Types of DNS Attacks and Tactics for Security 

 The Domain Name Server (DNS) is an important component of the Internet. It was created as a mechanism for converting alphabetical names into IP addresses, allowing users to visit websites and send and receive emails. Since the domain name system is complex, it is vulnerable to a variety of DNS threats. 

In this article, we will discuss the different types of attacks on DNS and how to protect yourself against them.

1. Denial of service (DoS)

By making a service unavailable or overloading the system with traffic, the attacker turns a computer worthless (inaccessible) to the user.

2. Distributed denial of service (DDoS)

To launch attacks and flood the victim’s computer with useless and overloaded traffic, the attacker has access to a large number of computers (hundreds or thousands). The systems will eventually overheat and crash since they are unable to harness the power required to conduct the demanding processing.

3. DNS spoofing (also known as DNS cache poisoning) –

In this attack, an attacker will divert traffic away from real DNS servers and send it to a “pirated” server. This could result in the corruption or theft of a user’s personal information.

4. Fast flux

During an attack, an attacker will usually spoof his IP address. Fast flux is a strategy for continuously changing location-based data to conceal the source of an attack. The attacker’s true location will be hidden, providing him the time he needs to execute the hack. Flux can be single, double, or any other combination. A single flux changes the web server’s address, while a double flux changes the web server’s address as well as the names of DNS servers.

5. Man-in-the-middle DNS hijacking

Cyber attackers introduce themselves into a communication channel and either monitor or modify the contents in a man-in-the-middle attack. DNS hijacking follows a similar pattern, with the attacker intercepting information sent between a DNS server and a user. The attacker modifies the DNS server’s answer to the infected website’s IP address, directing the user to the fake website.

6. Reflected attacks

Hackers will spoof their IP address and use the victim’s source address to make thousands of queries. All of these questions will be redirected to the victim once they have been answered.

How to be safe against DNS attack

1. To protect confidential information, use digital signatures and certificates to authorize sessions.
2. Patches must be installed regularly, and bugs must be fixed immediately.
3. Data should be duplicated on a few other servers so that if one is lost or damaged, the others can be used to restore it. This may also help to avoid single-point failure.
4. Spoofing can be prevented by blocking repetitive queries.
5. Limit the number of queries.