Defaults.Exposed › September 2026 census › v10 registry › DNSSEC
DNSSEC
Methodology v10 · canonical ID dnssec · DNS Security · scored · census as of September 5, 2026
Stops attackers hijacking your domain to send visitors to a fake copy of your site.
Definition
| Canonical ID | dnssec |
|---|---|
| Category | DNS Security |
| Grade impact | Scored, counts toward the grade |
| Pass | The chain of trust validates end to end: a DS record at the parent zone anchors it, and the zone publishes DNSKEY records that validate against that DS record. The census scores the chain as one check, because a chain that is broken at either end provides no protection at all. |
| Fail | No DS record exists, so the zone is unsigned from the parent’s point of view; or DNSKEY is missing or does not validate against the DS record, which is the signed-but-broken state. A validating resolver rejects the answer in the second case, which is worse for visitors than being unsigned. |
| Example (passing) | example.com. IN DS 12345 13 2 A1B2C3…
example.com. IN DNSKEY 257 3 13 mdsswUyr… |
No-data rule: when this check couldn't be determined for a domain (timeout, SERVFAIL, redacted source) it returns N/A and is excluded from that domain's scoring denominator: "couldn't determine" is never counted as a failure. "Determined absent" is a real fail.
Prevalence across the census
6.86% of graded domains have a valid, fully validating DNSSEC chain (21,732,692 of 316,600,902, as of September 5, 2026).
Scored as a single signed-and-validating measure rather than split into DS and DNSKEY, because a chain broken at either end protects nothing. A further share of domains are signed but broken.
Census denominator: 316,600,902 graded domains. Aggregates only: never an individual domain's result.
Fix it
Plain-English impact, cost of ignoring it, and step-by-step remediation: defaults.exposed/fix/dnssec
Cite this check
Defaults.Exposed, "DNSSEC (dnssec)", Grading Methodology v10 (census as of September 5, 2026). https://defaults.exposed/methodology/dnssec
Permalink: https://defaults.exposed/methodology/dnssec ·
All 33 checks: v10 registry ·
Machine-readable: /methodology/checks.json ·
Licence: open data