Why Does Microsoft Say Controlling the Dot Microsoft Registry Makes Cloud Names More Secure Than Dot Com by Leaving One Less Point Somebody Can Attack?

On Hanselminutes, Microsoft is starting to move cloud services to the dot Microsoft top-level domain, and Microsoft says the change is more secure. Running the name and controlling the registry leaves one less point somebody can attack.

The Domain Name System was developed in the 80s, in a gentler time, when people worried about jokes more than about other people doing bad things. The web was still a gleam in someone's eye and was not even going to be a thing yet. The speaker says Sir Tim Berners-Lee may have been thinking about the web then, and is not even sure. The protocol has withstood the test of time, with pains along the way, from letter variations and from the operational side. The Domain Name System has long been a vector of DDoS attack because everybody has to have it. The protocol has to underlie pretty much everything, so it gets attacked regularly in all kinds of different ways.

The host asks why dot com is not fine for everyone, and why a dot ninja and a dot Microsoft are needed. Dot Microsoft is quite interesting for the obvious brand reasons. From the security perspective, Microsoft believes it can run the name and control the registry. A cloud name can sit at cloud dot Microsoft. For Microsoft, controlling the registry means one less point somebody can attack.