Category: DNS Forensics

The Domain Name System (DNS) is often referred to as the internet’s phone book, translating human-readable domain names into machine-readable IP addresses. While its core function seems benign, DNS has become a powerful tool both for cybercriminals seeking to obfuscate their activities and for investigators working to uncover them. Tracing malicious domains through DNS forensics…

Passive DNS has become an indispensable tool for historical threat hunting, offering investigators the ability to reconstruct past events, map adversary infrastructure, and identify hidden connections between seemingly unrelated threats. Unlike traditional DNS queries that simply resolve a domain name to an IP address in real time, passive DNS collects and archives these mappings over…

Fast-flux botnets represent one of the more elusive and resilient forms of malicious infrastructure, leveraging rapid changes in DNS records to obscure the true location of their command-and-control servers and hosted malware. Detecting such botnets requires a thorough understanding of DNS behavior, close examination of DNS records over time, and the ability to distinguish between…

DNS sinkholing has emerged as one of the most powerful tactics not only for disrupting malicious operations but also for preserving vital forensic evidence. The technique involves intercepting and redirecting DNS queries intended for malicious domains to controlled servers, known as sinkholes, instead of allowing them to reach their intended malicious endpoints. While often discussed…

Domain shadowing has emerged as a stealthy and highly effective tactic used by cybercriminals to create malicious infrastructure under the guise of legitimate domain ownership. Unlike traditional domain hijacking, where attackers take over an entire domain, domain shadowing involves compromising a domain owner’s registrar account and quietly adding or modifying DNS records to host malicious…

Domain tasting and kiting are abusive practices that exploit the domain registration system’s grace periods to temporarily control a domain without fully committing to its purchase. Originally used by legitimate businesses to test the marketability of domains, these techniques have been heavily abused by cybercriminals for fraud, phishing, malware distribution, and fast-changing malicious infrastructures. In…

In the context of DNS forensics, cross-border data sharing presents a complex intersection of legal frameworks, privacy obligations, sovereignty concerns, and operational imperatives. DNS data, which includes queries, responses, resolver logs, and passive DNS datasets, can be vital for tracing cyberattacks, identifying threat actors, and protecting global internet infrastructure. However, when DNS evidence or telemetry…

The forensic reconstruction of DNS zones following a breach is a critical process that enables investigators to understand the scope of an attack, identify tampered records, and restore trust in an organization’s DNS infrastructure. DNS zones define the authoritative records for a domain, including critical entries like A, AAAA, MX, TXT, CNAME, and NS records.…

DNS evidence plays a critical yet often underutilized role in insider threat investigations, offering detailed insights into user behavior, network communications, and potential attempts at data exfiltration or unauthorized access. Unlike external cyberattacks, insider threats originate from individuals who already have some level of trusted access to organizational resources. This internal position allows insiders to…

Domain takeovers leveraging expired TLS certificates represent a subtle yet increasingly common attack vector that blends aspects of DNS manipulation, certificate management lapses, and opportunistic threat actor behavior. In a domain takeover, an attacker assumes control over a domain name or its associated services without authorization. When domains are neglected—particularly when TLS certificates expire without…