Enterprise IT teams put in countless resources protecting their main web domains. They put in place strict DNS settings and traffic monitoring and establish rules about what security measures must be put in place to protect their websites. However, large companies leave behind many unused online assets, such as allocated testing environments, expired marketing pages, and forgotten cloud settings. This leads to the threat of a subdomain takeover.
A subdomain takeover occurs when an authentic subdomain sends data to a different service vendor such as a cloud storage bucket, code repository host, or marketing automation platform that has now been shut down. With its DNS record still intact, the subdomain now directs traffic to a broad empty land. Cybercriminals commonly utilize tools that automatically search for dangling DNS records on the internet with the intention of taking them over. The moment they find a dangling DNS record, they would go ahead and register the resource with the service provider.
Within seconds, the criminal has access to a legitimate company's subdomain. The criminal does not even have to compromise internal servers or take over domain registration. Instead, the criminal takes full advantage of the legitimate name already actively used on the internet.
The security consequences are serious. Since a subdomain inherits the credibility of the legal entity, it easily passes through traditional web security filters as well as email protection methods. Cybercriminals use these subdomains to create authentic-looking phishing pages, disseminate dangerous malware, or even launch cross-site scripting attacks. It is difficult for an executive or a client who receives a link leading to a true corporate subdomain to suspect fraud, thus making this method efficient in the area of social engineering.
In addition, these takeovers destroy the browser security architecture. Browsers are known to share session cookies between subdomains of an overarching website. By taking control of just one weak subdomain, an assailant gains access to the authentication cookies of individuals who are logged into the company’s primary enterprise applications in a manner that circumvents multi-factor authentication measures.
To guard against this hidden threat, organizations must move from static asset lists to continuous external attack surface management. It is vital to be able to monitor one’s DNS infrastructure in real time all the time. When a cloud resource or a third-party service is no longer available, members of the company must ask IT personnel to delete the respective DNS record immediately in order to avoid exploitation. Periodic manual audits are not enough to protect against automated attack scanners.
DarkX — DarkX provides the continuous external attack surface visibility needed to secure your digital perimeter, monitoring your global DNS infrastructure in real time to instantly identify dangling records and abandoned cloud pointers, allowing you to reclaim your shadow infrastructure before it can be weaponized by threat actors.
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