SSAC Comment on Initial Report of the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data Expedited Policy Development Process (R1)

Date IssuedDocumentReference IDCurrent Phase

  

The DNS and the Internet of Things: Opportunities, Risks, and Challenges (R1)SAC105

CLOSED



  1. Phase 1 Receive
  2. Phase 2 Understand
  3. Phase 3 Evaluate
  4. Phase 4 Implement
  5. Phase 5 Close
  6. Closed



Description:

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to enhance our daily lives by seamlessly and autonomously sensing and acting upon our physical environment through tens of billions of connected devices. While this makes the IoT vastly different from traditional Internet applications like email and web browsing, we expect that a significant number of IoT deployments will use the DNS to locate remote services that they need, for instance to enable telemetry data transmission and collection for monitoring and analysis of sensor data.

In this report, the SSAC provides a discussion on the interplay between the DNS and the IoT, arguing that the IoT represents both an opportunity and a risk to the DNS. It is an opportunity because the DNS provides functions and data that can help make the IoT more secure, stable, and transparent, which is critical given the IoT's interaction with the physical world. It is a risk because various measurement studies suggest that IoT devices may stress the DNS, for instance, because of complex DDoS attacks carried out by botnets that grow to hundreds of thousands or in the future millions of infected IoT devices within hours.

We also identify and discuss five challenges for the DNS and IoT industries (e.g., DNS and IoT operators and software developers) to address these opportunities and risks, for instance by making the DNS’s security functions (e.g., response verification and encryption) available on popular IoT operating systems and by developing a shared system that allows different DNS operators to automatically and continually exchange data on IoT botnet activity.

Unlike typical SSAC publications, the aim of this report is to trigger and facilitate dialogue in the broader ICANN community. We therefore provide a tutorial-style discussion that is more forward looking than operational in nature. Our discussion partly falls within ICANN’s and SSAC’s remit, but also goes beyond it, for instance, because the challenges we identify will take a wider range of players to address. We explicitly do not provide any recommendations and do not solicit any actions from the ICANN community or Board.


STATUS UPDATES

DatePhaseTypeStatus Updates

 

ClosedPhase ChangeThis Advice Item is now Closed

 

Phase 1Phase UpdateICANN acknowledged receipt of SAC105 and notified SSAC it will be closed immediately.

 

Phase 1Phase UpdateThe ICANN org understands that the aim of SAC105: The DNS and the Internet of Things: Opportunities, Risks, and Challenges is to trigger and facilitate dialogue in the broader ICANN community. The ICANN org understands that SAC105 does not contain any recommendations nor does it solicit any actions from the ICANN Community or Board and therefore the item will be considered closed.

 

Phase 1Phase ChangeNow in Phase 1: Receive & Acknowledge

 

Phase 1Phase UpdateSSAC published SAC105: The DNS and the Internet of Things: Opportunities, Risks, and Challenges. Link: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/sac-105-en.pdf.