Wednesday, September 17, 2003
VeriSign hijacks domain system
Monday VeriSign, the head domain registry company, started a service called Site Finder. It sends users that enter in bad domain names to a search engine instead of getting an error from the browser stating the domain doesn't exist.
Normally when you enter a domain into a browser it checks a central group of servers to find out where to get the website from. If you enter a domain that doesn't exist the browser gives you an error. VeriSign uses their monopoly control in the domain system and set it so that bad domains are forwarded to their Site Finder service instead.
As a result millions of users around the world are finding themselves being hijacked when they enter a bad domain name and being sent to VeriSign's site. they're selling advertising and search placement and making tons of cash.
That alone is downright despicable but what's worse is they have unwittingly just helped out spammers around the world! See many anti-spam filter systems check to see if email messages from address is a legit and working domain. Many spammers create fake from addresses such as "jim@jimmiejimz.com". However a quick check will show that "jimmiejimz.com" does not exist and the anti-spam software will throw out the junk mail. But thanks to VeriSigns new service the domain "jimmiejimz.com" appears to be legit to anti-spam software.
The Internet Software Consortium is working on patching the BIND domain name server software to disable VeriSigns service. Hopefully it'll be done soon and ISPs around the world can stop this stupid service soon
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