DNS Security: Protecting Your Most Critical Internet Infrastructure

DNS Is the Internet Phone Book

The Domain Name System translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses. Nearly every internet activity begins with a DNS query, making DNS a critical piece of infrastructure and an attractive target for attackers. Compromising DNS can redirect users to malicious sites, intercept communications, and disrupt entire organizations.

Common DNS Attacks

DNS cache poisoning inserts false records into a DNS resolver's cache, redirecting users to attacker-controlled servers. DNS tunneling uses DNS queries to exfiltrate data or establish command-and-control channels, often bypassing firewalls that allow DNS traffic. DNS amplification attacks abuse open DNS resolvers to generate massive DDoS traffic. Domain hijacking takes control of domain registration to redirect a company's entire web presence.

Implementing DNS Security

Deploy DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions) to cryptographically sign your DNS records, preventing cache poisoning and ensuring query responses have not been tampered with. Use DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH) or DNS-over-TLS (DoT) to encrypt DNS queries, preventing eavesdropping and manipulation. Configure your DNS resolver to block known malicious domains using threat intelligence feeds. Monitor DNS query logs for indicators of tunneling or data exfiltration.

DNS Filtering as a Security Layer

DNS filtering blocks connections to malicious domains before they can load in the browser. By resolving known-bad domains to a block page instead of their real IP address, DNS filtering stops malware downloads, phishing sites, and command-and-control communications at the earliest possible stage. True Protection integrates with secure DNS providers to add this layer of protection to every device, whether on the corporate network or working remotely.