Reports of a worldwide internet shutdown are doing the rounds. If you have come across something similar and are worried about the coming internet-less weekend, then you don’t really have much to worry about.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) organization clarified to the daily that the Root Key Signing Key (KSK) Rollover that is underway now will have very little impact on internet users across the world. The change in cryptographic keys was announced in August. In fact, it has been underway for more than a day and has had no significant impact on internet services yet.
“Note that data analysis suggests that more than 99% of users whose resolver are validating will be unaffected,” ICANN.org said in a response to the daily’s queries.
In a blog in July, ICANN said that the decision to roll the root zone KSK was taken after careful consideration and significant outreach effort.
However, the report also mentioned that it can impact users only if “all of a user’s resolvers do not have the new KSK”, then they will see name resolution failures at some point in the next two days. It is, but, impossible to predict when the operators will notice this failure.
According to ICANN data, only about 1% of users are expected to be affected. It said that users who use at least one resolver that is ready for the rollover will see no change in their use of the Domain Name System (DNS) or internet in general after the rollover.
The report of a global internet shutdown started making rounds from Friday morning after news agency ANI quoted an RT.com story. “Internet users across the globe may experience widespread network failures as the key domain servers are slated to undergo routine maintenance over the next 48 hours,” the story read, adding that ICANN “will carry out maintenance work during this time period by changing the cryptographic key that helps protect the internet’s address book or the Domain Name System (DNS). This has been necessitated to counter the rising incidents of cyber attacks, the ICANN said.”
— Via