Domain Shadowing
Domain shadowing is a cyberattack where an attacker uses a domain registrar's system vulnerability to create subdomains pointing to malicious servers. The attacker gains access to a legitimate domain by exploiting a security weakness in the domain registrar's control panel or stealing login credentials. Once they have access, the attacker creates subdomains that point to their servers, where they can host malicious content or launch further attacks.
ThreatNG can effectively combat domain shadowing through its comprehensive capabilities. Here's how:
1. External Discovery and Assessment:
Uncovering Shadowed Subdomains: ThreatNG's external discovery module can scan the internet for subdomains associated with your organization's domain, even those not officially registered or documented. This helps uncover potentially shadowed subdomains that may be hosting malicious content or involved in phishing attacks.
Analyzing Subdomain Behavior: The external assessment module can analyze the behavior of these subdomains, looking for suspicious connections to known malicious IP addresses or the presence of phishing kits or malware. This helps identify high-risk subdomains that require immediate attention.
Real-time Detection: ThreatNG can continuously monitor your domain and its subdomains for any changes, such as the creation of new subdomains or modifications to existing ones. This lets you detect real-time domain shadowing attempts and respond quickly to mitigate the threat.
Alerting on Suspicious Activity: ThreatNG can also monitor the content and behavior of subdomains, alerting you to any suspicious activity that could indicate malicious intent, such as the sudden appearance of phishing pages or malware downloads.
DNS Intelligence: ThreatNG's DNS intelligence module can provide detailed information about the DNS records of your domain and its subdomains, helping you identify any unauthorized or suspicious entries that may indicate domain shadowing.
Subdomain Intelligence: This module can analyze the content and behavior of individual subdomains, providing insights into their purpose, technology stack, and potential vulnerabilities. This can help you determine if a subdomain is legitimate or being used for malicious purposes.
Certificate Intelligence: ThreatNG can analyze SSL certificates associated with your domain and its subdomains, identifying any discrepancies or irregularities that could indicate domain shadowing or other malicious activity.
Leveraging Threat Intelligence: ThreatNG's intelligence repositories contain a wealth of information about known threats, vulnerabilities, and attack patterns, including data on domain shadowing techniques and indicators of compromise. This information can be used to identify and mitigate potential domain shadowing attacks.
Staying Up to Date: ThreatNG continuously updates its intelligence repositories with the latest threat information, ensuring you are always protected against the newest domain shadowing techniques and trends.
5. Reporting:
Generating Actionable Reports: ThreatNG can generate various reports that provide insights into your organization's external attack surface and digital risk, including vulnerabilities to domain shadowing. These reports can help you identify and address potential weaknesses in domain management and security practices.
6. Collaboration and Management:
Facilitating Collaboration: ThreatNG's collaboration and management features allow different teams within your organization to work together to address security threats, including domain shadowing. This is crucial for responding to domain shadowing attacks, which may require coordination between security, IT, and domain management teams.
7. Working with Complementary Solutions:
Integration with Existing Security Tools: ThreatNG can integrate with your existing security tools, such as SIEMs and SOARs, to provide a more comprehensive view of your security posture. This integration can help you automate your security processes and improve overall security effectiveness.
Example: ThreatNG can be integrated with a DNS security solution to provide real-time monitoring of your domain and its subdomains, allowing you to identify and remediate any unauthorized changes or suspicious activity quickly.
8. Examples of ThreatNG Helping:
Uncovering Shadowed Subdomains: ThreatNG discovers an undocumented subdomain, "payments.yourcompany.com," hosting a phishing page to steal credit card information. This allows you to take down the subdomain and investigate the incident.
Detecting Unauthorized Changes: ThreatNG detects the creation of a new subdomain, "downloads.yourcompany.com," that distributes malware. You are immediately alerted and can take steps to shut down the subdomain and protect your users.
Identifying DNS Discrepancies: ThreatNG identifies a discrepancy in the DNS records for one of your subdomains, indicating that it may be shadowed. You can then investigate the issue and take corrective action.
By employing ThreatNG's capabilities, organizations can effectively mitigate the risks associated with domain shadowing. Its comprehensive approach to external attack surface management, digital risk protection, and threat intelligence provides the visibility and control needed to protect your domain, brand, and users from this sophisticated attack technique.
