June 8, 2012 – The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and the Swedish company OpenDNSSEC AB (svb) are pleased to announce they are partnering on an initiative to make the Internet more safe and secure. CIRA will provide support for the continued development and enhancement of OpenDNSSEC, a free administration tool that uses open source code to simplify the implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC).  DNSSEC is a set of extensions that will significantly improve online security.

“The support from CIRA is valuable to OpenDNSSEC AB in its effort to develop the software. It gives us the opportunity to strengthen the project with Sara Dickinson from the research and development company Sinodun as a project manager,” said Patrik Wallström, Acting President of OpenDNSSEC.

“We are pleased to offer our support to the OpenDNSSEC project,” said Byron Holland, President and Chief Executive Officer of CIRA. “It is through initiatives like this that CIRA can help foster a safe and secure Internet experience for all Canadians.”

OpenDNSSEC is being developed in an international co-operation project with several participats: .SE (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation), Kirei, NLnet Labs, Nominet, SIDN, Sinodun Internet Technologies, and SURFnet. The OpenDNSSEC software was released in beta in 2009, and it has undergone significant improvements since that time.

OpenDNSSEC AB was formed in 2011 to support other top-level domain administrators in their use of the tool to manage Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). The company develops the software and offers training and support agreements.

More about the software and DNSSEC

OpenDNSSEC simplifies the management of DNSSEC, an extension of the Internet’s open directory service DNS, which prevents Internet and e-mail addresses from being manipulated and ensures that they lead to the right online destination. In OpenDNSSEC, which .SE was involved in the development of, the necessary processes are automated to eliminate the need for manual management.

Under DNSSEC, Internet zones are cryptographically signed. When looking up a domain name, the signature is controlled using a key published by the party responsible for this zone.

OpenDNSSEC is available for free download at: http://www.opendnssec.org

For more information, please contact:

Patrik Wallström, Acting President of OpenDNSSEC AB (svb)
Telephone: +46 733 17 39 56
E-mail: patrik.wallstrom@iis.se

Maria Ekelund, Head of Communications at .SE
Telephone: +46 8-452 35 27, +46 70-777 44 87
E-mail: maria.ekelund@iis.se

About OpenDNSSEC AB (svb)

OpenDNSSEC AB (svb) is a non-for-profit company with the mission to facilitate the deployment of DNSSEC through open source and open standards, in order to enhance the security for the Internet’s infrastructure. Mainly, this is done by developing, maintaining and promoting the open source software OpenDNSSEC, which is available for free download on this website, offered under a 2-claused BSD license.

Besides managing and developing the software, the company’s other main activity is to provide supporting services related to it – i.e. training, consulting and software services. These services contribute to the open source software both as a source for financing and by providing opportunities to promote OpenDNSSEC. At present, the company is owned in full by .SE (The Internet Infrastructure Foundation).

About CIRA

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority is the member-driven organization that manages Canada’s .CA domain name registry, develops and implements policies that support Canada’s Internet community, and represents the .CA registry internationally.

For more information, please contact:
Tanya O’Callaghan
Communications Manager, Canadian Internet Registration Authority
+1 (613) 237-5335 ext. 262
tanya.ocallaghan@cira.ca

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