Subdomain Hijacking | CSC (2024)

FAQs

Can you hijack a subdomain? ›

HIJACKING. A fraudulent site can be created on a legitimate subdomain by criminals preying on companies that have misconfigured DNS records.

Data Breaches: Subdomain takeover can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data or user information. Attackers could exploit the subdomain to trick users into divulging confidential information, such as login credentials, personal data, or financial details.

Subdomain takeover can have severe legal implications, as attackers may engage in illegal activities or host malicious content on compromised subdomains.

A subdomain takeover can occur when you have a DNS record that points to a deprovisioned Azure resource. Such DNS records are also known as "dangling DNS" entries. CNAME records are especially vulnerable to this threat.

Subdominator is a dependable and fast open-source command-line interface tool to identify subdomain takeovers.

Attackers can impersonate legitimate domain names by creating similar domain names or subdomains that look similar to the real ones. For example, an attacker could create a fake domain name “gooogle.com” with three “o's” instead of two, making it difficult for the victim to distinguish it from the real Google website.

to secure a subdomain you need to either generate a new certificate for each subdomain or use a wildcard SSL certificate. A wildcard SSL certificate will automatically secure the main domain and all subdomains. A wildcard SSL certificate can be generated by using the Let's Encrypt DNS verification method.

Websites that use multiple subdomains risk exposing themselves to cyberattacks. Subdomain takeovers can lead to data breaches and reputational damage.

A subdomain takeover occurs when an attacker gains control over a subdomain of a target domain. Typically, this happens when the subdomain has a canonical name (CNAME) in the Domain Name System (DNS), but no host is providing content for it.

One of the subdomains of the scanned domain is pointing to an external service but the external service account was cancelled or has expired. Because the account is not in use anymore, an attacker can claim this account and takeover your subdomain. The attacker can use this subdomain for phishing or to spread malware.

Can a subdomain be malicious? ›

Phishing: SubdoMailing attackers use compromised subdomains to send massive amounts of spam emails. These emails can appear legitimate, tricking recipients into clicking malicious links or opening attachments.

Yes. When you purchase the root domain, you can set up any subdomain you want on that root domain. Before you use Google Search Console (used to be Google Webmaster Tool), you should set up your site so that all traffic going to the root domain gets redirected to the www version.

A subdomain takeover occurs when you take over the service that some DNS records are pointing to. A DNS takeover occurs when you take over the DNS server that is assigned to that host. DNS takeovers are typically more severe because they give the attacker more control.

A subdomain can be useful if you have a specific purpose for the content that differs from the primary domain. For example, perhaps you own a restaurant and want to create a pop culture blog (who knows, maybe it's appealing to your target audience!).

Dangling DNS refers to a misconfiguration in your email-related domain name system (DNS) records. A reference domain or subdomain is left pointing to a domain that no longer exists or is not under the control of the original domain owner.

Websites that use multiple subdomains risk exposing themselves to cyberattacks. Subdomain takeovers can lead to data breaches and reputational damage. However, these risks can be minimized with the right strategies, and your organization can stay protected.

Subdomain brute forcing involves using a list of common subdomain names and attempting to connect to them by appending them to a target domain. The success or failure of these connections is used to determine which subdomains are valid.

One disadvantage of using subdomains for SEO is that they are treated as separate entities by search engines, which can dilute the overall authority of your main site. Additionally, managing content on subdomains can be more complex than on a subdirectory, as it requires separate hosting and maintenance.