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Neustar Security Services, a leading provider of cloud-oriented security services that enable global businesses to thrive online, has launched an open and abridged version of its UltraDNS Health Check site at ultradnshealthcheck.com. Until now, UltraDNS Health Check had been reserved for customers subscribing to the company’s UltraDNS line of products, which delivers an enterprise-grade, cloud-based authoritative DNS service to securely deliver fast and accurate query responses to websites and vital online assets. Making this public-facing version of UltraDNS Health Check generally available enables any organisation to leverage a powerful tool in assessing the hygiene of their domains and keep them safe, secure, opt imized and in compliance.

The external UltraDNS Health Check site was designed with hundreds of industry standards and best practices in mind to help identify potential configuration and security issues. It runs more than 20 validations, enabling users to ensure that their domains are RFC-compliant and adhere to best practices. On-demand checks include those for Domains to validate core configurations for appropriate routing and security as well as Name Servers (NS) to flag misconfigurations that could impact security, performance, or query resolution. Additional checks are run for mail exchanges (MX), start of authority (SOA) and DNS Security (DNSSEC).

“Securing your DNS is easy to overlook and difficult to stay on top of, and we are excited to make a resource that has been invaluable to UltraDNS customers available to all,” said Enrique Somoza, director of product management for DNS at Neustar Security Services. “With this external DNS Health Check site, future customers can now see a subset of the full functionality that current customers benefit from every day to assess the hygiene of their DNS and take appropriate action to maintain performance. It is just one of Neustar Security Services’ comprehensive offerings that contribute to the 95 percent customer satisfaction ratings we have achieved in recent periods.”

Taking advantage of the external UltraDNS Health Check site is simple. Users provide their domain names for analysis, alongside contact information to receive their personalised health check reports. The reports offer immediate results and standards-based recommendations on the state of various zones, providing feedback on whether zones are in good standing, in error, may have an issue or do not conform to best practices. The site is free to use regardless of who your DNS providers are.

DNS is a mission critical service responsible for keeping businesses accessible and available, and because it is foundational, it has likely evolved over time along with a company’s strategies, staff and systems. It can be one of the simplest ways into an organisation, and cybercriminals doing reconnaissance find DNS a rich source of information. With DNS, bad actors can gather a domain’s subdomains to accurately map a target, and easily available tools can find hidden servers and reveal a host of different prospective targets. With UltraDNS Health Check, users have an effective platform at their disposal for identifying misconfigurations and potential security issues, gleaning valuable information for taking action to restore DNS hygiene and integrity.