The Domain Name System (DNS) was launched over twenty years ago to enable computers to translate domain names for sites, but it had a number of flaws, including a complete lack of security. This failing left the web open to criminals looking to obtain information under false pretences. Currently, hackers are able to redirect users to phony websites and set up bogus addresses.

This loophole in the DNS security is now to be closed, preventing interception of data in a breakthrough step in technology which will enhance the internet.

Leslie Daigle, the Chief Internet technology Officer from The Internet Society, has commented on the move: “DNSSEC will improve the security of the web so we can have more confidence in the activities on the network as it increasingly becomes part of our working lives and home lives.”

The enhanced DNSSES will use digital signatures and cryptography to check if queries are genuine, and ensure that data is not intercepted through spam or phishing attempts.

The new security extension, DNSSEC, basically works by using cryptography and digital signatures to verify each query and ensure that each response that is made has not been compromised or intercepted. This will hopefully end illegal activities such as the use of fake DNS servers to intercept genuine data, preventing cyber criminals from obtaining personal data which they can use for financial gain.

Leslie Daigle commented further: “It acts like tamper-proof packaging to make sure if you type in the website name of your bank that you actually get to the machine that your bank wants you to use and not to a machine that looks like that of your bank but is operated by those who want to take you to a different website to steal your log-in details.”

Overall, this move is a great step forward for the unsuspecting surfing masses who have been at risk of unwittingly sharing personal data with web criminals.

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The first nations to benefit from this are Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The news came as a result of an ICANN process known as the IDN ccLTD Fast Track process which started in October 2009.

To date 21 requests for IDN ccLTD (Internationalised Domain Name Country Code Top Level Domains) have already been received and 13 of these requests have passes through the second of three stages of the process.

The first three countries mentioned to have passed the application process were accepted and delegated into the DNS root zone this week. This means that they are now readily available for general use which makes Arabic Abjad the second script after Latin to be available for use in domains on the internet.

It is not yet clear as to whether this change will spark a mass scramble for the best domains in the Middle-East.

As an evidently emerging market it is highly likely that sites will want to buy not only their brands but domains that are identical to high traffic search engine key phrases.

As this change has only come about in this last week other details such as how the domains will be obtained and distributed are still pretty sketchy at present.

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The good news is, no, it doesn’t. Well, not entirely anyway. Your first action should be to employ what’s known as a 301 redirect. This will give anyone going to your old site notice that you have moved and present them with your new URL. Perhaps more importantly it will then instruct search engine spiders to change their information for that page. The page will stay in the search engine’s index, PageRank and all incoming links should be transferred.

Notice I said ‘should’ in that last sentence? Ominous, wasn’t it? Well, here’s why. Unfortunately, even if you do everything absolutely correctly search engines can have trouble processing changes in domain. We’re talking weeks, maybe even months, for you to recover all your traffic, links and rankings. For this reason, you need to think very carefully before you switch.

Ask yourself, is this absolutely necessary? Factor in a loss of revenue, rankings etc. over the period of change and weigh that up against your reasons for changing domains.

If you really must change do it gradually. Rather than redirecting all your pages at once do it piece by piece. This way you can make sure everything’s working properly before you get to the point of no return.

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