Through the years, we saw the development and technicality of cyberattacks that threaten all types of industries and organizations.
However, what’s more fearful is to see a re-emerging type of attack that could threaten the cybersecurity community that hoped would only be a thing of the past, and that is DNS Hijacking.
Let us learn more about the DNS attack by discussing more and how organizations prevent incidents like this from happening.
Domain Name System (DNS)
DNS is how you find a website or other web services. It is known that websites are usually identified by the use of ‘.com’ or ‘.net’, but in reality, all web hosts are uniquely assigned with their own web address. Just like your devices and computers having their own serial numbers.
A domain name system is a translation name for a global service or IP address given to legit and qualified websites.
The top-level domains that you should know are ‘.org’, ‘.gov’, ‘.edu’, ‘.net’, ‘.com’. A company website mostly has subdomains and can be addressed as ‘.name’ of a company.
DNS Attack
A DNS attack works by triggering a link on website or application ads then redirects the user to a malicious or unsecured website. It will automatically operate in a discrete way making it very hard for security softwares to detect and prevent.
DNS Hijacking
This type of attack targets your DNS server by integrating an incorrect location for a selective website. It can happen when your local device searches for the DNS entry and gets redirected to a domain that is controlled by malicious elements.
In addition, because of how the DNS process it searches for the entered domain name, it can be vulnerable to a well-planned hijack while at the same time causes spread on a large number of servers.
Two Types of DNS Hijacking
Man in the Middle
This type of attack is one of the classic methods by which an attacker intercepts the users’ DNS and redirects them to a compromised domain server.
The malicious server will then use a DNS switching Trojan to give out incorrect IP addresses to your device. This attack is also called ‘man in the middle’ or ‘pharming’, and is commonly used to collect financial, work, or personal information from users.
DNS Malware
This is the second common attack method. The attacker uses malware to infect the victim’s computer or devices, and the malware modifies your DNS setting redirecting your device automatically to a compromised DNS server.
Protecting Yourself from DNS Attack or Hijacking
You can always do basic prevention and protection protocols such as updating your security software and hardware, avoid clicking unknown and suspicious links or emails, changing your username and password once a month, and protecting your private or local network servers.
For users, it is important to be aware of existing methods of attacks and knowing the proper cybersecurity software needed to combat these threats.
Organizations with a larger scope of operations can always create their own network security department or seek assistance from professional third party firms.
To further your protective protocols, you can also tighten up your DNS security, encrypt your connections, and keep vigilant on attacks.
Career Opportunity
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