What is a CAA record and should my business have one?

A CAA (Certification Authority Authorization) record is a DNS record that names which certificate authorities are allowed to issue HTTPS certificates for your domain. Only 5% of Australian small business domains publish a CAA record^*, which makes it one of the easiest ways to be ahead of the pack:

• Without one - any certificate authority in the world may issue a certificate for your domain if an attacker can pass its checks.
• With one - every authority except those you have named is required to refuse.
• It is a one-line record - most businesses simply name their existing certificate provider, such as Let’s Encrypt.
• Effectively free - it costs nothing, takes minutes wherever you manage DNS, and never needs day-to-day attention.

If you know which provider issues your certificates, you already know what to put in the record.