Flash Talk - DNS Vulnerability and/or Hacks
Brandon Wilson
Flash Talk - DNS Vulnerability and/or Hacks
October 23, 2018
Good morning everyone! Today I am going to explain the different hacks and vulnerabilities of domain name systems and some counters to them. First off, what is a DNS? A domain name system is the service that translates URL to IP addresses. That is the way you type in google.com to get to the google search engine we all know and love. However this DNS system's security isn't the same for every website.
A method of hacking in the DNS is called DNS hijacking. This allows hackers to manipulate a website's DNS records which could take a user to another website instead of the website they are trying to get to. Think of it as a redirection, instead of going to google.com one day, when you type in the URL for google, you would go to a completely different site. That is only an example, I doubt google would get hacked at this point in time. Back to DNS hijacking, hackers can take you to sites where users can be infected with malware or even fake sites to steal personal information and the possibilities keep going. Now this sounds like a big tragedy, and it is when it works. They could really only get the DNS to a website if it is misconfigured or not secured enough. This allows them to access information disclosure about the domain and do as they please. However, noticing these hacks taking place, didn't stop people from taking better security measures. HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP which is the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that a user is connected to. The "S" at the end of the HTTPS stands for secure, in other words all communications within your browser and the website are encrypted. However, HTTPS combined with HSTS is a great way to mitigate the effects of DNS hijacking. HSTS stands for HTTP Strict Transport Security. In addition it can prevent protocol downgrade hacks and cookie hijacking. Another feature of HSTS is that if a hacker wants to redirect you to their site from another website, instead of being sent to their site, you will get an error message. But wait, there's more! Another way to counter a DNS hacker is learning the methods they use yourself. You can learn the malicious techniques used by black hat hackers and how to see where your website stands vulnerable to patch it up. The name of a course that can be taken in this field is Ethical Hacking Training.
Hacking can be seen as always a bad thing because nobody wants to lose access to their site or get redirected to malware. The intentions of these kinds of hackers really is unknown to most people. Hackers still exist today, if it isn't DNS hijacking they are doing, it is probably something more advanced. Security keeps getting more tight as hackers keep getting more intellectual in breaking the security. That is why it is good to know the kind of hacks that exist today and how to counter them. Thank you all for your time and have a safe day!
Flash Talk - DNS Vulnerability and/or Hacks
October 23, 2018
Good morning everyone! Today I am going to explain the different hacks and vulnerabilities of domain name systems and some counters to them. First off, what is a DNS? A domain name system is the service that translates URL to IP addresses. That is the way you type in google.com to get to the google search engine we all know and love. However this DNS system's security isn't the same for every website.
A method of hacking in the DNS is called DNS hijacking. This allows hackers to manipulate a website's DNS records which could take a user to another website instead of the website they are trying to get to. Think of it as a redirection, instead of going to google.com one day, when you type in the URL for google, you would go to a completely different site. That is only an example, I doubt google would get hacked at this point in time. Back to DNS hijacking, hackers can take you to sites where users can be infected with malware or even fake sites to steal personal information and the possibilities keep going. Now this sounds like a big tragedy, and it is when it works. They could really only get the DNS to a website if it is misconfigured or not secured enough. This allows them to access information disclosure about the domain and do as they please. However, noticing these hacks taking place, didn't stop people from taking better security measures. HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP which is the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that a user is connected to. The "S" at the end of the HTTPS stands for secure, in other words all communications within your browser and the website are encrypted. However, HTTPS combined with HSTS is a great way to mitigate the effects of DNS hijacking. HSTS stands for HTTP Strict Transport Security. In addition it can prevent protocol downgrade hacks and cookie hijacking. Another feature of HSTS is that if a hacker wants to redirect you to their site from another website, instead of being sent to their site, you will get an error message. But wait, there's more! Another way to counter a DNS hacker is learning the methods they use yourself. You can learn the malicious techniques used by black hat hackers and how to see where your website stands vulnerable to patch it up. The name of a course that can be taken in this field is Ethical Hacking Training.
Hacking can be seen as always a bad thing because nobody wants to lose access to their site or get redirected to malware. The intentions of these kinds of hackers really is unknown to most people. Hackers still exist today, if it isn't DNS hijacking they are doing, it is probably something more advanced. Security keeps getting more tight as hackers keep getting more intellectual in breaking the security. That is why it is good to know the kind of hacks that exist today and how to counter them. Thank you all for your time and have a safe day!
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