DNS security

DNS was not designed with security in mind, and there are many types of attacks created to exploit vulnerabilities in the DNS system.

Domain Name System or DNS is used every time you access a website to convert the site name to an IP address. The performance, reliability and speed of the DNS determine the quality of the user experience when using the content and application. The purpose of DNS is critical, making it a very sensitive area and therefore a popular target for hackers. DNS is one of today’s fastest-growing attack vectors. When critical DNS services are compromised, it can result in catastrophic network and system failure.

Performance, downtime and security threats

When external DNS servers are subject to cyber attacks such as DNS DDoS, DNS reflection, amplification, protocol anomalies, exploits and reconnaissance, the result for service providers and enterprises can be disastrous. Service disruption, poor customer experience, unwanted publicity, brand damage and loss of revenue are the most common outcomes.

Malware exploiting DNS, data exfiltration via DNS

DNS is also used by infected endpoints within an enterprise to communicate with command and control servers to steal sensitive data. Techniques such as fast-flux and domain generation algorithm (DGA) cost precious time to detect and mitigate.

Data exfiltration is done using DNS tunnelling and is capable of transferring data from inside an enterprise to outside recipients by encrypting and embedding pieces of that data in legitimate DNS queries.

DNS Hijacking

When DNS is hijacked, users are redirected to a bogus site controlled by the hacker. Using this method, hackers can get unauthorized access to usernames, passwords and other private or sensitive data.

Securing DNS requires purpose-designed security solutions that protect the DNS servers and services from the threats above. DNS security solutions are also used to enforce network protection.

• DNS AntiDDoS solution
• DNS firewall
• DNS malware containment and control
• DNS data exfiltration prevention
• DNS delivery solutions to improve DNS performance