well as the Domain Registration System DRS and the Knipp website are therefore not affected by the Log4Shell vulnerability. The same applies to the Sardana mail service and the BOLERO™ ITSM system.
For requests of the type "I have registered the domain example.com via Knipp. Are my systems secure?" however, this all-clear cannot be easily generalized. For example, we cannot make any statements about web servers, e-mail systems or other services that are not operated by Knipp. Therefore, please ask the responsible service providers for the status of their threat analysis, if they have not yet provided the relevant information on their own.
Join ironDNS® Join Knipp remotely at ICANN70
The first ICANN Meeting of the year is in the starting blocks, and so is ironDNS®. This time we will not be present with a booth onsite, but in purely digital form.
The conference which will run from March 22nd to March 25th, 2021, was originally supposed to take place in Mexico’s beach paradise Cancún. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, however, it is now being held in form of a “Virtual Public Meeting”, as it has already been the case for the ICANN meetings of the previous year.
Get in touch – virtually and safely
We, of course, have also adapted to the circumstances so that you can meet our experts digitally. The ironDNS® team will be happy to present our products and services in online demonstrations where you can also ask individual questions. It is also possible to setup trial accounts for you so that you can take the time and examine all functionalities extensively.
Check out our name server infrastructure ironDNS®, our domain analysis tool mambo+, our Registry backend solution TANGO Registry Services® as well as the Domain Registration System. Let our software solutions win you over. Simply make an appointment with us.
We are looking forward to see you – online!
Customers managing many zones need an API. ironDNS® provided a SOAP API right from the beginning. By popular demand a new interface has been introduced: REST. The REST API is not meant as a replacement of the SOAP API, but instead allows ironDNS® to offer a wider variety of interfaces. Both APIs will continue to exist side by side indefinitely giving you the free choice on how to automatically manage your zones with ironDNS®.
Of course, we have created an extensive documentation of the new REST API. It not only contains all request and their allowed parameters, but each request has at least one real-life example making your development process to connect to ironDNS® easier. You can download the REST API Guide from the ironDNS® technical documentation page.
Thoughts about Covid-19 - Our services continue!
The new coronavirus challenges all of us in unforeseen ways. One thing that you can rely on: our business hours have not changed, we are available for you as usual. Of course we cannot predict the future. However, we will do our best to keep up our services running smoothly.
We implemented extensive precautionary measures in order to minimize health risks for our employees and customers. Our employees are all able to work from home while all meetings take place virtually. Strict rules of conduct regarding hygiene and distance assure a safe, continued business activity on site. In that way, we can keep providing our services as usual.
Stay healthy and safe!
Domain pulse 2020: ironDNS® will be there
Domain pulse 2020 is coming up and we are pleased to announce that our ironDNS® team will be present.
Domain pulse is the yearly forum organized by the German-speaking registries DENIC, nic.at and SWITCH. This year's Domain pulse takes place on February 20 and 21 in Tyrol – nic.at invites participants to Innsbruck. Thematically, the event will discuss questions about the future of technology, Internet Governance as well as the future of work.
Meet our team in Innsbruck and get to know our name server infrastructure ironDNS® in more detail, for example with a live demonstration. This is also a great oppurtunity to learn more about Knipp's other services and software products, namely our domain analysis tool mambo+ and our Registry backend solution TANGO Registry Services®. Profit from getting demo accounts to check out all functionalities of our products during and after the event.
You may make an appointment with us or simply come and talk to us directly at our booth.
See you there!
ironDNS® at ICANN66 in Montreal
Our Team at ICANN's Annual General Meeting 2019
ironDNS® will be present at the next ICANN meeting. ICANN66 takes place November 2 to 7, 2019 in Montreal in Canada. Meet our team and get to know our products and services on the spot.
In addition to ironDNS®, we will present our domain portfolio management tool mambo+ and our registry backend TANGO Registry Services®. Our experts can show you live demos of the software and answer all your questions. We can also set up free trial accounts so that you can look into ironDNS® and mambo+ in more detail.
You can schedule an appointment with us now or directly talk to us on the ground.
