Tips on fighting back DNS spoofing attacks

Clare Louise Technology

DNS itself is never been totally secure. When it was found in the 1980s when the internet was still young, protection was not a priority in its design. Over time, this has led to malicious participants exploiting this issue and developing sophisticated attack techniques that use DNS, such as DNS spoofing.

In the following lines, we’ll cover the definition of DNS spoofing and the most common methods cyberattacks use to do it. In addition, we will provide a simple, step-by-step description of the attack and some tips on how to prevent it so that you can be assured of security concerns before domain registration. So without further ado, let’s get into that.

What is DNS spoofing and how does it work? 

DNS spoofing is a cyberattack that involves inserting bogus data into the DNS converter cache, causing the nameservers to return incorrect IP addresses. In other words, this type of attack exploits vulnerabilities in domain name servers and redirects traffic to illegal websites.

When a recursive converter sends a request to an authoritative nameserver, it has no way of validating the response. The best thing the converter can do is check if the response appears to be coming from the same IP address that the converter first sent the request. However, sniffing the IP address of the response source is not a good idea because the DNS source IP address of the responsible packet can easily be spoofed.

For security reasons, due to a flawed DNS design, the resolver cannot detect an incorrect answer to its question. This means that cybercriminals can easily impersonate the authoritative server the converter originally requested and fake a response that appears to have come from that authoritative server.

In short, a DNS attack attempts to change the DNS records that are returned to the user and redirect them to a malicious site.

How to Protect your endpoints from DNS spoofing

Although DNS spoofing attacks are very complex, they can also be prevented with some additional security measures and advanced solutions. Here are some tips to help you prevent such incidents in your organization and cover all the root causes of attacks.

  1. Configure DNSSEC

The DNS Security Extension (DNSSEC) is often used to protect the server registry from external intrusions. DNSSEC uses advanced cryptography, digital signatures, and other techniques to verify responses to domain name requests and to ensure that duplicate redirects do not occur at any point in the process. There are two main steps to enable DNSSEC for a particular domain. You must first add DNSSEC-related records to the DNS zone. You will need to publish the appropriate DNS records and the changes will take effect within 24 hours. For more information on how to do this on Google domain name servers and custom domain name servers, see Google’s dedicated support guide and take the necessary steps in doing the same.

  1. Always apply DNS server fixes

Patching is not only important for endpoints and software installed locally on them but also for DNS servers because it has its own vulnerability. Make sure the DNS server you are using has been updated to the latest version to prevent corruption. Using automated patch management software can further simplify this process.

  1. Look for the secure connection icon

Secure web navigation is facilitated by a secure link icon indicating that the page is genuine. To open a webpage, look for the lock icon next to the address bar. This means that your connection is secure. There is no padlock to indicate that the site may be cloned for malicious purposes. It’s best to remove it to protect your data and other digital assets.

  1. Perform full DNS traffic filtering

Advanced DNS traffic filtering has proven to be the best way to identify and minimize DNS attacks. Consider implementing a cybersecurity solution that includes active DNS filtering.

Threat Avoidance has a two-way traffic filtering engine that operates at the DNS, HTTP, and HTTPS levels. Leverage software or solutions that actively seek out intrusive web traffic and prevent the possibility of DNS fraud affecting your organization’s endpoints.

In Conclusion

As we close, we would like to say that DNS spoofing affects the server’s DNS registry, and redirects the client to a malicious address during a query. But this can be averted if you follow the above tips and tricks. Ensure that you do so and in case of any doubts, please leave your comments in the section below.