How to Secure Websites By Monitoring the DNS Records

Communicating with each other, i.e., applications, devices, web pages, requires a standard naming system. The naming system allows every shred of technology to recognize each other as well as an essential part of knowing where to send the information. It is vital when devices need to communicate with resources over the internet due to the vast quantity of services and websites that need to be recognized. This is the reason why the Domain Name System (DNS) is crucial to the business organizations.

In this digitalized world, the majority of the clients and partners rely on your website to interact with you. For this reason, your domain name is a high-value business asset which is of equal importance to your organization as any tangible asset, or some other intellectual property.

DNS efficiently matches devices and webpages to a specific IP address that can be logged and tracked by some other methods. There is a massive collection of tools in an organization’s infrastructure, along with websites available to access over the internet.

DNS is responsible for keeping records of these IP addresses, so organizations don’t have to do so manually. It is a useful system for businesses, but its performance can be affected by various factors. To solve this problem, network monitoring vendors are implementing DNS monitoring solutions to make sure that all enterprise communications are operating smoothly.

To further aid our readers, read the remaining article to know about how does DNS work? and how DNS records need to be monitored for securing your website from different threats and cyber-attacks.

How Does DNS Work?

First of all, it is imperative to understand the process of DNS communication and to what a DNS request connects. Whenever a device enters a domain name into a web browser, so the web browser sends an invitation to a recursive name server for the IP address, which is associated with that domain.

The recursive server is operated by an ISP or is installed locally within your infrastructure. If the server doesn’t have the IP address in its memory so, it sends a request to an authoritative name server, which comprises of information on each domain present over the internet. After it finds the correct IP, it sends back the data to the recursive server as well as to the device, enabling the browser to open the website, which is linked with the IP address.

Importance of DNS Monitoring?

After having an idea about DNS and its working, it is also vital to understand the importance behind its monitoring.

Monitoring DNS should be everyone’s top priority. It is because if anything
goes wrong with the DNS records so it can compromise your entire system and can result in identity theft. Moreover, it is estimated that back in the year 2015, 13,000,000 people have been a victim to identity theft; thus, it is essential to know how to prevent such mis-happenings from taking place.

Secondly, cybercriminals are continuously developing increasingly dangerous malware programs. The statistics for the first quarter of 2016, when compared with 2015, reveals that malware attacks have multiplied. For this reason, it is also essential to monitor DNS. The DNS has a vital role in how the end-users within your organizations connect over the internet.

Every connection made to a domain by a client device is recorded with the DNS logs. Thus, it is vital to monitor DNS because if not, then DNS can quickly reveal certain sensitive information on your website, which might also turn down your brand reputation.

Common DNS Records

DNS servers are essential for the creation of DNS records and provide information regarding A domain or hostname, more particularly its current IP address. Following is a list of common DNS records that need to be monitored for securing a website.

• The IP Version 6Address Record which stores the hostnames and their IPv6 addresses.

• The Address Mapping Record which is also called a DNS host record. It stores a hostname and the IPv4 address which goes within it.

• The Mail Exchanger Record which specifies an SMTP email server for the domain. It is responsible for routing outgoing emails to a dedicated email server.

• Text Record which carriers readable data by a machine such as DKIM, DMARC, opportunistic encryption, Sender Policy Framework (SPF).

• The Canonical Name Record which can be easily applied to a hostname to code-name it to some other hostname. Whenever a DNS client request for a record that has a CNAME, the DNS resolution process repeats but with some different new hostname.

• Reverse-lookup Pointer Records allows the DNS resolver to provide an IP address and get a hostname.

• Name Server Records which specifies that a DNS Zone is commissioned to a specific Authoritative Name Server (ANS), and proved the address of the server.

• The Start of Authority Records which can be found at the beginning of a DNS zone file and indicates that ANS for the DNS zone, contact details for the administrator of the domain, the serial number of the domain, along with information about how frequently DNS information for this zone can be refreshed and reviewed.

How to Find DNS Records?

By now, I am 100% sure that you want to check your DNS records because you might be worried about exposure to various attacks and vulnerabilities. It is a good initiative because many people don’t take this thing seriously.

There are plenty of online tools available by which you can monitor your DNS records. One such great tool is known as DNStable. It is a primary tool within the Spyse, which enables you to look up at all the DNS records.

Spyse does its best to open the availability of users who don't have
in-depth technical knowledge. By using this tool, you can protect your DNS
records even you’ve no idea of it.

Final Words

To sum up, monitoring the DNS records is a powerful way to recognize security attacks that happen inside an organization. By doing so, you not just successfully fix specific vulnerabilities, but also blocks attacks and ensures the security and privacy of your website.