What Is DNS Security?  

DNS security is critical for maintaining a secure and functional internet environment, yet it often flies under the radar. The Domain Name System (DNS) is the backbone of internet navigation, playing the essential role of translator to transform human-readable domain names into the IP addresses that computers use to communicate. Without robust DNS security, businesses are left vulnerable to a host of dangerous cyberthreats.

It’s important for IT professionals to understand the basics of DNS security, including why it is essential, how it works, the common threats to DNS security that businesses encounter and key best practices for implementing and maintaining it. Learning more about the benefits of a secure DNS infrastructure illustrates why it is so important and why Datto AV is the right solution for strengthening your DNS security.

What is DNS security?

DNS security refers to the protective measures designed to safeguard the DNS from tampering by bad actors. DNS acts as the internet’s address book, playing a critical role in connecting users to websites, applications and online services. Without DNS security, this essential system can be exploited by attackers for a variety of nefarious purposes, including redirecting users to malicious websites, stealing sensitive information or disrupting business operations.

The primary goal of DNS security is to safeguard the system and its operations from malicious activities. It aims to accomplish these core objectives:

• Integrity: DNS security prevents unauthorized tampering with DNS data. It blocks attacks that redirect users to fraudulent sites. Tools like Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a set of cryptographic protocols that authenticate responses to domain name lookups, verify DNS response authenticity to ensure users receive accurate data.
• Availability: DNS security ensures uninterrupted access to services by protecting servers from disruptions, such as Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. These attacks flood targeted servers with excessive traffic, overwhelming systems and causing outages.
• Confidentiality: DNS security limits exposure of sensitive data by encrypting queries with techniques like DNS over Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), known as DoH, and DNS over Transport Layer Security (TLS), called DoT, to prevent interception or eavesdropping.

By achieving these objectives, DNS security provides a wide array of benefits that allow users to successfully and safely connect to the online world.

Why is DNS security important?

DNS security is pivotal for maintaining a secure IT environment. DNS-related attacks are a gateway to a host of bad outcomes, like operational disruptions, data breaches and reputation damage. Here’s why it matters:

• DNS attacks, like DDoS and DNS hijacking, can cause service outages that disrupt business operations and incur costly downtime.
• DNS tunneling and spoofing attacks allow bad actors to exfiltrate sensitive data unnoticed.
• When customers are redirected to malicious websites due to a security problem like DNS spoofing, it damages their trust in a brand.
• These attacks have costly consequences – The 2024 DNS Threat Report specifies that DNS attacks cost businesses an average of $900,000 per attack.

How does DNS security work?

DNS security uses specialized technologies and protocols to insulate a network from cyberthreats. Key mechanisms for that include:

• DNS filtering: Analyzing DNS queries in real-time to identify and block access to malicious or unauthorized domains, stopping threats like phishing, malware distribution or botnet communication before they can harm the network.
• DNSSEC: Enhancing DNS security by adding cryptographic signatures to DNS records to verify the authenticity of DNS responses, ensuring that users are not redirected to malicious sites.
• Traffic monitoring: Continuously observing DNS traffic to detect irregular patterns, like those associated with DNS tunneling or amplification attacks, facilitates a quick response to trouble and prompt mitigation of threats.

By combining these technologies, DNS security ensures DNS queries remain legitimate and protected from manipulation by bad actors to maintain a secure, stable and reliable environment for users.

Common DNS security threats

Businesses face a variety of DNS security threats that could compromise their networks, cause expensive damage or lead to a data breach, including:

DNS spoofing

DNS spoofing tricks users into visiting harmful sites, opening the door to dangers like data theft or malware infection. This type of powerful and deceptive attack can be particularly dangerous because users typically trust DNS to direct them to the correct destination.

DNS tunneling

DNS tunneling exploits the DNS protocol to exfiltrate sensitive data or establish backdoors that provide ongoing access to a compromised network by embedding malicious data within the DNS queries and responses used to resolve domain names into IP addresses.

DNS hijacking

DNS hijacking happens when attackers take control of a DNS server or alter DNS records, redirecting traffic from legitimate websites to malicious ones. This can lead to data breaches, service outages or a loss of customer trust. Sometimes, bad actors also manipulate DNS settings to control internal services or serve harmful content.

DNS amplification

DNS amplification is a type of DDoS attack where attackers use DNS servers to send a large amount of traffic to a target. For example, cybercriminals can send a blizzard of small requests with fake sender addresses to cause the server to reply with much larger responses, overloading the target’s system and causing disruptions.

DDoS attacks

In a DDoS attack, bad actors attempt to overload a server with excessive traffic to prevent it from responding to legitimate requests. This can result in service disruptions that make websites and services inaccessible, leading to a cascade of negative outcomes like downtime, lost productivity, unhappy customers and potential revenue loss.

These threats highlight the critical need for robust DNS security measures to protect businesses from damaging cybercriminal activity.

DNS security best practices

Protecting your DNS infrastructure is essential because it is the backbone of all online communication. A secure and reliable DNS system is vital for ensuring smooth business operations, keeping data safe and maintaining a company’s trustworthy reputation.

