Roadmap, or exploration of future functionality

Interesting future functionality

In addition to checking SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for a domain, there are several other useful and practical functionalities that you could include in your domain auditing system. These additional features would enhance security, performance, and overall health checks for the domain. Here’s a comprehensive list of features you might want to consider:

1. SSL/TLS Certificate Validation

• Check SSL/TLS Certificate: Verify that the domain has a valid SSL certificate installed, check its expiration date, and ensure that the certificate chain is complete.
• SSL Configuration: Audit the strength of the SSL configuration (e.g., supported protocols and ciphers). Tools like SSL Labs can give a rating, and you could include this as part of your audit.
• Certificate Transparency Logs: Verify that the domain’s certificates appear in Certificate Transparency logs to detect any fraudulent certificates.

1. DNS Record Health Check

• A, AAAA Records: Ensure that the domain resolves correctly to an IP address and provides both IPv4 (A) and IPv6 (AAAA) records if applicable.
• MX Records: Check that valid mail exchange (MX) records are set up for email delivery.
• CNAME Records: Ensure the proper use of CNAME records and check for any misconfigurations.
• NS Records: Verify that the correct name servers (NS) are associated with the domain.

1. DNSSEC Validation

• DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions): Check if DNSSEC is enabled, ensuring the integrity of DNS responses by verifying that they are digitally signed.

1. WHOIS Information & Expiration

• WHOIS Lookup: Display registration information for the domain, including ownership details, registration and expiration dates.
• Domain Expiration: Alert if the domain is nearing expiration to avoid potential service disruptions.

1. Email Security Checks

• Open Relay Test: Ensure the mail server is not an open relay, preventing unauthorized users from sending emails through the domain.
• Blacklist Check: Verify if the domain or associated IPs are on email blacklists (e.g., Spamhaus, Barracuda). This can impact email deliverability.

1. Subdomain & Wildcard Record Check

• Subdomain Enumeration: Audit subdomains to ensure none are vulnerable, misconfigured, or publicly exposed without proper security.
• Wildcard Records: Check for any wildcard DNS records (*) that could unintentionally expose your domain.

1. Web Application Security

• HTTP Headers Audit: Check for common security headers like X-Content-Type-Options, Content-Security-Policy, Strict-Transport-Security, etc.
• Redirect Validation: Ensure that HTTP to HTTPS redirection is properly set up.
• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Protection: Verify whether headers and settings that prevent XSS attacks are present.

1. Brute Force & Rate-Limiting Protections

• Rate-Limiting: Check if the web server or application has rate-limiting mechanisms in place to protect against brute force attacks or resource exhaustion.

1. Uptime Monitoring

• Service Availability: Check the domain’s uptime and response times, monitoring performance over time. Tools like Pingdom or UptimeRobot can be integrated for alerts.

1. Content Verification

• Website Defacement Detection: Check for changes in website content that could indicate defacement or security breaches.
• Malware Scanning: Scan the domain for known malware signatures or indications of a compromised site.

1. Redirection Check

• Check for Improper Redirects: Ensure the domain doesn’t redirect to malicious or unintended locations.

1. Reverse DNS (PTR Records)

• PTR Record Validation: Check if reverse DNS (rDNS) entries are set up correctly, which can be useful for email server validation and anti-spam measures.

1. CDN & Performance Auditing

• Content Delivery Network (CDN) Check: Detect whether the domain is using a CDN and verify that it’s configured properly for performance and security (e.g., Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront).
• Page Load Speed: Analyze the performance of the website, including time-to-first-byte, page load speed, and whether caching is effectively used.

1. Geolocation of Servers

• Server Location Verification: Check where the servers hosting the domain are located geographically. This can be useful for regulatory compliance and understanding latency issues.

1. Redundant NS and MX Configuration

• NS and MX Redundancy Check: Ensure that name servers and mail servers have redundancy to avoid single points of failure.

1. Broken Link Detection

• Broken Links Check: Audit the domain for broken internal and external links that could impact user experience or SEO.

1. SEO & Indexing Checks

• Robots.txt: Check the robots.txt file to ensure it’s not inadvertently blocking important content from being indexed by search engines.
• Sitemap Check: Validate if the domain has an XML sitemap that helps search engines crawl the website efficiently.
• Canonical Tags: Ensure proper use of canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues.

1. Security Vulnerability Scanning

• Basic Vulnerability Scans: Run basic scans for common web vulnerabilities (SQL injection, XSS, etc.) using tools like OWASP ZAP or Nikto.

