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Reverse NS Lookup: Security Against DNS-Based Attacks

Given today’s threat landscape, known threats or those that get publicized are quite hard to protect against. However, risks that come from unknown sources are even harder to detect and block. Domain Name System (DNS)-based attacks fall into the second category for a variety of reasons, the topmost of which is that once domains are up and running, their owners put their security in the background.

There are ways to avoid becoming the next victim of a DNS-based attack, though. One of them is using a reliable reverse name server (NS) solution such as Reverse NS Lookup. But before we delve into further details, let us first discern why attackers take advantage of inherent DNS weaknesses to get to their targets.

How Name Server Checks Protect Your Network Against DNS Tunneling

Being a sort of open phonebook of the Internet, the Domain Name System (DNS) can be a corporate network’s weakest link. The main problem lies in how it works. As a way to ensure that devices communicate correctly over the Internet, DNS servers map IP addresses to domains in response to user queries.

More specifically, when a user searches for a domain name on their browser, the browser sends a query to the stub resolver, an operating system component, before querying the local name server.

This local name server, which is usually recursive (but can also be iterative), then takes action to fulfill the said request. It will either answer back with a cached response or forward the query to root servers, a top-level domain (TLD) name server, and then to an authoritative name server. The authoritative server holds all of a domain’s DNS records. One of those records is the A record, which contains the IP address of the queried domain and tells the authoritative server to respond. More information regarding this process can be found in our DNS primer.

Unfortunately, firewalls and web proxies don’t necessarily monitor these queries, making it easy for attackers to send forged or malformed requests instead. With that in mind, a common form of abuse against the DNS protocol is DNS tunneling. This article takes a look at what the attack entails and how Reverse NS API can lead to its detection.

How Name Server Checks Protect Your Network Against DNS Tunneling

Being a sort of open phonebook of the Internet, the Domain Name System (DNS) can be a corporate network’s weakest link. The main problem lies in how it works. As a way to ensure that devices communicate correctly over the Internet, DNS servers map IP addresses to domains in response to user queries.

More specifically, when a user searches for a domain name on their browser, the browser sends a query to the stub resolver, an operating system component, before querying the local name server.

This local name server, which is usually recursive (but can also be iterative), then takes action to fulfill the said request. It will either answer back with a cached response or forward the query to root servers, a top-level domain (TLD) name server, and then to an authoritative name server. The authoritative server holds all of a domain’s DNS records. One of those records is the A record, which contains the IP address of the queried domain and tells the authoritative server to respond. More information regarding this process can be found in our DNS primer.

Unfortunately, firewalls and web proxies don’t necessarily monitor these queries, making it easy for attackers to send forged or malformed requests instead. With that in mind, a common form of abuse against the DNS protocol is DNS tunneling. This article takes a look at what the attack entails and how Reverse NS API can lead to its detection.

Take Control of Nameserver Records with a Reverse Nameserver Lookup API

One reason why cyber risks are far more serious today than in the past is the widespread and cheap access to services from registrars and hosting providers. From amateur bloggers to small business owners, anyone can register a domain and create a website for whatever purpose.

The problem is that not everyone has the right skills to properly configure servers — e.g., define hosts or set up address (A) or pointer (PTR) records, among other things.

Website owners are lucky if issues from nameserver misconfigurations only result in reduced website availability. There are other consequences, though, such as higher spamming scores and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) authentication errors or vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to security compromises.

Let’s take a look at why NS records and Domain Name System (DNS) credentials should be adequately managed to avoid cyber attacks and the roles of tools such as Reverse NS API in tackling security challenges.

3 Cyber Threats MSSPs Can Help Their Clients with Using Reverse NS API

Did you know that the cybercrime economy may currently well be worth US $1.5 trillion? According to figures from an independent study, that’s how much professional crime networks worldwide earned in 2018.

That amount is just a little over 1% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). It is also comparable to the GDP of a country like Russia.