Social Threat Mitigation

Although "user education" is desirable for preventing risks from similar hostnames and automatic name completion, it is not the only option:

Monitor Similar Domains: Constantly search for domain name variations. When similar hostnames are identified, DNS providers can be asked to shut them down. Although this is a complicated and time-consuming task, there are services that specialize in monitoring for similar domain names.

Lock Domains: Use domain registrars that support domain locking. This requires additional information such as account information or passwords to transfer domain names.

Use Valid Contacts: Providing one or more valid contact values in the domain registration permits users and registrars to contact the domain owner. But, this does not require specifying people's names or personal information-a social engineer could use this information to attack the domain owner.

24/7 Support: Select a domain registrar that provides round-the-clock support. Be sure the registrar can be contacted at any time in case there is a domain issue.

Self-Hosting: Large companies may choose to become their own registrar for their domain.

If a domain is hijacked, immediately contact the domain registrar. If the registrar is unavailable or unable to resolve the issue, contact the TLD. For example, VeriSign is the contact for .com and .net domains. In addition, ICANN can be contacted by emailing transfers@icann.org.

Optimal DNS Configurations

BIND is the most common DNS server implementation. There are many documents that specify how to tighten the configuration of BIND servers. Some of these documents include "Securing BIND: How to Prevent Your DNS Server from Being Hacked" (http://www.giac.org/certified_professionals/practicals/gsec/0756.php) and "Defense in Depth of DNS" (http://www.sans.org/rr/whitepapers/dns/867.php). In addition, the Internet Security Consortium offers many resources for configuring and securing BIND (http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/sw/bind/).

The availability of security-oriented server documentation varies between vendors. Although BIND has many supporting documents, other servers offer few resources (or none at all).