What is DNS? What is the current status?
DNS (Domain Name System) is like the phone book of the Internet, which converts easy-to-understand domain names into specific Internet IP address protocols, so that browsers such as Google Chrome and Microsoft IE can retrieve the correct website for users.
DNS has evolved since 1983 to meet the ever-changing needs of the Internet. For DNS to function correctly, it must provide users with continuous availability, data integrity, and privacy, ensuring that third parties cannot easily analyze an individual user’s browsing history. However, DNS packets are usually not encrypted, and when a user sends a request to a DNS server, the DNS server and everyone else on the route (including the Internet provider and anyone else connected to the WiFi) know what website the user is visiting.
Currently, DNS is managed centrally by ICAAN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a non-profit international organization located in the United States, in which the registry manages the first-level root system. For example, VeriSign is the registry of the domain name .com. Domain names with a .com suffix are managed by VeriSign. The registrar/registrar (registrar) manages the secondary system and provides domain name registration services to registrants in the marketplace.
Today, giant companies such as Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Amazon, Google, and Namecheap dominate the field of domain name registration, providing domain registration and rental services to users in a centralized manner that is not private, democratic, or secure. They can delete customers’ domain names at any time, while also exposing those domain names to the risk of hacking and information hijacking.
The most common attacks on domain names are DNS hijacking or redirection attacks, DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, and DNS tunneling attacks.
DNS hijacking or redirection attacks: These attacks redirect users from expected URLs to other malicious websites, direct users to enter personal information, or download viruses or malware to their computers.
DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack: A large number of small access requests are aggregated into a huge data flow, causing the server to fail to work normally. The DDOS attack on the website is only one aspect. If the servers of major registrars or even ICANN itself are attacked by DDOS, most of the network may be paralyzed, causing economic losses and even political chaos.
DNS Tunneling: Bypassing firewalls and other security measures, injecting large amounts of toxic data through the DNS path. Hackers can control problematic domain names through DNS tunnels and steal large amounts of domain name data. This is the method used by notorious Iranian hackers to damage corporate and government websites in the United States, Israel and other countries.
Advantages of blockchain domain name ZNS
Based on the huge data and inherent security risks of DNS, ZNS can use the distributed nature of blockchain to store this information on hundreds of nodes around the world, and maximize the resistance to hacker attacks on the premise of ensuring security and encryption.
The ZNS blockchain domain name is created by a smart contract, using a special domain name .zks extension, and the domain name owner will receive a private key after registering the extension on the blockchain. Domain names can be fully controlled with a private key without the need to apply for approval or registration with an external centralized organization. These domains are similar to blockchain wallets to which users can send cryptocurrency payments directly.
ZNS is different from other blockchain systems, and its suppliers generally provide equal voting rights for each node. In general, all nodes must participate in a “vote” to approve DNS changes. While the system isn’t perfect, it helps prevent “whales,” or powerful groups of nodes from dominating the system from making harmful changes, effectively defending against hacking.
Another benefit of the decentralization of ZNS blockchain domain names is that they are not easily taken down by governments and corporate entities. For journalists and activists, who face the constant threat of content removal or “censorship,” and for countries where a free press does not exist, anti-censorship would go a long way toward boosting democratic freedoms. At the same time, the blockchain domain name is also your decentralized identity, which is fully owned by you. Users use .zks to register blockchain and cryptocurrency domain names for your wallet, website and decentralized application (DApp). Simplify cryptocurrency trading and build your decentralized website. Bind your wallet, website and decentralized applications with a simple and easy-to-remember domain name, no need to copy and paste long addresses, easy to use, ZNS is your username in the web3 world, and it is also your digital identity. ZNS will continue to explore in the security and scalability of blockchain-related services and WEB3 social networking, provide more convenient services for everyone, and build the cornerstone of the future world web3.
About ZNS
ZNS is a decentralized name service on zkSync Era,a Web3 DID built on zkSync. It aims to revolutionize the decentralized identities in the zkSync Era ecosystem.Everyone can register.zks domain name and it is your web3 identity.Throughout the zkSync ecosystem, you need to use it.
