What is DNSSEC?

Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) is a security protocol that helps to protect the integrity of Domain Name System (DNS) traffic. DNS is the system that translates human-readable website names (such as example.com) into numerical IP addresses that computers can understand. However, DNS traffic is vulnerable to spoofing and other types of attacks that can lead to users being directed to malicious websites or having their sensitive information compromised.

DNSSEC helps to protect against these types of attacks by using digital signatures and public key encryption to verify the authenticity and integrity of DNS traffic. When a user requests a website, DNSSEC helps to ensure that the DNS response they receive is legitimate and has not been tampered with.

DNSSEC is important for several reasons, including:

1. Protecting against spoofing attacks: DNSSEC helps to prevent attackers from spoofing DNS responses and redirecting users to malicious websites.
2. Protecting against man-in-the-middle attacks: DNSSEC helps to protect against MITM attacks by ensuring that DNS traffic is secure and has not been intercepted and tampered with.
3. Improving internet security: DNSSEC helps to improve overall internet security by making it harder for attackers to compromise DNS traffic and redirect users to malicious websites.

DNSSEC is an important tool for improving the security and integrity of DNS traffic. It is widely deployed and used by internet service providers, domain registrars, and other organizations to protect against spoofing and other types of attacks.