1. Brand & Domain Protection

• Typosquatting Check: Identify any domains registered that are similar to yours (typosquatting), which could be used in phishing attacks.
• Domain Backorder Monitoring: Monitor important or similar domains that are expiring or available for backordering to prevent third-party ownership.

1. Historical DNS & Record Tracking

• Historical DNS Changes: Track past changes in DNS records (useful for identifying breaches or misconfigurations over time).

1. Customizable Reporting & Alerts

• Automated Reports: Create detailed reports on the health and security status of the domain.
• Real-time Alerts: Offer real-time notifications for critical issues like certificate expiration, blacklisting, or DNS changes.

1. Third-Party Service Integrations

• Integration with External APIs: Integrate with external services (like Google Safe Browsing, VirusTotal, etc.) for malware scanning and threat detection.
• API Access: Provide an API for users to automate domain checks.

These features would offer a comprehensive audit of a domain, covering its security, performance, email configuration, and overall health.

Further considerations

Here are some additional commercially-focused suggestions that can further enhance your domain auditing system’s business appeal and create more value for different customer segments:

1. Domain Insurance and Guarantees

   • Domain Security Insurance: Partner with insurance companies to offer domain security insurance for premium customers. This could cover losses due to domain hijacking, phishing attacks, or downtime caused by DNS issues. • Guaranteed Remediation: Offer a guarantee that, if your system fails to detect or prevent a certain type of issue (e.g., SPF misconfiguration, DKIM failure), you will provide remediation services for free or offer compensation.

2. Upselling Through Analytics & Data

   • Premium Data Access: For users with technical expertise, provide access to raw data from their audits (e.g., DNS queries, SSL certificate details, email deliverability metrics) via an API or downloadable reports. This could be sold as an advanced feature for tech-savvy customers or businesses with in-house IT/security teams. • Actionable Insights & Custom Alerts: Offer customers data-driven insights into how their domain security and performance trends can be improved. For example, suggest optimized DNS configurations, or provide personalized alerting based on industry best practices.

3. Value-Added Domain Security Features

   • Zero-Downtime DNS Switching: Offer a feature where users can seamlessly switch DNS providers or change DNS records without downtime, a service that’s attractive to businesses with critical online operations. • SSL Revocation Monitoring: Track SSL certificates for revocation status in real time and alert users if their SSL certificate is revoked for any reason, ensuring that they can take immediate action to replace it.

4. Global Infrastructure Support & Resiliency

   • Global CDN (Content Delivery Network) Integration: Offer integration with global CDNs (e.g., Cloudflare, Akamai) to optimize website performance for users around the world. This can attract e-commerce and SaaS customers who need fast global access. • High Availability Features: Provide solutions for global domain redundancy and failover systems to ensure minimal downtime. This is particularly valuable for mission-critical websites that need a 99.99% uptime guarantee. • DNS Failover Services: Offer failover services for DNS, automatically switching to backup servers or routing traffic through different nodes if there’s a problem with the primary DNS provider.

5. Domain-Related Marketing Services

   • Domain Reputation Management: Extend your platform’s scope to include domain reputation management, monitoring for spam blacklisting, and general domain credibility across the web. This can help ensure that email deliverability remains high and that search engines don’t penalize the domain. • Brand and Domain Protection Monitoring: Proactively monitor for brand infringement, typosquatting, and phishing domains that use similar names to the audited domain. You can offer takedown services or advisories on defensive domain registration strategies to protect brand reputation.

6. Customer-Focused Revenue Models

   • Consulting and Professional Services: Offer paid consulting services for businesses looking for personalized assistance in setting up or improving their domain’s security infrastructure. This could include one-on-one consultations, white-glove setup for SPF/DKIM/DMARC, or security audits. • Premium Support Plans: Charge additional fees for premium support plans, such as 24/7 phone support, dedicated customer success managers, or faster response times for troubleshooting issues. • Pay-Per-Use Services: Some clients, especially enterprises or agencies, may prefer a pay-per-use model, where they only pay for the services or audits they run. This is particularly useful when they manage seasonal domains or have fluctuating needs.

7. Enhanced Compliance and Regulatory Features

   • Real-Time Compliance Updates: Offer real-time updates on evolving security standards and regulatory frameworks like GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, etc. Your platform can alert users if their domain becomes non-compliant due to changes in laws or regulations. • Sector-Specific Compliance Reporting: Develop compliance audit features tailored to specific industries, such as finance (PCI-DSS) or healthcare (HIPAA), which have stricter data security requirements.

