Ask a Question, Get an Answer; How insecure can that be? (Part 1 of 3)
The domain name system (DNS) was invented nearly thirty years ago to serve as the Internet directory. As you browse the Internet using your computer, tablet, mobile phone, or other device, you navigate by entering names of websites, typically “www” addresses. But your device connects to the intended Internet destination by sending Internet Protocol (IP) data packets, which are addressed using IP addresses, not www addresses. DNS provides the vital linkage in looking up www addresses that people use and translating them to IP addresses that devices use. The basic concept of DNS is very simple: ask a question (www address) and get an answer (IP address). But the mechanics involve a number of DNS entities, many of which lie outside of your organization. And this could expose your network to security compromise. By its very nature, the global Internet DNS system serves as a distributed data repository containing www names (and others of course but let's keep it simple) and correspo