Why DNSSEC is Not Recommended for Shopify Domains

A technical guide to understanding compatibility issues

1 Understanding the Conflict: DNSSEC vs. Shopify's Infrastructure

What DNSSEC Does

DNSSEC is a security protocol that adds a layer of cryptographic verification to DNS lookups. It ensures that the DNS response your browser receives (e.g., "example.com maps to Shopify's IP 123.45.67.89") is authentic and hasn't been tampered with by a malicious actor. It does not encrypt traffic; that's the job of HTTPS/SSL.

How Shopify Uses DNS

Shopify operates on a massive, complex, and dynamic infrastructure. They use a content delivery network (CDN) and multiple cloud providers. The IP addresses that your domain needs to point to are not static; they are CNAME records (like shops.myshopify.com) or A records that Shopify might change for performance, security, or scaling reasons.

The Problem

When you enable DNSSEC for your domain, you are cryptographically signing your DNS records. If Shopify needs to change the underlying IP addresses for their services (which they do), your DNSSEC signature will break because the records no longer match what you signed. This is the core of the incompatibility.

2 What Happens If You Enable It Anyway?

If you ignore Shopify's guidance and enable DNSSEC, you will likely cause resolution failures.

  1. A user's resolver (like Google's 8.8.8.8 or their ISP's) requests your domain's IP address.
  2. The resolver receives the answer and also checks its DNSSEC signature.
  3. Because the live record (pointing to Shopify's infrastructure) doesn't match the signed version in your domain's DNS, the signature validation fails.
  4. The resolver, following the DNSSEC security protocol, will refuse to return the IP address to the user's browser.
  5. The result: The user sees a "SERVFAIL" or "DNSSEC validation error" in their browser, and your store fails to load.
Your website will become inaccessible to any user or system that performs DNSSEC validation (which is an increasing number, including many public WiFi portals and corporate networks).

3 So, Is My Shopify Store Less Secure Without DNSSEC?

No, not in a meaningful way for the end-user experience.

The primary security risk DNSSEC protects against is DNS cache poisoning (a man-in-the-middle attack that redirects your domain to a fake IP address). However, Shopify and modern browsers provide a more critical layer of protection: HTTPS/SSL.

Even if a malicious actor could somehow poison a DNS cache to point your domain to their server, they would be unable to present a valid SSL certificate for your domain.

🔒 The browser would immediately show a glaring, full-page security warning that the connection is not private, stopping the attack in its tracks. Shopify manages and provides the SSL certificate for your domain, ensuring this protection is always in place.

Clear Recommendations

Scenario Recommendation
Your domain's primary purpose is your Shopify store (e.g., www.mystore.com). Do NOT enable DNSSEC. The risk of making your site unreachable far outweighs the minimal security benefit.
You use a subdomain for Shopify (e.g., shop.yourcompany.com) You can (and should) enable DNSSEC for your root domain (yourcompany.com), but you must leave DNSSEC disabled for the specific subdomain (shop.yourcompany.com) that points to Shopify. Most registrars allow this granular control.
Your domain is used for other services (email, etc.) You can enable DNSSEC for the records related to those other services (like MX records for email), but you must ensure the records for Shopify (the CNAME or A records) are excluded from signing.

Conclusion

While DNSSEC is a valuable security technology for the internet at large, it is explicitly incompatible with Shopify's dynamic hosting environment.

Follow Shopify's official guidance: Do not enable DNSSEC on your domain if it is used with their platform. The security of your customer data and transactions is already robustly protected by HTTPS/SSL certificates provided and managed by Shopify. Enabling DNSSEC will only introduce the risk of downtime and accessibility issues for your store.