NSA launches 'Secure DNS' [telecom]

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By Tim Starks | 06/19/2020 10:00 AM EDT Updated 06/19/2020 06:54 PM EDT

With help from Eric Geller, Martin Matishak, Laurens Cerulus and Daniel Lippman

The NSA recently launched a pilot program to bolster the U.S. defense industrial base against malware, the head of the agency's Cyber- security Directorate said Thursday. The effort to secure a group of defense contractors' Domain Name System protocols, dubbed "Secure DNS," started six weeks ago with the intention of learning whether it's a model that can "jumpstart their security, particularly for smaller- and medium-sized companies that may not have the ability to invest the resources or the right-skilled personnel," Anne Neuberger said during Defense One's Tech Summit. "We know they're targets because they're building weapons technology for the department."