We are looking forward to seeing you!
ironDNS® at 65th ICANN conference in Marrakech
The 65th ICANN conference takes place from June 24 to June 27 in Marrakech. The provincial capital in the southwest of Morocco is one of four former imperial cities and often referred to as the »Pearl of the South«.
It goes without saying that a team of ironDNS® will be present at the meeting. So use the opportunity to contact us and make an appointment. We would love to demonstrate the features and services of ironDNS® in a live presentation and to illustrate the handling of the system to you.
Our experts are also ready to answer your questions around our domain portfolio management tool mambo+ and our registry backend TANGO Registry Services®. Simply get in touch!
The ironDNS®-team is looking forward to seeing you in Marrakech!
ironDNS® at the Domain pulse 2019
ironDNS® will be present at this year's Domain pulse.
The event takes place on February 18th and 19th, 2019 in the Swiss capital Bern. The meeting will focus on topics such as Internet governance and resilience, digital identities as well as Internet architecture security. Meet our team and get to know our products and services on the spot.
In addition to ironDNS®, we will present our domain portfolio management tool mambo+ and our registry backend TANGO Registry Services®. Our experts can show you live demos of the software and answer all your questions. We can also set up free trial accounts so that you can look into ironDNS® and mambo+ in more detail.
You can schedule an appointment with us now, or directly talk to us at our booth.
We are looking forward to seeing you!
ironDNS®-security further improved with two factor authentication
The services provided by ironDNS® have been further improved by a new layer of security in the zone management.
Among the most important security features of ironDNS® are the protection of the zone contents during the transmission and the verification of the data on the receiver side by means of DNSSEC-technologies. This safety chain has now been further strengthened by an improved protective mechanism in the safeguarding of the zone date at the source. The new two factor authentication allows ironDNS® customers to secure the zone's content even before it is signed.
This new feature is available to all ironDNS® customers as of now and at no extra charge. To enable it, all a customer has to do is to provide his public PGP key to the ironDNS®-Support. Once the authenticity of the key has been verified, the customer can “lock” his zones.
Any operation on a locked zone (and in particular any change of its content) has to be authorised by a One Time Password (or “token”). Such a password is automatically sent to the customer in an encrypted e-mail whenever he tries to execute an operation on a locked zone. Thus a zone update is only possible if the customer logs into ironDNS® with his usual credentials and approves the operation with the token. Each password is only valid for a short time, and only for the particular operation it has been generated for.
ironDNS® at the 63rd ICANN conference in Barcelona, Spain
At the 63rd ICANN Conference in Barcelona, the Annual General Meeting 2018, Knipp is an official sponsor.
At the six-day conference held from October 20th to 25th in the capital of Catalonia and second largest city of Spain, Knipp will be present as a sponsor with its products ironDNS®, mambo+ and TANGO Registry Services®.
A great opportunity for you to get presentations of the most important Knipp developments of the recent years. Experience our products in revealing practical demonstrations: Our premium name server technology ironDNS®, the abuse monitoring tool mambo+, and the world-class TLD solution TANGO Registry Services®.
We also offer individual testing accounts on request with which you can put ironDNS® and mambo+ to the test – not only directly during the conference, but also afterwards back at home.
Our team of experts in Barcelona will happily answer your questions and help you with your individual requirements and wishes. Please make an appointment for a non-binding consultation, or contact us directly on the spot.
The Knipp team looks forward to meeting you!
Sponsor of the 60th ICANN Meeting in Abu Dhabi
At the 60th ICANN Conference in Abu Dhabi, the Annual General Meeting 2017, Knipp and ironDNS® are represented as a sponsor.
At the seven-day conference held in the capital of the United Arab Emirates from 28 October to 3 November 2017, Knipp will be present as a sponsor with its products ironDNS®, mambo+ and TANGO Registry Services®.
This is a great opportunity to get presentations of the most important Knipp developments of the recent years. Experience our products in revealing practical demonstrations: Our premium name server technology ironDNS®, the abuse monitoring tool mambo+, and the world-class TLD solution TANGO Registry Services®.
