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The Root of All E-Mail

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the must-keep-safe dept.

wiredog writes "A Washington Post story about the DNS, the VeriSign NOC, and some of the security therein." Especially interesting in light of the recent security lockdowns throughout much of the Western world. The havoc of losing the A root server would be bad, like Staypuft Marshmallow Man bad.

4 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Bad? by justin_w_hall · · Score: 5, Funny

    Venkman - "I'm a little fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, bad?"

    Egon - "Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."

    Ray - "Total protonic reversal..."

    Venkman - "Alright, important safety tip. Thanks, Egon."

    Ah, one of the great comedies of the 80's...

    --

    ---
    "how can the same street intersect with itself? i must be at the nexus of the universe!" - cosmo kramer
    1. Re:Bad? by jhaberman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hey... this Staypuft guy isn't so bad... He's a sailor... he's in New York.... We get this guy laid, we got nothing to worry about...

      --
      He's totally creeping out the Great One, eh...
  2. Say what now? by st0rmshad0w · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Obscurity is the first line of defense. The building is unmarked, its address unspecified in company literature and its managers tight-lipped about disclosing driving directions or identifying markings to strangers.
    While the location of the building is not a true secret -- dozens if not hundreds of Internet addressing insiders know where it is -- it would be difficult for a casual vandal or criminal to stumble across it, Rippe said.

    And the casual vandal or criminal would be interested in it because?

    For crying out loud, a 1 second Google search on "Verisign NOC" reveals the COMPLETE ADDRESS in a PARTY INVITATION!?!? in the very first result!

    Yeah, I feel safe.

  3. Re:What the---- by iphayd · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, obscurity is the best policy in this instance...

    You see, the _actual_ A list server is sitting in the basement of somebody's house, humming away like it has for the last 20 years (it hasn't been upgraded at all). What was described in the article is the server they show government officials and journalists, so that we, the masses, can sleep better at night. They then hire geeky looking actors to stare at quicktime movies of "net traffic" while the big wig is there.

    15 minutes after the person is gone, the building is shut off, and everyone goes home.