A Deeper Grasp of Handshake: A Thorough Analysis of Blockchain-based DNS Records

The current domain name system (DNS) relies on specific organizations such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers for its administration. Therefore, misconfigurations or arbitrary deployments by these organizations may have a negative impact on the Internet. Handshake, which is a blockchain-based DNS service, can offer an alternative and extended system to the current DNS by managing the root zone on the blockchain without relying on specific organizations. This paper addresses the following research question: Can Handshake replace the current DNS in the future? At the time of this writing, this is the first detailed analysis of Handshake, with a particular focus on undesirable activities and security issues observable from the blockchain data. By discussing concerns regarding malicious usage of domain names, such as domain squatting, with the usage cost data, the paper demonstrates that there is a significant possibility of domain name abuse with lower cost in general. Furthermore, by discussing system redundancy as part of the blockchain-based DNS, it shows that there is a likelihood for lower redundancy of authoritative DNS servers. In response to the research question, the paper concludes that Handshake cannot and should not replace the current DNS in the future without resolving these issues through the introduction of security measures for general users.