On request, we also offer individual testing accounts with which you can put not only ironDNS® to the acid test, but also mambo+ – calmly, during breaks or after the conference.
Our team of experts will also be happy to answer specific questions about your individual requirements. Please make an appointment for a non-binding consultation, or contact us directly.
The Knipp team looks forward to seeing you!
ironDNS Tipps and Tricks
Wir stellen immer wieder fest, dass etliche Nutzer nicht das volle Potenzial von ironDNS® ausschöpfen. Aus diesem Grund möchten wir in unserer Rubrik „Tipps und Tricks“ auf nützliche Funktionen von ironDNS® hinweisen.
Heute haben wir uns dazu den „initiateFetch“ SOAP-Request herausgesucht und die DANE-Unterstützung von ironDNS®, die sich immer größerer Beliebtheit erfreut.
„initiateFetch“ SOAP-Request
Im Control Panel von ironDNS® gibt es schon lange die Möglichkeit, über das „Zone jetzt fetchen“-Menü einen Zonentransfer von den konfigurierten Quell-Nameservern hin zu ironDNS® anzustoßen. Treue ironDNS®-Kunden benötigten für eine individuelle Nameserver-Anbindung jedoch eine automatisierbare Version dieser Funktion. Diesem Wunsch sind wir nachgekommen und haben die SOAP-API von ironDNS® um den initiateFetch-Request erweitert.
Damit kann die Replikation von DNS-Daten nun auch programmgesteuert per SOAP initiiert werden. Solche AXFR-Zonentransfers erfolgen zusätzlich zu den automatischen Zonenabgleichen, die ironDNS® immer dann ausführt, wenn ein NOTIFY von einem Quell-Nameserver eintrifft oder die im SOA festgelegte Refresh-Zeit abgelaufen ist.
Details zu dieser und zu allen anderen per SOAP-API bereit gestellten Funktionen finden Sie in der SOAP-API-Dokumentation von ironDNS®.
DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities (DANE)
Das zweite Feature von ironDNS®, das wir Ihnen heute ans Herz legen möchten, ist die Unterstützung von DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities (DANE). Dabei handelt es sich um ein Protokoll, das es erlaubt, SSL- bzw. TLS-Verschlüsselungszertifikate durch spezielle DNS-Einträge abzusichern.
Das Protokoll stellt sicher, dass die beim Aufbau einer verschlüsselten Verbindung genutzten Zertifikate nicht unbemerkt ausgetauscht werden können. Alle für die Überprüfung der Vertrauenswürdigkeit eines Zertifikats notwendigen Daten werden dabei in DNS-Records vom Typ „TLSA“ vorgehalten. Das funktioniert und ist sicher, weil die Echtheit der DNS-Antworten mit Hilfe der Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC)-Technologie gewährleistet wird.
Der besondere Clou an DANE ist, dass die Notwendigkeit der Beteiligung einer Certificate Authority (CA), die sonst für die Absicherung erforderlich ist, entfällt. In den TLSA-Einträgen ist festgelegt, welchen Zertifikaten oder welchem Trust-Anchor ein Client vertrauen darf, so dass Domaininhaber auch selbst ausgestellte Zertifikate nutzen können.
Seit der Einführung der DANE-Unterstützung ist diese von den ironDNS®-Nutzern sehr gut angenommen worden. Besonders im letzten Jahr ist die Anzahl der Kunden, die ihre Zertifikate durch TLSA-Records absichern, deutlich gestiegen. Machen auch Sie sich unabhängig von CAs und sichern Sie den Zugriff auf E-Mails und Webseiten durch selbst erstellte Zertifikate und ironDNS® mit DANE!
Sowohl der initiateFetch-Request als auch die DANE-Unterstützung sind im Basis-Paket von ironDNS® enthalten und stehen allen Nutzern ohne Zusatzkosten zu Verfügung.
Auflagen und Meldepflichten für Cyberattacken und IT-Sicherheitsvorfälle in vielen Unternehmen noch unbekannt
Ein Jahr nach Inkrafttreten des „Gesetzes zur Erhöhung der Sicherheit informationstechnischer Systeme“ wissen viele Unternehmen nicht, dass sie als Betreiber kritischer Infrastrukturen eingestuft werden. Technische und organisatorische Auflagen sowie Meldepflichten bleiben deshalb unerfüllt – und es drohen empfindliche Bußgelder.
