Authentic Web Delivers A Completely Re-Engineered Tool Set For How Enterprises Operate Their Digital Footprint

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Below is our recent interview with Peter LaMantia, the Founder and CEO of Authentic Web:

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction of why you started Authentic Web?

A: Sure. All the way back to the late 1990s I’ve experienced a big problem as a manager that I’ve found affects almost every company. The issue is how to safely and effectively manage the domains that organizations own – often hundreds or even thousands of them. My organization would periodically drop a huge Excel spreadsheet on my desk with a list of a 1,000 domains. My task was to confirm which ones we wanted to keep and which to let expire. It was an almost impossible task since I had no idea what services might be running on the domains. Closer inspection reveals a bigger problem that companies have. The process for ordering, managing and controlling domains is largely manual. This can lead to serious security issues. Digital networks fully depend on domains and the Domain Name System(DNS). The smallest error or issue can do serious damage to a company’s digital operation. Excel spreadsheets are no way to manage such a critical area.

Adding to the problem is the relatively recent massive expansion of Top Level Domains, or “TLDs.” Managing thousands of .com, .net and .org domains is tricky enough. But now there are over 1,200 new variations of top-level domains and the expansion is continuing.

So, we formed Authentic Web with a completely re-engineered tool set for how enterprises operate their digital footprint. We designed an elegant software application that lets companies and their key internal stakeholders easily manage their domains and DNS.

Companies that have adopted our solution tell us they have improved their digital security, established easier control over this complex operation, improved operating efficiency by reducing their total cost of ownership by a significant margin.

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Q: What can go wrong in domain and DNS setup and how do you solve it?

A: Domains and the DNS network they operate represent the digital footprint of a business. As individuals, every single mouse click you and I make online relies on the domain name system. Without adequate controls over the DNS, a digital business can go dark. Trivial yet common human errors such as neglecting to renew a domain, or accidentally changing the wrong DNS setting can shut down critical applications such as an e-commerce system, a corporate website or even an online banking system. This can be catastrophic. Even more concerning is the risk of intentional damage to networks caused by cyber criminal hackers. Specifically, domain hijacks, DNS cache poisoning, control system hacks, endpoint compromises, and unauthorised changes that create network exposures are quite common and on the rise. We hear about the big failures in the news all the time. Many more are happening everyday that do not make the news. They are happening right now.

In the end, internal personnel are the biggest problem. Responsibility for domains and DNS crosses digital, IT, IP and executive lines in the company. Control and oversight is lacking. It can be as simple as people forgetting – to renew, to turn down DNS settings, to set security extensions, delete a zone file value or other tasks. Then there is lack of change management controls end-to-end due to silo systems and ownership across the enterprise. There is also a lack of knowledge, personnel turn over, employees who just don’t care or those that may intentionally create DNS exposures. All of this leaves the enterprise without control. In summary, the actions and inactions taken by many, many people who turn over, expose the business.

Authentic Web addresses these issues by bringing all the functions together in one unified control system that manages the domain lifecycle using Access Controls, Change Management and Visibility. We solve the problem of oversight and control to ensure the enterprise DNS is managed by systems vs reliant on people to do the right thing.

Q: How can you improve some company’s domain performance?

A: We give teams the tools they need to see and manage their digital footprint to optimize digital performance. Our purpose as a business is to empower customer teams to outcompete. Empowering means giving functional stakeholders access to business intelligence information to make decisions based on data and then providing them the tools to efficiently adjust to improve their current digital position. It is up to enterprise teams in digital and IT to move the dials, Authentic Web provides the dials.

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Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: Our customers and their stated needs are the best source of product roadmap direction for us. We’ve done such a good job helping companies get their domains and DNS under control; they’d like to extend the benefits to managing further automation over SSL certificate management, IP addresses and other parts of their digital network.

Track two on the roadmap is the invention of new brand TLD technologies designed for varying customer use cases. These range from security, monitoring, cascading content and analytics. The Internet is changing and our vision is that all major and aspiring brands will eventually move to proprietary brand TLDs that are authentic, controlled more secure and represent a digital network on which to build innovation initiatives. You can also check our Security and Compliance Webinar. We intend to build a technology leadership position with technologies focused to empower team successes in these new proprietary digital spaces.