To help network administrators implement and deploy DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security) correctly, Casey Deccio of Sandia National Laboratories has created a free online tool called DNSViz. As its name suggests, DNSViz provides a visual analysis for the DNSSEC authentication chain and its path to the domain name server.

DNSSEC was created to foil or at least make it more difficult to mount attacks against the trust-based nature of the domain name resolution process. As reported in 2010, the 13 name servers operating the root zone of the Internet's DNS have already been digitally signed with DNSSEC. It has seen a slow adoption across the Internet since, with Comcast being the first large ISP in North America to fully implement DNSSEC recently.

Explaining the genesis behind DNSViz, Deccio noted that "DNSSEC is hard to configure correctly and has to undergo regular maintenance. Besides adding complexity to IT systems, an improperly configured DNSSEC setup may also prevent users from accessing a desired site. Deccio has plans to add alerts and APIs so that DNSViz can be integrated with other tools as part of a scalable monitoring system.

For now, the online tool can be accessed here.

For more:
- check out this article at Dark Reading

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