Auch das Domain Name System und die damit verbundenen Dienstleistungen stehen im Fokus des IT-Sicherheitsgesetzes. Betreiben Sie etwa autoritative Nameserver
- für mindestens 250.000 Domains bzw. Delegierungspunkte oder
- mit durchschnittlich mehr als 2.500.000 Abfragen pro Tag?
Unser Tipp für Betreiber von DNS-Infrastrukturen: Sparen Sie sich den finanziellen und organisatorischen Aufwand für die Erfüllung der gesetzlichen Vorgaben und lagern Sie Ihre Zonen einfach zu ironDNS® aus! Zusätzlich profitieren Sie so von der hohen Ausfallsicherheit Ihrer neuen Nameserver-Infrastruktur.
ironDNS® ist eine DNS-Dienstleistung speziell für hohe Anforderungen an Betriebssicherheit und schneller, weltweiter und zuverlässiger Erreichbarkeit. ironDNS® ermöglicht den Betrieb von kritischen DNS-Infrastrukturen auf höchstem technischen Niveau. Eingebettet in ISO 27001-zertifizierte Prozesse erfüllt ironDNS® alle nach dem IT-Sicherheitsgesetz geforderten Auflagen.
Zu den von den Regelungen im IT-Sicherheitsgesetz betroffenen Firmen zählen neben DNS-Dienstleistern auch andere Telekommunikationsanbieter, Unternehmen aus der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft, aus dem Gesundheitswesen und viele mehr. ironDNS® bietet für alle betroffenen Sektoren einen kostenlosen Online-Test an, mit dem man prüfen kann, ob ein Unternehmen als Betreiber einer kritischen Infrastruktur gilt. Dazu gibt es kurze und verständliche Erläuterungen und weiterführende Informationen, zum Beispiel darüber, wie man Sicherheitsvorfälle an das BSI meldet oder welche Bußgelder bei Versäumnissen drohen.
Neue Sicherheitsauflagen für Kritische Infrastrukturen
(Pressemitteilung vom 03.05.2016)
Bereits im Juli 2015 ist in Deutschland ein IT-Sicherheitsgesetz in Kraft getreten, das den Schutz der heimischen IT-Infrastrukturen verbessern soll. Viele Telekommunikationsanbieter und Betreiber von Webservern oder Online-Shops wissen jedoch gar nicht, dass sie seitdem erhöhte Auflagen zum Schutz von Kundendaten und IT-Systemen erfüllen müssen.
Voraussichtlich Anfang Mai 2016 wird dieses IT-Sicherheitsgesetz nun um eine Rechtsverordnung ergänzt, die die Regelungen auf alle für die Versorgung der Allgemeinheit wichtigen Bereiche erweitert. Das betrifft zunächst die sogenannten Kritischen Infrastrukturen in den Bereichen Informationstechnik und Telekommunikation, Energie, Wasser und Ernährung. Bis Anfang 2017 sollen dann noch die Sektoren Transport und Verkehr, Gesundheit sowie Finanz- und Versicherungswesen folgen.
Die Betreiber der betroffenen Anlagen und Dienstleistungen sind verpflichtet, innerhalb von sechs Monaten eine zentrale Kontaktstelle zum Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) einzurichten und innerhalb von zwei Jahren die Einhaltung eines Mindeststandards an IT-Sicherheit nachzuweisen. Zudem gelten Meldepflichten für sicherheitsrelevante Vorfälle wie Cyber-Attacken, Phishing oder IT-basierte Erpressungsversuche. Ziel dieser Meldepflicht ist es, ein aktuelles Bild über die Gefährdungslage der Cyber-Sicherheit in Deutschland zu bekommen und entsprechende Präventions- und Gegenmaßnahmen planen zu können.
