DNS attacks are a kind of cyberattack in which the attacker singles out and attacks the Domain Name System and all associated infrastructure. DNS attacks are in different forms, including DNS reflection and DNS poisoning. The DNS is an integral part of the internet’s infrastructure making its protection a huge cybersecurity concern.
Attackers can exploit vulnerabilities in the internet’s infrastructure, the cybercriminals can modify records, hijack other domains, route requests to malicious pages, and manipulate DNS responses. All of which can result in major data breaches in various networks.
Domain Name System attack types
Here are a few examples of DNS attacks;
- Domain Name System Hijacking: Here, the attacker gains control of the victim’s DNS settings by compromising the DNS server. The attacker can then make alterations to the DNS settings which can result in privacy breaches.
- Cache poisoning: This attack, which is also called a DNS spoofing attack, employs DNS data manipulation to route unsuspecting users to malicious websites. It is accomplished by injecting fake information into the DNS resolver’s cache. The attacker then redirects users to malicious websites or intercepts their network traffic.
- NXDOMAIN Attacks: Here, the attacker floods the DNS server with a ton of requests to crash the servers.
- DNS Tunnelling: This kind of attack involves the attackers collecting all non-DNS traffic, encapsulating them with plenty of DNS packets to overrun and circumvent any security measures. They then proceed to set up the DNS as a hidden channel, allowing them to easily grab data from the compromised network — they can also create channels with which they can communicate in the future.
- Fast Flux DNS: In this kind of attack, every single IP address linked with the domain name is dynamically changed. This change of name makes monitoring and identifying malicious infrastructure or sites very challenging.
- DNS DDoS: This kind of attack involves the bombardment of the DNS infrastructure with a large amount of malicious traffic, rendering it incapable of responding to real DNS requests. This attack is effective in disrupting legitimate DNS resolution processes and forces platforms to become inaccessible.
