The hidden impact of DNS on internet users

According to a new report, 92 percent of UK companies have limited visibility into the impact DNS performance is having on their internet users and visitors to their online resources.

The study by cyber security company Neustar and research firm Quocirca shows that although DNS is a fundamental utility supporting the internet, and relied on by all businesses, visibility is hampered by complexity with 45 percent of organizations having as many as eight different ways of provisioning their DNS infrastructure.

Based on interviews with 100 senior IT decision makers at UK-based businesses in a variety of sectors, the report reveals that 72 percent of organizations regularly suffer from at least one of six critical issues that impact website and application availability (including DDoS attacks, network access issues and web server downtime). In addition 61 percent have performance issues -- any of these 'internet problems' are potentially DNS-related.

Lack of full visibility across all areas of DNS, including frequency of dropped requests, cache poisoning, latency and overall load on DNS infrastructure makes it impossible to ensure a consistent service to internal and external internet users. Only eight percent of respondents say they have full DNS visibility.

While 89 percent of respondents claim to be using a specialist DNS service provider, just 15 percent have committed to using it for both internal and external DNS purposes to provide advanced features like mitigation against DDoS attacks, reducing infrastructure load and central management tools to improve visibility.

"DNS has been called the most important part of the internet that people don't know about and it's time IT managers woke up to what a professional DNS service can deliver to business," says Rodney Joffe, SVP and fellow at Neustar. "As the report highlights, DNS can be so much more than a website address directory. Provisioned correctly, by a reputable specialist DNS service provider, it can defend the frontline in the fight against cyber-attacks, maximise the use of back end resources, ensure governance and be a rich source of marketing data."

You can find out more about the study and managed DNS services on the Neustar website.

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