Wer als Betreiber einer Kritischen Infrastruktur im Sinne des Gesetzes gilt, wird in der BSI-Kritisverordnung (KritisV) durch einen Kriterienkatalog festgelegt. Für die dem Internet zugrunde liegenden DNS-Dienste beispielsweise wird unter anderem die Anzahl der abgefragten IP-Adressen pro Tag betrachtet. Allerdings sind die Betreiber selbst in der Pflicht, den Versorgungsgrad Ihrer Anlagen zu bestimmen und festzustellen, ob sie als Kritische Infrastruktur gelten. Das Problem dabei ist, dass sich viele Betroffene dieser Verpflichtung und den möglichen Konsequenzen gar nicht bewusst sind. Denn es drohen Bußgelder von bis zu 100.000 Euro, wenn die vorgeschriebenen Maßnahmen zur Vermeidung von Störungen nicht angemessen umgesetzt werden oder wenn Sicherheitsvorfälle nicht ordnungsgemäß oder verspätet gemeldet werden.
Aus diesem Grund sollte jedes Unternehmen, das in einem der genannten Sektoren tätig ist, den in der Verordnung festgelegten Kriterienkatalog prüfen. Die Zeit für die Umsetzung der Richtlinien könnte sonst knapp werden.
Eine einfache und verständliche Möglichkeit um festzustellen, ob man als Betreiber einer Kritischen Infrastruktur eingestuft wird, bietet der „Online-Test Kritische Infrastruktur“. Dabei handelt es sich um einen interaktiven Fragebogen, den der DNS-Spezialist ironDNS® unter https://irondns.net/kritisv bereit hält. Dort gibt es außerdem kurze und verständliche Erläuterungen, Hinweise zu möglichen nächsten Schritten und weiterführende Informationen.
With the enormous increase of data available in all fields of daily life, for many people the question about the security of the processed data becomes more and more pressing. In order to permanently guarantee IT security, the international standard ISO 27001 has been developed. The Dortmund based Internet system house Knipp Medien und Kommunikation GmbH has now been awarded the DIN ISO/IEC 27001:2015 certificate for its comprehensive security concepts.
The ISO 27001 norm specifies requirements and procedures to maintain the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information in a sustained manner. These include, for example, technical and physical means such as data encryption and redundancy of critical system components. Moreover, the security awareness of employees is of central importance. A permanent risk analysis of business-critical processes additionally ensures that threats are identified early and appropriate measures are taken.
For Knipp, the security of the handled information has always been an integral part of its corporate culture. The ISO 27001 certificate now proves that the security measures established at Knipp fulfill the sophisticated international standards. The certification of Knipp was carried out following the so-called full-scope approach and comprises all services, infrastructures and processes. This confirms the longstanding trust that Knipp customers like alltours, Daimler, Evonik, SAP or Deutsche Telekom have grown in the services around the data center, the custom software development and the print production.
In addition to the immediate customers of Knipp, many Internet users benefit from the outstanding level of safety: With its products “TANGO Registry Services” and the nameserver service “ironDNS”, Knipp is the technical operator of a variety of top level domains and of important infrastructure components for the Internet.
“We have always considered information security and privacy as highly valuable assets and have invested accordingly in the necessary technical and organizational requirements. With the ISO 27001 certification, we now have the official confirmation that this commitment pays off. This is a pleasant appreciation to us, and for the users of our services it is the assurance that their data are securely protected at Knipp.” (Elmar Knipp, Managing Director)
Growth and progress for ironDNS®
The DNS infrastructure technology of ironDNS® is continuously getting better. During the first quarter of 2015, a two factor authentication was introduced that allows ironDNS® customers to secure a zone's content even before it gets signed.
In addition to that, ironDNS® also supports signed and forgery-proof DNS responses based on the innovative encryption technology DANE/TLSA. With DANE (DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities) it is possible to verify the authenticity of a certificate before establishing a secured connection to a server. This is achieved with the help of DNS Resource Records of type “TLSA” which conatin the necessary information to verify certificates.
By additionally applyling DNSSEC technologies, the authenticity of the sender of the DANE information can be ensured so that any manipulation of the data during the transport is prevented and a reliable authentication can be guaranteed. Wiretapping data from supposedly secured connections with the help of falsified certificates, as hackers or intelligence agencies would use them, is effectively circumvented in this way.