8. Strategic Partnerships for Ecosystem Growth

   • Integrations with Cybersecurity Platforms: Partner with cybersecurity platforms like CrowdStrike or Sophos to provide integrated domain security solutions. This could involve offering a unified view of domain security along with endpoint and network security. • Managed Security Service Partnerships: Collaborate with Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) to include your domain auditing services as part of their broader cybersecurity offerings, particularly for large enterprises and organizations with compliance mandates.

9. AI-Driven Automation and Risk Management

   • AI-Based Risk Score for Domains: Implement an AI-driven risk scoring model that assesses how vulnerable a domain is based on various factors (e.g., DNS configurations, SSL/TLS usage, IP reputation). Customers can receive tailored recommendations based on their score, which could drive upsells to more advanced protection services. • AI-Driven Auto-Healing: Provide auto-remediation features where AI can detect and fix common domain-related problems without user intervention, like misconfigured SPF/DKIM/DMARC records or expired SSL certificates.

10. Multi-Layer Domain Performance Monitoring

    • Real User Monitoring (RUM): Implement Real User Monitoring to measure actual user experience data across different regions or ISPs. This helps businesses track how domain performance, loading times, and security configurations affect real end users. • Global Latency Tracking: Offer tools to track global latency and performance, showing customers how DNS, CDN, and SSL choices impact their users in various regions, which is especially important for e-commerce and SaaS providers.

11. Cross-Selling Opportunities

    • Web Application Firewall (WAF): Offer a Web Application Firewall as a premium add-on, providing an extra layer of protection against attacks like SQL injection, XSS, and DDoS, which complements your core auditing services. • Email Deliverability Optimization: Include tools or consulting services to improve email deliverability for marketing teams, ensuring that SPF/DKIM/DMARC records are configured correctly for optimal results with popular email services (Gmail, Office365, etc.).

12. Custom Solutions for Enterprise Clients

    • Custom Enterprise Dashboards: Provide enterprise clients with custom dashboards that allow them to audit and monitor hundreds of domains simultaneously, with advanced analytics and exportable reports for internal audits. • Private Cloud Deployments: Offer private, on-premise, or hybrid cloud deployments for customers that require complete control over their data, particularly in highly regulated industries like finance or healthcare.

13. Customer Advocacy & Community Building

    • Community and User Forum: Build a community around your platform with user forums, webinars, and networking events. This helps customers exchange knowledge, troubleshoot issues, and share best practices. • Customer Advocacy Program: Develop a customer advocacy program where your most loyal or successful clients can become brand ambassadors. They can provide testimonials, participate in case studies, and refer new customers.

14. Market Expansion Through Acquisitions or Partnerships

    • Strategic Acquisitions: Explore acquiring smaller, complementary tools or platforms (e.g., SSL monitoring services, reputation management platforms) to quickly expand your features and customer base. • Partnership with Cloud Providers: Forge partnerships with major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) to bundle your services with their cloud offerings, providing domain auditing as part of a comprehensive cloud security solution.

15. Multi-Year Contracts and Enterprise Discounts

    • Enterprise Multi-Year Contracts: Offer discounted pricing for customers who sign multi-year contracts, providing them with long-term domain security monitoring and auditing services. • Volume Discounts for Agencies or Enterprises: Provide volume-based discounts for agencies or enterprises managing large portfolios of domains. This can attract digital marketing firms, e-commerce brands, or large IT departments that manage dozens or hundreds of domains.

16. Co-Marketing and Sponsorship Opportunities

    • Co-Marketing Campaigns: Partner with industry organizations or influencers to co-host webinars, publish whitepapers, or sponsor events. This can raise brand awareness and drive new business by demonstrating expertise in domain security and compliance. • Sponsorship of Cybersecurity Events: Sponsor relevant conferences, webinars, or online courses in cybersecurity or web performance to elevate brand credibility in the domain security space.

17. Referral and Affiliate Programs

    • Aggressive Referral Programs: Develop an attractive referral program for existing customers where they receive significant discounts, additional features, or financial rewards for bringing in new customers. • Affiliate Marketing: Build an affiliate marketing program where IT consultants, digital marketers, or cybersecurity influencers earn commissions by promoting your domain auditing services.

By incorporating these commercial features, you’ll create a more robust platform that appeals to a broader range of businesses while offering flexible pricing models, value-added services, and strategic partnerships to drive growth.