November 7, 2016

Nominet is to a run Domain Name System (DNS) resolver service to help protect government and all Public Service Network (PSN) connected organisations from malware, phishing, botnets and other threats.

With around 7 million users across government and public sector networks, the Government Digital Service, in partnership with the National Cyber Security Centre, is deploying the service to ensure that websites that host malware or similar security threats are not used as a way to compromise the PSN users and services.

Protection of the PSN will be enhanced by a DNS resolver service provided by Nominet.  This will be rolled out to PSN users, with other Government departments offered the service on an opt-in basis.  The new service will include established commercial intelligence feeds to identify websites connected with malware and prevent those being reached by government computers.  The service will also use Nominet’s network analytics tool “turing” to detect patterns and anomalies in DNS traffic as part of its threat analysis.

Russell Haworth, Nominet CEO, said: “Tackling threats in the DNS infrastructure is a key element of keeping a network safe and optimised.  It is part of how we run a safe and secure .UK, and we’re now using our expertise to help protect the networks that power vital government services”.  To read Nominet’s press release in full, click here.