In the meantime, the ironDNS® user base is constantly growing. New in July 2015 are the new top level domains for Moscow, for example. Both TLDs, the western version and the one in Cyrillic writing (.moscow and .москва, respectively) are now using the sophisticated ironDNS® infrastructure.
This reflects a pleasing trend, since the number of IDN domains and, more recently, IDN TLDs as well, is steadily increasing. (Also see the link at the end of this news.) This development is only logical, however, since the major part of the Internet Community speaks languages that can not or at least not entirely be represented in US-ASCII form.
We are especially happy about the fact that we can observe this same trend among our ironDNS®-customer base, which not only includes the Cyrillic .москва (.moscow), but also .сайт (.site) and .онлайн (.online) and the Arabic بازار. (.bazaar).
Example of an ironDNS® customer who actively uses DANE/TLSA to offer secure
e-mail communication:
https://mail.de
Interesting facts and background information on the development of
Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs):
IDN World Report 2014
ironDNS® at 53rd ICANN conference in Buenos Aires
By now, more than 650 new top level domains have successfully been delegated, and about the same number will go live during the next months.
This newly won diversity on the Internet involves both chances and risks at the same time. On the one hand, the many new TLDs allow for a well targeted communication, e.g. thanks to city TLDs and industry-specific TLDs. On the other hand, the domain industry has to face many new challenges that come with this diversity. Especially with regards to stability and security there is an increased need to set new standards to further guarantee for a reliable operation of the Internet and the services based on it.
One important factor in this context are the DNSSEC standards to ensure the authenticity and integrity of DNS data. The infrastructure of all ironDNS® customers is protected with this technology starting from the base package. As a recent addition, a further protection mechanism has newly been introduced that makes the administration of zone data more secure: a two factor authentication allows to protect zones even before they are signed. This extends ironDNS®'s existing DNSSEC-based zone protection during transmission and on the receiving side by a safeguard for the data source, completing it to an all-round protection.
If you would like to know how ironDNS® can help to make your infrastructure more stable and reliable, simply write a short message to our ironDNS® team - or get in touch at the 53rd ICANN Conference in Buenos Aires.
ironDNS® on 49th ICANN Conference in Singapore
The Internet community has excitedly awaited the start of the first new generic Top Level Domains. At the end of last year, the first new TLDs were delegated into the root zone and could be registered shortly after. In the mean time, more than 100 new Top Level Domains like .ruhr and .company have successfully launched.
This begin of what can be regarded a new Internet era will of course also be a topic on the 49th ICANN Conference in Singapore. The introduction of the new Top Level Domains represents a milestone in the history of the Internet. Thanks to the many new domain names, the Internet of the future will be even more colorful and diverse than before.
With regards to Knipp's in-house product ironDNS®, it has proved itself during the introduction of several of the new Top Level Domains. Since ironDNS® meets and exceeds the sophisticated technical requirements set forth by ICANN, a number of TLD applicants decided to use the service. Their trust in the elaborate technology of ironDNS® now pays off.
As ironDNS® is based upon highly-developed technology, as demanded by ICANN, more and more registries and and registrars decide to use this service. They value the robust and highly available, reliable and accessible worldwide Name Server service, which fulfills the rising demands of an increasingly fast-growing Internet.
If you are looking for technologies to make your infrastructure more stable and reliable, go ahead and contact our ironDNS®-Team. We will also be attending the ICANN Conference in Singapore, so meet us there and get in touch.
The next ICANN Meeting will be in London, from June 22th - 26th, 2014.
ironDNS® on 47th ICANN-Conference in Durban, South Africa
Forthcoming ICANN meeting in Durban is already looming very large now. From July 14th to 18th, experts from all over the world meet again to deliberate and discuss the future of the Internet.
Especially the latest events regarding introduction of new generic Top Level Domains will be in the focus. If everything will take place as planned, the first new Top Level Domains may already go live at this year's 3rd quarter.
