By Mikkel Hald, 25/03/20
On Monday, March 23rd 2020, users attempting to access web services through WAYF sporadically met with error messages like CKR_TOKEN_NOT_PRESENT and encryption error.
This instability was caused by DNS issues at WAYF's supplier, NORDUnet A/S. Here, with Denmark in a state of COVID19 emergency, an all-time high network load is seen these days. Which last Monday morning caused an overload of the company's DNS resolvers, this in turn cutting off WAYF's SSO servers from connecting properly to WAYF's hardware security modules.
The Corona Crisis is a teacher to all of us. NORDUnet A/S following this incident has fortified its DNS system considerably, and expects this issue not to reoccur. WAYF, for its part, is redoubling efforts to robustify the connectivity between HSMs and SSO servers.