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VeriSign, Inc. () is an American company based in Mountain View, California that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the generic top-level domains for .com and .net, one of the largest SS7 signaling networks in North America, and the RFID directory for EPCGlobal. VeriSign also provides a variety of security and telecom services ranging from digital certificates, payments processing, and managed firewalls to mobile call roaming, toll-free call database queries and downloadable digital content for mobile devices. The company groups all of these functions under the banner of 'intelligent infrastructure' services.
History
VeriSign was founded in 1995 as a spin-off of the RSA Security certification services business. The new company received licenses to key cryptographic patents held by RSA and a time limited non-compete agreement. The new company served as a certificate authority (CA) — a role it still fulfills — and its initial mission was "providing trust for the Internet and Electronic Commerce through our Digital Authentication services and products." VeriSign now has more than 3,000,000 certificates in operation for everything from military to financial services and retail applications, making it the largest CA behind the encryption and authentication on the Internet, which most people recognize as the small padlock icon in their Web browser when shopping online.
The company held an Initial Public Offering on 30 January 1998 for US$14 a share. The pre-IPO investors included RSA Data Security Inc., Bessemer Ventures, Kleiner-Perkins, VISA International, Ameritech, Mitsubishi, Security Dynamics, and Fischer International. Along the way, VeriSign broadened its portfolio of "infrastructure services" by acquiring a number of additional businesses, including Network Solutions in 2000 (from which it derived the domain name business, and later spun off the customer-facing 'registrar' component), Illuminet in 2001 (which marked the company's first foray into telecommunications), Guardent in 2003 (which improved its managed security offering), and Jamba! in 2004 (which is called Jamster! in English-speaking countries and consists of downloadable digital content for mobile phones).
More on [ VeriSign ]
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Advisory Concerning Demand to Remove VeriSign's Wildcard - ICANN announcement that it has issued an ultimatum to VeriSign over the widespread harmful effects of the registrar's unilateral implementation of wildcards for .com and .net.
All your Web typos are belong to us - Reports that network admins are furious at Verisign for redirecting requests for nonexistent domains to an advertisement. [The Register]
Architectural Concerns on the use of DNS Wildcards - Comment by the Internet Architecture Board on adverse effects of using DNS wildcards to resolve unregistered domains.
Confirmation Request e-mail from VeriSign - Text of a form e-mail sent by VeriSign to seek confirmation of a registrar change request and criticism of this process' implementation.
Meta Description: [ Internetworking, security, safety, and more - Thor Kottelin, CISM, CISSP ]
Deceptive renewal letters from VeriSign - Scan of and short comment on Domain Name Expiration Notice letter sent by VeriSign.
Go Daddy Files LawSuit Against VeriSign - A federal lawsuit charges VeriSign with misuse of its position as official registrar to create an unfair competitive advantage by hijacking queries about unregistered domain names. [Web Host Industry Review]
Meta Description: [ Web Host Industry Review provides free Web hosting news, web hosting blogs, web host interviews, web hosting directory, reseller web hosting resources, web host magazine and web hosting TV. TheWHIR.com is all you need to know about web hosting ]
Have you read what VeriSign is doing? - Cartoon commentary on DNS wildcards. Readers voice their opinions. [User Friendly]
Meta Description: [ User Friendly the Comic Strip ]
ICANN panel condemns Site Finder - A report says that VeriSign's redirection of nonexistent domain names to its own site violated accepted norms of conduct, and harmed businesses and individual Internet users. [CNET News.com]
Meta Description: [ ICANN panel condemns Site Finder | Committee says VeriSign's service, which redirected Web surfers using misspelled addresses to its own site, was unneighborly. | July 13, 2004, 12:07 PM PT | Declan McCullagh ]
Jeffrey Zeldman: 2 March 2001 - Conclusion to a tale of poor service from Verisign.
