What is DNS Monitoring?
DNS Monitoring is an essential part of your network Monitoring service. Its purpose is to guarantee the security and proper connection between the users and the website or service that they are visiting.
DNS Monitoring is very helpful for finding issues fast, identifying possible security breaches, or preventing some malicious attacks. It involves regular checks of the DNS records for any unexpected modifications or localizing DNS outages. That way, if an issue that will have a negative effect on your website or service is identified, it can be quickly resolved.
How does it work?
With DNS monitoring, you can initiate different DNS queries to a particular hostname and define the query type on the assigned IP address. When the answer is not the same as the expected one, the check is announced as DOWN. That way, you can easily determine the overall health of your DNS servers.
Here are some of the fundamental things to keep an eye on:
- IP Address. The IP address and the domain name should be correctly configurated to display the proper website to the user. You can initiate a DNS query to confirm that the IP address corresponds to the IP address you provided. That way, you can quickly identify a potential DNS spoofing attack or an error.
- SOA Record. The SOA (Start of Authority) record holds a serial number that updates every time a change is made in your DNS data. That can serve you to stop a potential attack.
- MX Records. The MX record is responsible for managing your incoming email messages. Keeping an eye on it is critical to avoid any loss of email, plus it could also stop attacks like rerouting messages.
- NS Records. Scanning your NS (nameserver) records is going to help assure your name server responds accurately to users.
Additionally, it’s essential also to check your DNS from multiple different locations. Some of the Monitoring services offer you to test from an extensive network of locations. That way, you can identify any non-localized issues which could harm your website or service.
Why is DNS Monitoring important?
As you probably know, the Domain Name System (DNS) is a fundamental part of the Internet. However, it was not created with security in mind, and oftentimes cybercriminals take advantage of its vulnerabilities. DNS monitoring is important for helping you protect your online presence by regularly inspecting your DNS records. Thanks to DNS Monitoring, you can avoid:
DNS poisoning
DNS poisoning, which is also known as DNS spoofing, is a cyber threat commonly used by attackers. They insert fraudulent data into the DNS cache on a server. As a result, the users are directed to a fake website where they usually type sensitive information, like credit card details.
DDoS and DoS attacks
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) and DoS (Denial of Service) attacks are other very popular and very dangerous cyber threats. One (in DoS attack) or multiple (DDoS attack) devices are sending large amounts of fake traffic towards the victim (server or network). The goal is to overwhelm the target and bring it down.
DNS outage
DNS outages are stopping users from reaching your domain. The DNS outage can last several minutes, an hour, or even days, and it can seriously affect your services. The DNS Monitoring can help you find and understand where the issue is coming from.