I’ve just posted about this on the OpenDNS System Status site, but the OpenDNS.com website (and blog.opendns.com, etc.) were unavailable due to authoritative DNS failure for about 90 minutes earlier today, starting around 1pm PT (21:00 UTC). Here are the details.

I will repeat myself on a few key points.

First, OpenDNS’s speedy, reliable DNS was not affected. Our website is treated separately from our DNS, for this reason among others.

Second, the cause of the failure was a Denial of Service (DOS) attack on EveryDNS. David Ulevitch, CEO of OpenDNS, also owns and operates EveryDNS, but the two companies are separate. OpenDNS has used EveryDNS services, although we’ve now spread the authoritative DNS for OpenDNS more broadly as a result of this incident.

Third, the DOS attack on EveryDNS continues. It’s being actively worked on, as you can imagine. As we learn more, we’ll share it in this post, since I know other EveryDNS customers are interested, too.

Update: As of 9:30pm PT, December 1 (05:30 UTC December 2), EveryDNS is recovering. Still under attack, but mitigated. Status report on the EveryDNS home page. I’ll leave it to EveryDNS for updates from here on.

Note: you can bookmark or save our OpenDNS System Status site at http://208.67.219.60/ just for rare events like this, whether there is an authoritative or recursive DNS issue.

In his June post Why I Started OpenDNS, OpenDNS founder and CEO David Ulevitch explained how running EveryDNS taught him a lot.

Spammers, Phishers, Botmasters and other Internet Bad Guys use DNS as a vector for running their attacks and schemes to send spam, spread malware and operate phishing sites.

On Friday, July 29, Shadowserver, a public group that tracks and tries to get rid of Botnets (and other bad actors) recognized EveryDNS and David in its inaugural Shadowserver Hall of Fame. Here’s the write-up:

EveryDNS (http://www.everydns.net/) David U. and the EveryDNS team has shut down many botnets. Botnet operators who choose to run domain names provided through EveryDNS have found their net is shut down in quick order. Every abuse email is followed up on quickly and David regularly looks at botnet data provided by Shadowserver Foundation and other agencies to proactively remove abusing botnets before we can send out an abuse report! EveryDNS is responsible for the takedown of a 250k drone botnet last year!

EveryDNS is a separate company from OpenDNS, and focused on a different part of DNS (domain management), but David’s five years at EveryDNS play a large role in the intelligence we’re applying at OpenDNS. We’ve spent a lot of time and attention in talking about phishing, but OpenDNS has plans to contribute in the fight against Botnets, too. Stay tuned.

I know this isn’t the baseball (U.S.) Hall of Fame, which inducted its 2006 class yesterday, but congrats to David and the EveryDNS team, and the other inductees.