DHS prepares emergency order to prevent DNS hijacking
The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to issue a rare “emergency” directive ordering federal civilian agencies to secure the login credentials for their internet domain records, according to government officials familiar with the matter. DHS is expected to issue the order as soon as Tuesday, officials said, out of concern that federal agencies could be vulnerable to cyberattacks intended to gain access to the platforms used to manage domain name system (DNS) records. The DNS system, dubbed the “phone book of the internet,” translates a domain name to a valid IP address, sending a user to the website they are trying to access. Once compromised, a DNS server or registrar account can be used to redirect users to a malware-laden website. There are at least six civilian agency domains that have been affected by malicious DNS activity, according to people familiar with the matter. The emergency directive, which carries more urgency than DHS’s more-common Binding Operational […]
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