Poison in the Cache: Dan Kaminsky Saves the Internet

Listeners, please note that this episode was recorded before the show’s name changed to Found in the Machine, so you’ll hear the old name in this episode. 

Every time you type a web address, you're trusting a directory. A vast, invisible system that translates the names you know into the numbers that actually move data across the internet. You trust it the way a town trusts its well.

In 2008, a security researcher named Dan Kaminsky discovered that the well had no lid.

In this episode

• DNS - the Domain Name System and why it matters
• Dan Kaminsky - security researcher and internet advocate 
• Cache poisoning - the class of attack Dan found hiding in the internet's foundation
• The patch - a secret meeting, a deadline, and a synchronized fix 

Episode Music

• Jay Opie / Nihilore, CC BY 4.0
  • "Closest Strangers"
  • "Single Lane Tunnel" 
  • "The Dweller on the Threshold"
  • "A Different World by Night" 

Additional Reading

Choi, S. G. (n.d.). Remote DNS attacks and DNS defenses [Lecture notes, IT432 Advanced Computer and Network Security]. U.S. Naval Academy. https://www.usna.edu/Users/cs/choi/it432/lec/l07/lec.html

Vixie, P. (2008, July 14). Not a guessing game. CircleID. https://circleid.com/posts/87143_dns_not_a_guessing_game/

Internet Hall of Fame. (2022, March 23). A dedicated approach to Internet security: Daniel Kaminsky. https://www.internethalloffame.org/2022/03/23/dedicated-approach-internet-security-daniel-kaminsky/

Kaminsky, D. (2008). Black Ops 2008: It's the end of the cache as we know it [Conference presentation, DEF CON 16]. Video: https://media.blackhat.com/bh-usa-08/video/bh-us-08-Kaminsky/black-hat-usa-08-kaminsky-blackops08-hires.m4v (Note: this is Kaminsky's DEF CON Black Ops talk, not Black Hat)

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