Investigating DNS Hijacking of Cryptocurrency Platforms

DNS hijacking attacks targeting cryptocurrency platforms have become a highly lucrative and dangerous vector for cybercriminals. These attacks manipulate the DNS resolution process to redirect users attempting to access legitimate crypto services to attacker-controlled infrastructures. The impact of such hijacking can be devastating, often resulting in the theft of digital assets, compromise of user credentials, and significant reputational and financial damage to targeted platforms. Forensic investigation into DNS hijacking events demands a deep technical understanding of DNS operations, an ability to rapidly correlate multi-source evidence, and an acute awareness of the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) commonly used by attackers within the cryptocurrency sector.

The first critical step in investigating DNS hijacking involves detecting the alteration of DNS resolution paths. Signs of compromise often emerge from user complaints about being redirected to phishing pages, spikes in failed login attempts, or anomalies detected by monitoring systems designed to track DNS traffic patterns. Forensic investigators must collect both real-time and historical DNS resolution data to establish a baseline of legitimate behavior and identify deviations indicative of tampering. This involves querying passive DNS databases, analyzing authoritative name server configurations, and inspecting resolver caches for unexpected changes in A, AAAA, CNAME, or NS records associated with the cryptocurrency platform’s domain names.

One of the most common methods of hijacking involves compromising the registrar account associated with the platform’s domain. Attackers gain access to registrar credentials through phishing, credential stuffing, or insider threats, and then modify name server entries to point to their own infrastructure. Forensic analysis of registrar activity logs is crucial in these cases. Investigators must request detailed account access logs, API call histories, and domain modification records from the registrar, looking for unauthorized login attempts, changes initiated from unusual IP addresses, or suspicious API keys usage. Correlating these activities with known malicious IP addresses or behaviors associated with credential theft campaigns can help establish the timeline and vector of initial compromise.

In some attacks, rather than compromising the registrar, adversaries target weaknesses in Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing, performing route hijacking to divert traffic intended for the legitimate name servers. DNS queries and responses are intercepted or misrouted to rogue servers under the attacker’s control. In such scenarios, forensic efforts must expand to include BGP telemetry, route monitoring services, and flow analysis at the ISP or backbone level. Investigators examine route advertisements for anomalies, such as unauthorized announcements of IP prefixes associated with the cryptocurrency platform’s DNS infrastructure, and correlate route hijacking events with the observed onset of DNS resolution anomalies.

Once a hijack is confirmed, forensic analysts must reconstruct the attacker’s infrastructure and tactics. Active DNS probing against the attacker-controlled name servers can yield valuable information about the malicious zones they served. By querying these rogue servers, investigators can capture fraudulent DNS records, such as A records pointing to phishing sites, or MX records rerouted to capture sensitive email communications. Capturing and preserving these malicious configurations in a forensically sound manner is vital for both technical analysis and legal proceedings.

Simultaneously, forensic teams must collect evidence from the user side. Endpoint telemetry, browser histories, and DNS resolver logs can reveal which users were impacted, what malicious IP addresses they connected to, and what actions they performed while under the influence of the hijacked DNS responses. In cryptocurrency attacks, it is common for the malicious sites to mirror the legitimate platform’s login pages perfectly, harvesting user credentials, two-factor authentication tokens, and transaction approvals. Forensic analysis of these artifacts assists in quantifying the scope of the breach and identifying potential financial losses.

Investigators must also retrieve and analyze TLS certificates associated with the rogue infrastructure. Attackers often use valid certificates obtained through automated certificate authorities such as Let’s Encrypt, exploiting the CA’s inability to differentiate between legitimate and malicious control of a domain. By querying certificate transparency (CT) logs, investigators can identify certificates issued during the attack window, determine their fingerprinting characteristics, and connect them to broader threat actor activity if the same certificates or CA accounts were used in prior attacks.

Attribution efforts in DNS hijacking cases often focus on pivoting from known infrastructure elements. WHOIS data, albeit often masked, can occasionally reveal registrant overlaps or inconsistencies that point to the same operators behind multiple attacks. Passive DNS resolution histories can show whether the IP addresses used in the attack were previously associated with other malicious campaigns. Hosting provider analysis, service banners, and SSL certificate reuse can all contribute to building a profile of the threat actor, aiding law enforcement engagement or proactive defense measures against future attacks.

Recovery and containment operations are intricate and must be coordinated across multiple stakeholders. Restoring control over the domain typically involves working directly with the registrar, providing proof of ownership, and rapidly reconfiguring correct name servers. DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) becomes a critical protective measure in the aftermath, as it ensures the authenticity and integrity of DNS responses, mitigating future hijack attempts. Forensic recommendations often include enforcing DNSSEC across all zones, implementing registry locks to prevent unauthorized domain changes, and mandating multi-factor authentication and strict access controls for all domain management accounts.

In cases where BGP hijacking was involved, forensic investigators coordinate with network operators and national CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams) to retract unauthorized announcements and restore legitimate routing. Evidence collected during the forensic investigation supports the development of situational awareness reports, informs stakeholders about potential customer impact, and serves as the basis for regulatory notifications, if applicable under laws like GDPR or SEC reporting requirements.

Ultimately, investigating DNS hijacking of cryptocurrency platforms is a race against time, requiring swift identification, detailed forensic reconstruction, and comprehensive containment. The stakes are exceptionally high, with attackers targeting millions of dollars’ worth of assets and the reputations of major platforms hanging in the balance. Mastering the forensic techniques necessary to dissect these complex attacks—leveraging DNS analysis, registrar activity auditing, route monitoring, and infrastructure fingerprinting—enables organizations to respond effectively, pursue accountability, and fortify their defenses against one of the most insidious threats in the modern digital landscape.

DNS hijacking attacks targeting cryptocurrency platforms have become a highly lucrative and dangerous vector for cybercriminals. These attacks manipulate the DNS resolution process to redirect users attempting to access legitimate crypto services to attacker-controlled infrastructures. The impact of such hijacking can be devastating, often resulting in the theft of digital assets, compromise of user credentials,…