Meta Description: [ The Daily Report, part of a complete breakfast at Jeffrey Zeldman Presents. Entertainment, free graphics, and web design tips since 1995. Featuring the world famous Ad Graveyard, Ask Doctor Web, Mr Jenkins's Last Martini, Steal These Graphics, Pardon My Icons, Letter to Istanbul, Disturbing Patte... ]
Network Solutions Horror Stories - Bulletin board about the bad business practices and service of NSI/Verisign.
Revoke Verisign's Control - Petition to ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce, saying that Verisign's history of incompetence and unethical behavior merits the removal of their control over .com and .net.
Meta Description: [ Revoke Verisign's Control Petition, hosted at PetitionOnline.com ]
Sams Direct Customer Alert Survey - Building its case against eNIC and VeriSign.
Meta Description: [ Pay less for domain names. Register your .com, .net and .org domains. Bulk pricing and private domain name registration options. Web hosting and email accounts available. ]
Suit filed over VeriSign domain redirect - Longtime Internet litigator Ira Rothken has filed a class action suit against VeriSign over the registrar's redirection of mistyped .com and .net names to a search page it controls. [CNET News.com]
Meta Description: [ Suit filed over VeriSign domain redirect | The company is facing a class-action lawsuit over its controversial Site Finder search page. Critics say the redirect service interferes with other Net applications. | September 26, 2003, 5:08 PM PT | John Borland ]
Thanks, VeriSign, for breaking the Internet - The registrar's one-sided decision to change how an Internet protocol functions, without even a Request For Comments, shows that some things are too important to be left in the hands of those whose chief concern is making a buck. [Salon]
Verisign Accused of DNS Slamming - Thomas C. Greene writes: Now Verisign (formerly Network Solutions) is taking heat for a practice which borders on registrar slamming. [The Register]
VeriSign Blackmails Its Former Customers - VeriSign apparently has a campaign going on to illegally threaten their former customers who have long moved their domains to one of the many alternate registrars that they would quickly lose their existing domains if they didn't 'renew' them with VeriSign by clicking on a link provided in an email. News and reader discussion. [kuro5hin]
VeriSign Redirects Error Pages - CNET News article about the company's surprise decision to take control of all unassigned .com and .net domain names.
Meta Description: [ VeriSign redirects error pages | Criticism is growing over the company's surprise decision to take control of all unassigned .com and .net domain names, a move that's wreaking havoc on some filtering tools. | September 16, 2003, 3:31 PM PT | Declan McCullagh ]
Verisign Reportedly Sending Deceptive Domain Registration Bills - Warning mail from GoDaddy Software to its customers about deceptive expiration notices which transfer registration to Verisign at triple the renewal cost. [Politech]
Meta Description: [ Politech is Declan McCullagh's technology and
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VeriSign slammed for helping spammers - Spam-fighters, computer security experts, and engineers are critical of VeriSign's decision to serve up advertisements in place of notices that a domain name does not exist. [ZDNet]
Meta Description: [ Network operators, anti-spam campaigners, security experts and engineers have all hit out at VeriSign over changes it made to the top level domain system on Monday. ]
VeriSign Sucks - A collection of links to information about problems with VeriSign/Network Solutions/NetSol, and alternatives to VeriSign.
Meta Description: [ A collection of links to information about problems with VeriSign / Network Solutions / NetSol, and alternatives to VeriSign. ]
VeriSign Sued Over Site Finder - Popular Enterprises, the operator of Netster.com, has filed suit against VeriSign, alleging antitrust violations and unfair business practices. [IDG News Service]
Meta Description: [ Domain name registrar accused of stealing Web traffic. ]
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Meta Description: [ Already reviled by network operators, Verisign's ambitious typosquatting project is raising hackles with privacy advocates too.
]
VeriSign's redirect page leaking data - The search page at VeriSign, which appears for all mistyped .com and .net sites, passes information to a marketing firm. A computer security researcher said that this could include personal information. [The Sydney Morning Herald]
Meta Description: [ VeriSign's sitefinder service, the page on its website to which all mistyped .com and .net queries are now routed by the registrar, is leaking information to marketing analysis firm Omniture, according to Richard M. Smith, an independent security researcher. - The Sydney Morning Herald ]
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