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• The 5 Reasons to Worry about Your DNS

There are five reasons to be concerned about the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS) and your own DNS server, which is a small part of that global system. The causes for concern are:

1. Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks. DoS attacks have now become commonplace and are regularly mounted against organizations of every kind to extort money. Their frequency has escalated alarmingly in the last few years.

2. Web Site Defacement. Web site defacement is often achieved through DNS cache poisoning or direct compromise of a DNS server. The frequency of web site defacement is also growing.

3. Phishing and Pharming. Phishing scams rely on gaining a user's trust, but also involve DNS compromise. Pharming involves attacks on DNS servers either through cache poisoning or illicit access in order to fool web users into providing personal financial information. Both of these activities are at epidemic levels.

4. DNS Server Compromise. This involves taking control of a DNS server to carry out illicit activities of any variety, from spam and virus distribution to the assembly of a botnet (network of slave computers). DNS server compromise is common.

5. DNS Performance. DNS performance is a concern with many DNS servers because they are easily overwhelmed by traffic to the extent that the rise in popularity of a web site can have a similar effect to a DoS attack and make the web site unavailable.

In this white paper we explain these five issues in depth, providing technical details and background information. We then go on to describe genuinely secure DNS server technology, explaining its approach to handling these important problems.

The five DNS server issues we have described involve a variety of different factors, and genuinely secure DNS technology addresses them all. It does so primarily because it takes a highly innovative approach to resolving these issues and because it is purpose-built for the task. In summary it raises the bar in the area of DNS technology, offering a unique level of security, delivering high performance and providing a one-stop defense against DoS attacks.

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