Key internet server gets relocated for security reasons

By Evan Hansen

One of the 13 key servers that let people get around on the internet was moved this week due to security concerns, said VeriSign, the company that runs the machine.

The move comes just weeks after hackers bombarded the 'root' servers with a flood of data designed to overwhelm them and shut them down, an attack that raised the spectre of an all-out internet collapse.

But VeriSign, which runs two of the net's 13 domain name service (DNS) root servers, said yesterday that the timing of the move was coincidental and that the measure was part of a general program to reduce security risks.

The company said that as part of the programme, it had moved one machine to a new, undisclosed physical and virtual location. The computer, known as the J root server, was previously located in the same building, and connected to the internet through the same subnet, as its companion, the A root server.

Root servers store information that lets net users get around by way of easy-to-remember domain names, such as Amazon.com, and spares them from having to deal with the numeric addresses, such as 66.201.69.207, that computers understand. The servers translate the domain names into their numeric equivalents, or Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The 13 DNS root servers are spread out around the world and are overseen by various bodies.

A representative of domain name registrar VeriSign said the recent attack had little to do with the move. The company had approached the net address system's primary oversight body in August with a request to make the security changes implemented this week, the representative said. That group, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), had recommended moving the J root server a year ago following terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.