Afilias has announced it will deploy DNSSEC across it registry platforms, signing 13 top-level domains, a move it says is “increasing DNSSEC deployment among domain registries by 50 percent.”  DNSSEC will be deployed first in the .info domain in September, with Afilias-supported TLDs in Asia, the Latin America/Caribbean, and Europe to follow.

The effort, dubbed “Project Safeguard,” will upgrade registries and DNS infrastructure to support DNSSEC and create a year-long across registrar training initiative focused on implementing DNSSEC in registrar-registry transactions.

Afilias also released a survey of domain name registrars on deployment issues. From the announcement, the Registrar DNSSEC Readiness Report findings include:

Registrars think DNSSEC is a good idea, but are not yet fully prepared to offer consumer services.  80 percent of registrars believe that top-level domain (TLD) registries should offer DNSSEC. However 90 percent of registrars currently feel completely unprepared or only somewhat prepared to actually offer DNSSEC services to their customers as this time.

69 percent of Registrars plan to offer DNSSEC services in 2011 or beyond. 32 percent have no plan to introduce DNSSEC within the next 12 months.

Consumer demand is the biggest challenge for registrars. 56 percent cite a lack of consumer demand as their biggest challenge impeding their DNSSEC implementation.

Registrars also cite issues with deploying DNSSEC technology:  For example, nearly 20 percent cite the management of DNSSEC keys as their number one concern, followed by more than 18 percent that cite overall DNSSEC technology and expertise.