Name server (DNS): what it is and how it is attacked
Translates names like example.com into network addresses.
Also known as
- DNS
- domain name server
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
Whoever controls name resolution controls where traffic actually goes, regardless of what users typed.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Registrar or hosting records changed to redirect a domain
- Name lookups used as a quiet channel to carry data out
What reduces it
- Lock the registrar account with its own second factor and a registry lock
- Monitor for lookups used as a data channel, which look like ordinary traffic in volume
- Remove records pointing at services you no longer run
Where it sits
- Group
- Servers · Machines that run something for other machines.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- dns-server
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in servers
- Serverhost · machineA computer that runs something for other computers.
- Web serverHTTP server · websiteThe computer that sends your website to anybody who visits it.
- Application serverbackend · business logic tierRuns the working parts of an application, behind the website.
- DatabaseDB · SQL server · data storeStores the organised information an application depends on.
- Mail serveremail server · Exchange · SMTPSends, receives and stores the organisation's email.
- File serverSMB server · network shareHolds shared documents everyone can reach over the network.
- Virtual machine hosthypervisor · ESXi · Hyper-VOne physical server pretending to be many.
- Jump hostbastion · jump box · hardened admin hostThe single controlled machine administrators go through to reach sensitive systems.
- Backup serverbackup · Veeam · backup controllerMakes and manages the spare copies of your data that let you recover after something goes wrong.
- Update serverWSUS · patch server · software distributionDistributes software updates to every machine.
- Build pipelineCI/CD · Jenkins · GitHub ActionsThe automated production line that turns written code into the software the business actually runs.
- Phone systemVoIP · PBX · telephony serverRuns the organisation's telephone calls over the network.
The servers group lists all 13 of them side by side.
Name server on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type DNS. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker