VeriSign Expands Project Titan to Strengthen
Internet Infrastructure with New Security Upgrades
After Tenfold Increase in Capacity for .Com and .Net Domain Name Systems,
Proprietary Security Upgrades Being Deployed to Protect Infrastructure
from Cyber Attacks
Mountain View, CA – March 20, 2008 – VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:
VRSN), the leading provider of Internet infrastructure for the networked
world, today announced an expansion of its Project Titan initiative
to include additional security upgrades aimed at strengthening its global
Internet infrastructure.
When it initially unveiled Project Titan in February
2007, VeriSign announced plans to increase capacity of the .com and
.net Domain Name Systems (DNS) by 10 times by 2010, and the development
of new proprietary technologies and processes. Now, VeriSign is announcing
the deployment of additional proprietary security upgrades and monitoring
tools to identify, track and isolate malicious Internet traffic generated
from cyber attacks.
“VeriSign is working to stay ahead of the constantly
changing demands on its Internet infrastructure and threats to its security,”
said Ken Silva, chief technology officer at VeriSign. “The first stage
of Project Titan was focused on the speed of the Internet and range
of our infrastructure. This next stage will focus on ensuring that the
level of security exceeds demands, such as new attacks coming from wireless
devices, to keep the infrastructure stable and operational.”
VeriSign focuses on Internet security and stability
because of the critical role the Internet plays in commerce, communications
and government operations. According to an International Chamber of
Commerce study released this month, a survey of over 1,000 economic
experts from 90 countries said that a one-day Internet blackout would
mean that "businesses would suffer major losses and costly damage
which would have huge and lasting effects."
In the last year, the Internet has experienced new
and evermore complex forms of cyber attacks and disruptions. For example,
government servers in Estonia came under fierce attack last summer,
effectively crippling Web site operations there. And in February, an
effort by a Pakistani telecom provider to block YouTube.com in that
country effectively disrupted access for many global users to the popular
site.
According to the "Internet Security Outlook Report"
issued by CA Inc., social networks and Web 2.0 services and sites are
increasingly becoming the targets for cyber attacks. A Trojan horse
on the iPhone is the latest example of how hand-held devices are increasingly
a target. The U.S. Government last week said that "real and growing"
threats to computer networks and the infrastructure were the focus of
the recent “Cyber Storm II” simulated cyber-security exercises involving
government agencies, private companies and security experts to test
response to threats.
Building on its initiative to expand and diversify
the capacity of its global Internet infrastructure by 10 times by the
year 2010, VeriSign announced it would expand its existing security
by:
Implementing next generation monitoring and response
services. Deploying these tools, developed by VeriSign as part
of the Project Titan security initiatives, will improve the ability
to detect, isolate, and stop security threats to protect the .com and
.net provisioning and resolution systems. The tools are designed to
assist in warding off threats at their early stages before they are
able to damage and compromise networks, platforms and devices.
Implementing new security and operational protocols
to better manage traffic flow and increased protection against application-type
attacks. Deployment of these enhancements are intended to mitigate
the risk of service disruption from attacks that use the behavior of
protocols such as TCP and HTTP that consume computational resources
in order to overload critical systems.
Implementing new tools to track, correlate and pinpoint
security and network related events on a global basis. The ability to
identify various attack vectors against the .com and .net infrastructure
will assist in enabling early elimination of threats to reduce the potential
for repeated incidents and threat of larger scale attacks.
As announced during recent industry meetings, VeriSign
is making enhancements to the root server infrastructure which will
increase the security of DNS by authenticating the origin of DNS data
and verifying its integrity while moving across the Internet. VeriSign
will implement a DNS Security (DNSSEC) testbed for the root zone infrastructure
to prepare for production systems. DNSSEC can help combat
compromised data in name servers, which could then be used to launch
damaging attacks against users, enterprises and the Internet core itself.
As the publisher of the DNS root zone, VeriSign plans to launch this
testbed to help enable the root zone to anchor a global chain of trust
for TLD registry operators who implement DNSSEC within their TLDs and
registrars who provide DNSSEC services for their customers.
In addition to managing the “A” and “J” root servers,
VeriSign manages the critical infrastructure that handles registration
and resolution traffic for the .com and .net top-level domains. In doing
so, VeriSign processes an average peak of more than 33 billion Domain
Name System (DNS) queries per day that can periodically spike to nearly
double that. A DNS query occurs every time an Internet user accesses
a Web site, clicks on a Web link, or sends email from their computer.
As part of the Project Titan initiative, VeriSign
continues to make structural upgrades to the Internet infrastructure:
Additional network operations centers in the eastern
United States and Northern Europe to manage and provide increased redundancy
for Internet traffic. These sites expand VeriSign’s data center capacity
and diversify its locations to improve Internet traffic management and
counter region-specific cyber attacks and threats.
Increasing its daily Domain Name System (DNS) query
capacity from 400 billion queries a day to more than 4 trillion queries
a day and scaling its proprietary constellation of resolution systems
to increase their bandwidth from over 20 gigabits per second (Gbps)
to greater than 200 Gbps.
Distributing its infrastructure to more than 100 locations
around the globe to provide redundancy and reduced latency that improves
the experience for users by reducing bottlenecks and increasing speed.
VeriSign has already deployed these Regional Internet Resolution Sites
(RIRS) in more than 45 locations globally and will complete the implementation
of more than 100 by 2010. RIRS extend the .com, .net and root infrastructures
across the world, which diversifies the systems, increases stability
and improves resolution speed for end users.
First announced a year ago, Project Titan’s aim is
to increase and protect the capabilities of VeriSign’s Internet infrastructure.
VeriSign’s current financial projections include the costs associated
with Project Titan. For more information, visit www.verisign.com/titan.
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), operates Internet infrastructure services
that enable and protect billions of interactions every day across the
world’s voice, video and data networks. Additional news and information
about the company is available at www.verisign.com.
Trademarks
VeriSign, and other trademarks, service marks, and logos are registered
or unregistered trademarks of VeriSign and its subsidiaries in the United
States and in foreign countries.
Copyright © 2008 VeriSign, Inc. All rights reserved.
For more information, contact:
VeriSign Media Relations: Rufus Manning, rmanning@verisign.com,
703.948.4126
VeriSign Investor Relations: Nancy Fazioli, nfazioli@verisign.com,
650.426.5416
VeriSign Industry Analyst Relations: Katie Sheldon Hammler, khammler@verisign.com
703.948.4367
Statements in this announcement other than historical
data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks
and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ
materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements.
The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty
of future revenue and profitability; potential fluctuations in quarterly
operating results due to such factors as the risk that VeriSign's announcements
may not result in additional products, services, customers, profits
or revenues; and increased competition and pricing pressures. More information
about potential factors that could affect the company's business and
financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and quarterly reports
on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the
forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.
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