Defaults.Exposed › September 2026 census › v10 registry › DNSSEC (DS)
DNSSEC (DS)
Methodology v10 · canonical ID dnssec-ds · 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-ds |
|---|---|
| Category | DNS Security |
| Grade impact | Scored, counts toward the grade |
| Pass | A DS record exists at the parent zone, anchoring the DNSSEC chain of trust. |
| Fail | No DS record exists (the zone is unsigned from the parent’s view), or the chain is broken. |
| Example (passing) | example.com. IN DS 12345 13 2 A1B2C3… |
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).
The census reports DNSSEC as a single signed-and-validating measure: not split into DS vs DNSKEY. A further share 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 (DS) (dnssec-ds)", Grading Methodology v10 (census as of September 5, 2026). https://defaults.exposed/methodology/dnssec-ds
Permalink: https://defaults.exposed/methodology/dnssec-ds ·
All 34 checks: v10 registry ·
Machine-readable: /methodology/checks.json ·
Licence: open data