ICANN will particularly turn their attention to the technical foundation to guarantee trouble-free process. Internet's Security and Stability are still ICANN's top priorities regarding the introduction.
You're interested and would like to find out more on ironDNS®? Contact our ironDNS® team in Durban. Of course we will be available at the ICANN meeting this time. Use the opportunity to make an appointment with one of our attending experts. We will be pleased to fully inform you regarding ironDNS®.
The next ICANN Meeting will take place in November in Buenos Aires.
ironDNS® at 46th ICANN conference in Beijing
The upcoming start of the new generic Top Level Domains is getting close and will be at the very top of the agenda of Beijing's ICANN conference.
ICANN clearly stated that "Security and Stability of the Internet" is their highest priority regarding introduction of the new generic Top Level Domains. This confirms that a reliable and robust nameserver service, like ironDNS®, is absolutely vital.
ironDNS® fulfills ICANN's high technical demands. That's why quite some applicants decided to use that service for the operation of their Top Level Domain. They entrust the sophisticated technology of ironDNS®.
If you are also interested in improving your nameserver infrastructure's stability and reliability, get in touch with our ironDNS® team. We will also attend this ICANN conference. Take advantage of the opportunity to meet us there and make an appointment..
The next ICANN meeting after Bejing will take place at July 2013 in Durban.
New Feature: ironDNS® sends status updates via email
The control panel of ironDNS® has been extended by a very useful new feature.
Email addresses can now be added to the user profiles in order to receive notifications on certain events and conditions. For example, if zones from a master server cannot be retrieved or other irregularities occur, automatic emails will be triggered. That way, issues of this nature can be detected and the root cause can be resolved. ironDNS® thus helps to ensure low error rates and a high degree of quality.
Up to nine different email addresses of three categories can be defined. This allows ironDNS® to be configured in a very flexible way for several scenarios (warnings, ordinary errors, fatal errors). Users can also specify if the messages shall be sent immediately or if they shall be bundled for a delivery at different intervals.
This new feature is included in the base package of ironDNS® and is available to all customers at no extra charge.
ironDNS® sponsors ICANN conference in Dakar, Senegal
In a kind of good tradition ironDNS® sponsors the upcoming ICANN meeting in Dakar, Senegal. It is the seventh time for ironDNS® to sponsor an ICANN event.
With the decision for new Top Level Domains at the last ICANN meeting in Singapore in June 2011, the need for a stable and robust domain name service has dramatically grown. ICANN has set high standards regarding the technical operation. Applicants for new TLDs will meet in Dakar to discuss about their proposals and implementation details. ICANN meetings are a good opportunity to speak with representatives of ironDNS®.
Carsten Schiefner from the ironDNS® team is available for talks. Drop him an email and make an appointment:
Decision for new Top Level Domains during the ICANN meeting in Singapore
ironDNS® is Gold Sponsor of the .nxt Conference in San Francisco
From February 8th to 10th, 2011 the .nxt conference takes place in San Francisco. The conference is the industry meeting for all who are involved in the introduction of new Top Level Domains.
ironDNS® will be present with an own booth. Experts will be available to talk about the capabilites of ironDNS®. Visit us!
Kurt Pritz, Senior Vice President of ICANN
300.000 domains managed
300,000 second level domains are managed using ironDNS® today. This means that the rapid growth is continuing. We consider the acceptance in the market as appreciation of the concept of ironDNS®.
According to an internal poll, the customers of ironDNS® in the market segment of second level domain management value the following two main features:
- Use of a completely independent name server software as a second pillar besides BIND.
- Anycast technology for SLDs, too. Up to now, anycast has often been a prerogative of top level domains.
Hong Kong location expanded
In order to serve the Asian market even better, the node in Hong Kong, in test use so far, has been officially launched.
The launch requires a phase of measuring traffic and building up the connection. Domains of customers taking part in the beta program of ironDNS® are included in the node in this step. This way, the total traffic for the live operation can be estimated quite well.
Incorporation of an ironDNS® node comprises installation of at least one blade system as wells as the necessary management infrastructure like firewalls, BGP routers and redundant components.
Further interesting information around ironDNS®
