BLACKCSI Protects SMBs From DNS Attacks

Many businesses don’t realize the potential dangers of this type of threat because of its abstract nature. Domain Name Servers (DNS) maintain a directory of domain names and translate them to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. When hackers attack, they essentially overload websites with traffic, and then siphon traffic from the site the user was attempting to visit to a malicious one. Once the user arrives, they are subject to phishing attacks, malware installation and a whole host of other threats. Domain Name Servers are essentially the intersection between an Internet user and any business application they’re attempting to reach. Having unsecured DNS settings is like having an unsecured traffic system. If hackers can get inside and control which lights turn green and which turn red, imagine the traffic and accidents that could occur. This is essentially what is happening within unprotected networks.

“Most business owners are completely unaware of this threat and it’s growing prevalence. We basically tell our customers that if they don’t have DNS security measures in place, they don’t have any security at all,” stated Ruthann Black, President of BlackCSI. “If there’s a site that is known to be malicious, the company simply must prevent access.”

An oversimplified explanation of DNS security is that everyone uses the Internet and that DNS security services actively disables employees, vendors and customers from being able to visit sites that are known to have been contaminated or malicious in nature. This safeguards all stakeholders and keeps company reputations strong by preventing hackers from ever reaching the data they wish to misuse.

DNS attacks have even reached major players in today’s business world. In fact, in 2016 there was a major DNS attack that shocked the world and captured everyone’s attention regarding the power of the issue. The Guardian reported that the attack was “…bringing down sites including Twitter, the Guardian, Netflix, Reddit, CNN and many others in Europe and the US.” The Guardian also added, “The cause of the outage was a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, in which a network of computers infected with special malware, known as a ‘botnet’, are coordinated into bombarding a server with traffic until it collapses under the strain.”