ECN partners with CIRA to offer improved DNS protection and performance

Partnership will use CIRA's D-Zone Anycast service to improve performance and add protection against Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks

FREDERICTON, Aug. 24, 2017 /CNW/ - The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Educational Computer Network (ECN) have introduced a new service to provide ECN members with improved DNS protection and performance. ECN connects post-secondary institutions in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island to provide high quality Information and Communication Technology services to their member institutions.

Under this partnership, CIRA's D-Zone Anycast DNS service is now available to all ECN member colleges and universities. The D-Zone Anycast service delivers protection against Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks and improved DNS performance to help ensure that networks can meet the needs of their staff, student and public users in today's cyber-threat environment.

Key facts:

• ECN is a grouping of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island's colleges and universities. Its operations group, the ECN Network Committee, is comprised of the IT Directors of member institutions and the Maritimes Provinces Higher Education Commission. Its goal is to collaborate, cooperate, and do more with limited resources to ensure high quality ICT services for all member institutions. This service will provide members with an added layer of protection from malicious attacks, while also helping to increase network performance.
• CIRA's D-Zone Anycast DNS service has an expansive and unequalled Canadian footprint, to reduce query latency, keep DNS data in Canada, and through traffic routing help limit the unnecessary flow of cross-border data.
• With the majority of user-impacting DDoS attacks originating from servers located overseas, CIRA's service can help to maintain network performance, even when it is experiencing a significant attack. Our huge global capacity can soak up the attack before it reaches Canadian servers leaving them available to service legitimate queries.
• ECN is the latest Canadian education network to select D-Zone Anycast to protect its member institutions. CIRA now works with post-secondary institutions and school boards coast to coast, offering this service that is particularly tailored to meet the needs of complex public institutions.

Executive quotes:

"DDoS attacks on education ranging from K-12 right through to universities are on the rise. This partnership with ECN is yet another example of our commitment to build a better, safer online Canada. It demonstrates that our expansive footprint and Canada first philosophy is a great fit for the educational sector as they try to protect and enhance their networks."

-          Dave Chiswell, vice president of product development at CIRA

"CIRA's D-Zone Anycast DNS service is a great fit for our member institutions. The ECN Network Committee is excited to provide New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island's colleges and universities with this additional tool to protect our provinces' educational infrastructure."

-          Terry Nikkel, Associate Vice-President, ITS, University of New Brunswick

Additional resources:

• For more information on what CIRA's services can do to help organizations protect their networks and increase web performance, visit CIRA's website.
  
  
• For more information about ECN and their membership, visit their website.

About ECN
Established over 45 years ago, the ECN consortium is made up of universities and colleges in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Their mission is to ensure high quality Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services for all their members.

About CIRA
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain on behalf of all Canadians. A Member-based organization, CIRA also develops and implements policies that support Canada's Internet community, and represents the .CA registry internationally.

SOURCE Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)