Germany says yes to DANE

The German government has mandated the use of the DANE protocol for future use in secure email. It's a big boost for the security protocol.

In a technical directive aimed at ISPs, the guidelines include DANE (DNS-based authentication of named entities) alongside DNSSEC as part of the "secure email transport" standard.

Although many in the technical community are behind DANE due to the extra security it offers, and the US government is working on a similar approach, it is not without controversy.

Last year, one engineer warned that the use of DANE could make it easier for governments to spy on emails, since it uses top-level domains as the security lynchpin and governments could exert control over a particular registry. That assertion was criticized as being "paranoid" by another DNS export.

You can read more on the German government's guidelines and a breakdown of the system online (pages in German). ®