Headlines continue apace with stories of cyberattacks — rising in frequency, sophistication, and cost. Wire fraud, executive spoofing, gift card scams, fake W2 or invoicing requests…the list grows endlessly. Yet most coverage misses a critical commonality: Virtually every attack begins with impersonation, be it of the site, email, credentials or entity. Modern cybercriminals rarely attack directly; instead, they masquerade as a trusted party, website or person. Whether posing as your CEO, your bank or a legitimate vendor, deception through impersonation has become a universal entry point for cyber fraud.
The premise, therefore, is that if we can establish that the site, email, person or entity is not who or what they claim to be, we can eliminate the vast majority of these threats before they gain traction. Simply put, upfront authentication isn’t just a technical safeguard; it’s a critical layer to neutralizing today’s most prevalent cyberattacks.
Establishing authenticity to start, therefore, enables the recipient to know whether further interaction, sharing or distributing of information is merited and safe. While organizations invest heavily in sophisticated cybersecurity, one system capable of providing verifiable, tamper-resistant truth about digital identity already exists within the internet’s foundational infrastructure: the Domain Name System. DNS is a system that most organizations use for basic connectivity but might overlook for the security capabilities it has evolved to provide.
