Your business most likely has a DNS or a domain name system. It’s one of the things that you need when you’re getting your company’s website and computer system off the ground. However, it is also a potentially vulnerable area that hackers might try to exploit.
You need to monitor your DNS security. If you don’t, your data is at risk, not to mention all the client data that you might be retaining on your network.
Here are tips that should help keep you safe from DNS attacks.
Two-Factor Authentication
If you’re thinking that focusing on this part of your network isn’t worth it, then consider this: network attacks cost businesses nearly $1 million on average. It is precisely because so many companies don’t bother to beef up their security in this area that clever hackers identify it as a target area.
Two-factor authentication is where you:
- Use more than just a user name and password
- Also require an additional element to access your network
Another option, of course, is to use a third-party DNS managed service. Some possibilities might be DNSMadeEasy or Cloudflare DNS. Using a third-party system might cost a little more, but you can be sure that they have top-notch security features.
Make Sure You Encrypt Everything
It’s always a great idea to limit access to your sensitive data. However, it’s even more vital that you encrypt everything. You should install a VPN, or virtual private network, for your company.
By doing so, you can protect:
- Your activity
- Your domain name
- Any other information you’re keeping on the network
You can inform your employees that they should never connect to the internet through company computers unless they do so through the VPN. That is going to go a long way toward stopping any hacker attacks and shoring up potential vulnerabilities.
Look at Your SSL Certificates
An SSL certificate is a mini data file. It digitally binds an organization’s details to a cryptographic key. It also authenticates a website’s identity.
It encrypts any information sent to your server through it. However, talented hackers can create fake SSL certifications they associate with your domain.
You can counter this by searching for SSL certificates related to your domain. If you see that there are any fraudulent ones, then you can revoke them, effectively kicking hackers off your network.
Update Your Software
The software you use on your network sometimes goes out of date as new versions come on the market. Individual users and web hosting services should update your software for you.
However, that doesn’t mean that they’re always quick to do it. If you’re a network admin, you need to ensure that your hosting service keeps on top of these updates and any security patches that come out.
Anti-Malware and Anti-Virus Protection
Another thing you should do is have anti-virus and anti-malware software up and running on your network. Much like updating your other software, you need to keep it current so that you’re running the latest versions.
This software blocks new malware and virus threats as hackers create them. It’s another defensive line that will prevent anyone unauthorized from accessing your network.
Perform Internal Investigations
You might not be aware of this, but you can hire hackers to try and break into your network. It’s smart to do this every few months.
You pay these ethical hackers a fee, and then they probe your network for vulnerabilities. They try to get into your domains and servers. Whenever they find weak points, they make a note of them.
Afterward, they’ll give you a detailed rundown of what they found. They’ll tell you how you can improve security at the weak points so that if they’d had malicious intentions, you could take steps to keep them out.
They can also tell you if a DNS attack already happened. Hackers often leave trails, even if you were never aware that they were there.
Some other things you can do would be to audit your DNS zones and validate any name changes. Auditing DNS zones is how you make sure that you’re protecting your sub-domains adequately. When you validate name changes, that’s a way of making sure that no unauthorized individuals have been meddling with your network settings.
If your employees don’t know that much about DNS attacks and the damage they can do, you can hire an expert to do a webinar about it. Make attendance mandatory. This matters too much to be blasé about it.