Why Is DNS Security Important and How To Achieve It?
By compiling a list of risky websites and filtering out undesired content, DNS security solutions create an extra layer of security between a user and the internet. As a result, your Domain Name System (DNS) will no longer be exposed to dangers or potentially harmful assaults.
You can think of your DNS as the heart of your web presence, which makes it a valuable target for attackers. By keeping it protected, it is easier to maintain control over how your web assets are used, how they function, and which sites are allowed to communicate with them.
To achieve DNS security, you need a solution provided by a qualified security hardware or software company. For instance, you can use a next-generation firewall (NGFW) to address DNS security issues, removing some of the burden from your IT team. An NGFWcan manage which sites on the internet are allowed to interface with your network.
Learn more about DNS Firewalls.
4 DNS Attack Types and How to Prevent Them
Here are four of the most common DNS security vulnerabilities and how to prevent attackers from taking advantage of them.
1. DoS, DDoS, and DNS amplification attacks
By flooding networks with what appears to be legal traffic, denial-of-service (DoS) and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on DNS systems can render websites unreachable. They make the DNS servers that provide access unavailable to legitimate users.
This is how DNS amplification works. DNS uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) to transport information. An attacker can fake the source address of a DNS request and direct the answer to a specific IP address. This is because they can take advantage of how UDP sends data packets through the internet. Furthermore, DNS answers are sometimes bigger than matching requests. By submitting a small request to a DNS server and having a large response sent to the target, DDoS attackers can scale up—or “amplify”—their operations.
2. DNS spoofing
In a DNS spoofing scenario, fake DNS data is sent to the DNS resolver's cache, causing the resolver to report a false IP address. Traffic will be redirected to a malicious domain. As a result, your website address can be used for malicious purposes, such as distributing viruses or stealing login credentials.
3. DNS tunneling
DNS tunneling uses a client-server model to smuggle malware and other data through the DNS protocol. The perpetrator buys a domain like badsite.com. Malware used for tunneling traffic is placed on the attacker's server. When the target’s server connects with the attacker’s site, the malware gets transmitted, setting up a tunnel between the malicious site and your DNS.
4. DNS hijacking
DNS hijacking refers to any attack that deceives a user into believing they are connecting to a trustworthy domain even though they are actually connected to a hostile site. This can be done by tricking a DNS server into storing inaccurate DNS data or by employing a compromised or malicious DNS server.
