3 Ways a DNS Lookup Tool Can Help Prevent DNS Attacks

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a crucial element of the Internet and a foundation of networking. Every organization going online uses the DNS. That’s also a reason why, unfortunately, the DNS makes for a lucrative attack vector that threat actors more and more frequently exploit.

In fact, DNS attacks have increased in frequency and sophistication in recent years. Studies reveal that certain companies encountered around seven DNS attacks, which in some instances could cost victims as much as US$5 million per incident. This estimated amount covers losses incurred due to business disruption and disaster recovery (DR).

Businesses should, therefore, protect their DNS infrastructure to avoid incurring financial and reputational damages. In this post, we explored how DNS lookups can help companies prevent DNS attacks when used as an add-on to security measures.

What Does a DNS Lookup Do?

A DNS lookup allows you to see the DNS records of a given domain name. DNS Lookup API, in particular, returns useful information, including the following:

• The IP address of the domain from its A or AAAA record
• Mail server (MX) records
• Name server (NS) records
• TXT records

A DNS lookup is, therefore, a rich source of intelligence that can help organizations detect DNS vulnerabilities, some of which are explored in the following section.

3 DNS Issues That DNS Lookup API Can Help Address

The DNS is, unfortunately, riddled with vulnerabilities that most security systems employed by organizations cannot singlehandedly mitigate. These weaknesses allow people with malicious intent to perform DNS attacks such as DNS hijacking, DNS cache poisoning, DNS tunneling, and DNS flooding, among others. A possible solution, though, is using a DNS lookup tool, among other security protocols.

DNS Lookup API, for instance, specifically helps companies detect:

1. The Presence of Open DNS Resolvers

Open DNS resolvers are DNS servers that can resolve recursive DNS lookups without any form of authentication. This lack of security allows malicious actors to perform denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against target organizations. While it is the job of web administrators and network providers to close open DNS resolvers, organizations can also protect themselves from this vulnerability by using DNS Lookup API. The program lists all of the IP addresses related to a domain for security verification.

2. Spoofed DNS IP Connections

Attackers can easily make DNS IP connections appear to come from a different computer or network. And once the target’s network is compromised, attackers can poison its DNS cache. Threat actors can then easily redirect the victim’s traffic to their server. Aside from employing DNS security extensions (DNSSEC) to validate their DNS records, organizations can also use a DNS lookup solution to ensure that their records resolve to authorized IP addresses only.

3. DNS Tunneling Attempts

When bad actors infiltrate a network and find valuable data such as user credentials, they can export the information without getting noticed through DNS tunneling. The attackers typically hide the stolen data within DNS queries so that its owner has no way of knowing about the network breach. Anti-malware, threat intelligence solutions, and other security tools, however, can help organizations detect such activities. Integrating DNS lookup API into these solutions can further help them identify the domains, IP addresses, and servers associated with the malicious activities for blocking or further scrutiny.

* * *

Securing one’s cybersecurity infrastructure should include ways to ensure the integrity of the DNS, especially since it is one of the most favored attack vectors. Threat actors don’t seem to run out of evil ways to attack the DNS, but thankfully, some products can help counter attempts. DNS Lookup API, for one, has access to a rich source of data that, when used and analyzed correctly, can prove to be a powerful way to counter DNS vulnerability exploitation.