The Importance of Premium DNS
Key Takeaways:
- DNS-based attacks are on the rise as hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in DNS systems to target businesses and individuals alike.
- There are a variety of DNS-based attacks that can disrupt your online presence, steal your information, and even inject malware into your website.
- When choosing a DNS provider, it is important to select one that offers attack monitoring, superior network response times, fast page loading, improved network routing and filtering, traffic prioritization, and guaranteed uptime.
The digital world is filled with opportunity. From sharing your favorite hobby and connecting with like-minded individuals to selling products and promoting your side hustle, there's so much you can accomplish online, especially when you have the right tools at your disposal. But even as online spaces offer amazing potential for you to make your mark on the world, they also present definite risks for everyone from devoted business owners to casual enthusiasts.
Bad actors have a range of tools at their disposal for damaging your online presence and stealing your information or that of your customers. One such avenue of attack comes through targeting your domain name servers (DNS). DNS-based attacks are on the rise, and it's getting harder to stop them. Serious vulnerabilities in DNS systems present easy targets for hackers. Just as you see the limitless potential of your online presence, malicious parties see an opportunity to take advantage of DNS weaknesses.
Understanding the Risks
DNS-based attacks involve the use of several popular methods. For starters, you have Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, where hackers fill up a network with traffic to overwhelm servers and cause them to crash. There are many kinds of DDoS attacks that can fill up your servers with bad traffic, but the main thing to know is that they are intended to prevent your site users from loading your pages and seeing legitimate content.
Attackers also use Domain Hijacking or DNS reflection. These attacks are particularly dangerous because they reroute user queries from certain servers to destinations that the hackers control. This presents an opportunity for the insertion of malware.
There are also methods such as cache poisoning, which can similarly redirect queries, and DNS recursion attacks, which cause website downtime.
The details of how these attacks work are technically complex, but their nefarious aim is the same across the board. And that means you need a way to stop these attacks from happening, or if they do occur, a way to prevent downtime and disruptions for your users.
Exploring Your DNS Options
There are many free, "freemium" (free with a paid subscription model attached) and premium DNS options on the market. Providers such as Cloudflare, AdGuard and Cisco offer free options, and some offer upgraded paid plans as well. A good DNS service will offer some or all the following benefits:
- Attack Monitoring (Including Identifying Common Attack Signatures)
- Superior Network Response Times
- Fast Page Loading
- Improved Network Routing and Filtering
- Traffic Prioritization
- Guaranteed Uptime
These are just a few of the features to be on the lookout for. When it comes to DNS, paying for a truly premium service is often the best choice, because the free services that are out there don't necessarily check every box, and often require you to upgrade to a paid plan to access all of the essential features anyway. When it comes to online security, it's best to invest more today, and avoid the headache of a DNS attack tomorrow.
Why Register.com's Premium DNS Service is a Great Choice
Here at Register.com, everything we do is directed towards making your online experience easier. That is certainly true of our Premium DNS service. This service provides fast performance and page loading with 100% uptime, through the use of 21 servers worldwide. You'll enjoy improved load times, a reduction in error codes and, most importantly, enhanced site security.
Our Premium DNS service safeguards your information from hackers and helps prevent them from rerouting your website traffic to malware-ridden pages. You will enjoy complete confidence in the protection this service offers against the top DNS threats, including DDoS attacks, domain hijacking and cache poisoning.
The peace of mind you'll receive from using our DNS service is priceless, not only for the sake of you and your website but for your site visitors and customers as well. Make the most of your online opportunities, and see for yourself how our Premium DNS offering can improve your user experience and security while ensuring your website stays up and running 24/7.
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