Google DNS Service (8.8.8.8) Now Supports DNS-over-TLS Security

Jan 10, 2019

Almost every activity on the Internet starts with a DNS query,
a key function of the Internet that works as an Internet’s
directory where your device looks up for the server IP addresses
after you enter a human-readable web address (e.g.,
thehackernews.com).

Since DNS queries are sent in clear text over UDP or TCP without
encryption, the information can reveal not only what websites an
individual visits but is also vulnerable to spoofing attacks.

To address these problems, Google announced
Wednesday that its Public DNS (Domain Name System) service finally
supports DNS-over-TLS security protocol, which means that the DNS
queries and responses will be communicated over TLS-encrypted TCP
connections.
^[1]

The DNS-over-TLS has been designed to make it harder for
man-in-the-middle attackers to manipulate the DNS query or
eavesdrop on your Internet connection.

Launched over eight years ago, Google Public DNS, at IP
addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, is world’s largest public Domain
Name Service recursive resolver that most people prefer instead of
using default DNS services from their ISPs or carriers.

“Starting today, users can secure queries between their devices and
Google Public DNS with DNS-over-TLS, preserving their privacy and
integrity,” Google wrote in a blog post.

“Now users can secure their connections to Google Public DNS
with TLS, the same technology that protects their HTTPS web
connections.”

The search engine giant also says that it implemented the
DNS-over-TLS specification along with the RFC 7766 recommendations to minimize the
overhead of using TLS, which include support for:

TLS 1.3 for improved security and faster connections
TCP fast open
Pipelining of multiple queries
Out-of-order responses over a single connection to its public
DNS server

You can use Google’s DNS-over-TLS in two ways, strict or
opportunistic privacy.
In strict privacy mode, your device or system will create a secure
TLS connection on port 853 to the DNS server, which if fails, the
server will respond with an error.

However, in the opportunistic privacy mode, if the client cannot
establish a secure connection on port 853, it falls back to
communicating with the DNS server on the standard DNS port 53 over
UDP or TCP without any security or privacy.

Google has made DNS-over-TLS
available for Android 9 Pie ^[3]
users starting Wednesday. So, if you run Android 9 on your
smartphone, you can switch to DNS-over-TLS today.

To do so, just head on to the networking section of your Android
device’s Settings app, and enter “dns.google” as the Private DNS
server. More detailed instructions on the DNS-over-TLS are
available here ^[4].

Google is not the first one to offer DNS-over-TLS. Last year,
Cloudflare, well-known Internet performance and security company,
also launched its new “1.1.1.1” that it claims to be the world’s
fastest and
privacy-focused secure DNS service ^[5], which supports both
DNS-over-TLS and DNS-over-HTTPS to ensure maximum privacy.

^[2]

References

^{^}
announced
(security.googleblog.com)
^{^}
RFC 7766
(tools.ietf.org)
^{^}
DNS-over-TLS available for Android 9
Pie (thehackernews.com)
^{^}
here
(developers.google.com)
^{^}
fastest and privacy-focused secure DNS
service (thehackernews.com)

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OWASP TOP !0

Injection. Injection flaws, such as SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection, occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query. The attacker’s hostile data can trick the interpreter into executing unintended commands or accessing data without proper authorization. Broken Authentication. Application functions related to authentication and session management are often implemented incorrectly, allowing attackers to compromise passwords, keys, or session tokens, or to exploit other implementation flaws to assume other users’ identities temporarily or permanently. Sensitive Data Exposure. Many web applications and APIs do not properly protect sensitive data, such as financial, healthcare, and PII. Attackers may steal or modify such weakly protected data to conduct credit card fraud, identity theft, or other crimes. Sensitive data may be compromised without extra protection, such as encryption at rest or in transit, and requires special precautions when exchanged with the browser. XML External Entities (XXE). Many older or poorly configured XML processors evaluate external entity references within XML documents. External entities can be used to disclose internal files using the file URI handler, internal file shares, internal port scanning, remote code execution, and denial of service attacks. Broken Access Control. Restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are often not properly enforced. Attackers can exploit these flaws to access unauthorized functionality and/or data, such as access other users’ accounts, view sensitive files, modify other users’ data, change access rights, etc. Security Misconfiguration. Security misconfiguration is the most commonly seen issue. This is commonly a result of insecure default configurations, incomplete or ad hoc configurations, open cloud storage, misconfigured HTTP headers, and verbose error messages containing sensitive information. Not only must all operating systems, frameworks, libraries, and applications be securely configured, but they must be patched/upgraded in a timely fashion. Cross-Site Scripting XSS. XSS flaws occur whenever an application includes untrusted data in a new web page without proper validation or escaping, or updates an existing web page with user-supplied data using a browser API that can create HTML or JavaScript. XSS allows attackers to execute scripts in the victim’s browser which can hijack user sessions, deface web sites, or redirect the user to malicious sites. Insecure Deserialization. Insecure deserialization often leads to remote code execution. Even if deserialization flaws do not result in remote code execution, they can be used to perform attacks, including replay attacks, injection attacks, and privilege escalation attacks. Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities. Components, such as libraries, frameworks, and other software modules, run with the same privileges as the application. If a vulnerable component is exploited, such an attack can facilitate serious data loss or server takeover. Applications and APIs using components with known vulnerabilities may undermine application defenses and enable various attacks and impacts. Insufficient Logging & Monitoring. Insufficient logging and monitoring, coupled with missing or ineffective integration with incident response, allows attackers to further attack systems, maintain persistence, pivot to more systems, and tamper, extract, or destroy data. Most breach studies show time to detect a breach is over 200 days, typically detected by external parties rather than internal processes or monitoring.

Google DNS Service (8.8.8.8) Now Supports DNS-over-TLS Security

References

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