Here are a few essential best practices for protecting your DNS infrastructure:

• Enable DNSSEC to significantly reduce the risk of a company’s DNS infrastructure being exploited by attackers. DNSSEC forms a fundamental layer of defense against common DNS attacks to prevent intrusions, avoid data breaches and maintain the reliability of a company’s online services.
• Monitor DNS traffic to identify malicious activities that may otherwise go unnoticed.  By regularly analyzing DNS queries and responses, defenders can gain an edge in identifying unusual patterns that may indicate malicious activity.
• Separate internal and external DNS using different DNS servers to handle internal and external queries to isolate a company’s sensitive internal network from potential vulnerabilities that may arise from attackers trying to exploit DNS servers to slip into an organization’s network.
• Harden DNS servers to protect against vulnerabilities and attacks. Disable unnecessary or unused features to reduce the attack surface, use encrypted protocols like DoH or DoT and regularly apply security patches to fix known weaknesses.
• Rate limiting restricts the number of DNS queries that can be made from a single source within a specified time period. This practice can help mitigate DDoS attacks and other high-volume threats by preventing any one source from overwhelming DNS servers with excessive requests.
• Utilizing redundancy means deploying multiple DNS servers in different geographic locations to ensure that if one server becomes unavailable due to an outage or attack, others can continue to handle DNS queries, enhancing the availability and reliability of DNS services.
• Using DNS firewalls involves deploying specialized security solutions that monitor and filter DNS traffic to block malicious requests. By analyzing DNS queries in real time, DNS firewalls help shield users from digital harm by limiting their access to malicious websites, blocking fake domains to thwart phishing attempts and stopping botnet activity, a hallmark of DDoS attacks.
• It is critical to provide regularly updated training and resources to help staff recognize and respond to DNS-related threats. By ensuring that the team is well-versed in the latest DNS security best practices and threat detection techniques, organizations can take a proactive approach to managing DNS security that strengthens their overall security posture.

DNS security benefits

Implementing strong DNS security provides organizations with several critical benefits:

• DNS security protects a company’s networks and data from cyberthreats like spoofing, hijacking and phishing.
• By encrypting DNS queries and blocking unauthorized access, DNS security enhances data privacy.
• DNS security measures, such as redundancy and traffic monitoring, improve network reliability, ensuring that users have uninterrupted access to essential systems and services, even during attempted attacks.
• Robust DNS security helps organizations meet regulatory requirements for secure data handling, bolstering compliance with security standards like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
• By reducing downtime and preventing costly service disruptions, DNS security helps companies avoid expensive disasters and punishing regulatory fines.

These benefits demonstrate the importance of DNS security as a cornerstone of a secure and resilient IT infrastructure.

Challenges in DNS security

While DNS security provides many valuable protections, it also comes with several challenges, like these three major stumbling blocks:

1. Complex configurations: Setting up DNS security protocols, such as DNSSEC, requires specialized knowledge and expertise. Incorrect configuration can lead to vulnerabilities or service disruptions, making it crucial for IT teams to be well-versed in DNS security practices.
2. Continuous monitoring: DNS security requires ongoing monitoring to effectively protect against evolving threats, which can be resource-intensive for perpetually overstretched IT teams.
3. Balancing security and performance: Some DNS security measures, such as strict filtering or rate limiting, can negatively impact network performance, making it challenging for IT to strike the right balance between strong security and network efficiency

These challenges highlight the need for innovative solutions and careful strategic planning to successfully implement and maintain DNS security.

How does Datto AV address DNS security?

Datto AV is the ideal solution for enhancing a company’s DNS security. With the brand-new feature, DNS Secure, added directly into Datto AV, our antivirus solution offers the protection that IT teams need to mount a comprehensive defense against DNS-based threats.

DNS filtering

It actively analyzes DNS queries in real-time to block access to high-risk or malicious domains, preventing users from visiting harmful websites and proactively eliminating cyberthreats.

Traffic monitoring

With continuous DNS traffic monitoring, Datto AV identifies and neutralizes emerging threats, detecting unusual patterns like DNS tunneling or DDoS attempts to stop attacks before they cause damage.

Seamless integration

The solution integrates effortlessly with your existing security infrastructure, including tools like endpoint protection, for a unified defense against cyberthreats.

Malware interception

Smart technology proactively intercepts malware in both HTTP and HTTPS traffic, blocking threats before they reach endpoint systems, ensuring robust protection.

Website categorization and domain blocking

It blocks access to risky websites by category (e.g., gambling, adult content) and prevents access to malicious domains, such as command and control servers or malware hosts.

Datto AV provides next-gen antivirus protection with key capabilities and automations that ensure DNS security, safeguard systems and data, and maintain smooth network operations.

Protect your DNS infrastructure with Datto AV

Datto AV offers a comprehensive solution for businesses looking to enhance their DNS protection effectively and affordably without adding to their IT team’s burden. Seamless integration makes implementation fast and easy while Datto AV’s must-have features fortify a company’s DNS structure against evolving threats. Ready to take the next step? Request a demo today