ISC Seeks Members

The Internet Software Consortium (ISC), a nonprofit supplier of domain name system software, is offering early warnings about bugs to vendors, researchers, and other users who pay membership fees.

by Colin C. Haley of boston.internet.com [November 22, 2002]

The move comes a week after the Redwood City, Calif.-based Internet Software Consortium (ISC) was criticized for delays in alerting some users to flaws in its application, known as the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) program.

Members of the group, called the BIND Forum, will pay a fee based on their annual gross revenues. Universities and nonprofits are charged a flat fee. There is also an individual membership option.

Forum members will have direct communication with ISC developers and the ability to influence the priority of projects in an annual BIND Workshop.

So far, HP, Ericsson, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and VeriSign have signed up. ISC's goal is to sign 20 members. In addition to honing the ISC's security protocols, the shift from donations and grants will provide the nine-year-old group with a more reliable source of income.

The genesis of the BIND Forum dates to February 2001, when ISC announced plans for an exchange to share information about software bugs.

"The new ISC BIND Forum will benefit members by focusing on security-related issues, including early warning on attacks, defects, and patches," the ISC said in a statement.

It was a just such a warning last week that caused consternation among those who believe BIND problems, once detected, should be widely broadcast instead of rationed out to large players first.

Some users who inquired about patches reportedly receieved an e-mail asking them to join the group, causing them to wait for the fixes or circumvent the process by asking their colleagues.

ISC responded today, saying "it is essential that critical Internet infrastructure such as root and TLD (Top Level Domain) servers are upgraded in a timely manner, and that vendors who ship BIND in their products have an opportunity to stay ahead of potential problems by delivering a patch for their customers before the public disclosure occurs."

Lynda McGinley, ISC's program director, said, "any changes we make in the patch distribution won't be based on negative feedback. It will be based on process."

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