Newly Observed Hostnames (NOH)

The Security Challenge

Detect Domain Shadowing

Millions of hostnames are created every day as part of the Domain Name System (DNS). Often, bad actors use hostnames to impersonate other organizations.

Security teams need to know when new hostnames are put into use in real-time. Unfortunately, this insight is not readily available because it is broadly distributed across many recursive and authoritative name servers around the world.

The Farsight Solution

Farsight’s Newly Observed Hostnames (NOH)

Provides organizations with visibility of new hostnames
or Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) – when they are first active.

“Farsight’s NOH is very valuable for malware discovery.”

Senior Security Analyst
Fortune 500 Investment Manager

Using NOH, security teams can leverage real-time, actionable insights based on new hostnames that target their domains as well as their partners; thus ensuring end-to-end security.

Discover the existence of new hostnames within minutes of when they are first resolved.
Identify “wildcarded” and uniquely tagged hostnames, which are often used in phishing attempts or to evade domain name-focused investigations.
Monitor potentially infringing websites (e.g., rolex.acme.com, prada-sale.acme.biz).
Detect potentially malicious websites used in phishing attacks targeting the organization or its customers (e.g., 1loydsbank.co.uk, www.beatsbydrewholesale.com).
Discover “domain shadowing” — when adversaries hijack legitimate domains to create subdomains to distribute malicious content (e.g., apple.hackedsite.com, paypal.secureserver.hackedsite.com).

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How Does It Work?

Farsight NOH reports new subdomains and hostnames when they are first resolved, allowing for detection of domain shadowing.

NOH provides security teams the following capabilities

Phishing and brand protection

Organizations can watch for and discover infringing domains and phishing hostnames targeting their users and partners.

Situational awareness for sensitive environments

Organizations often have internal hosts that should never be accessed from the Internet. Security teams can know when someone, either internal or external, is attempting to resolve these hosts.

Penetration test assistance

Internal and external penetration testers can use this feed of new systems and hosts for legitimate pen testing engagements.

Unexpected DNS additions

By monitoring the DNS worldwide, organizations can see newly added websites in their own domains. They can also learn about unexpected DNS changes within minutes; allowing for quick action and investigation.

Newly Observed Hostnames Discovered in Real Time

NOH leverages more than 5 TB of real-time Passive DNS data to detect hundreds of millions of hostnames per day. Farsight validates that more than 25 million of those hostnames are newly configured from the perspective of the historical DNSDB database.

NOH is available as a real-time stream as Security Information Exchange (SIE) Channel 213 and in a DNS zone file format that can be queried or downloaded.

Case study

ThreatConnect, Inc. Case Study

ThreatConnect used Farsight Security's DNSDB™ to investigate Anthem breach-related activity.

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Red Canary, Inc. Case Study

Red Canary uses Farsight Newly Observed Domain (NOD) to enrich and confirm their findings during an investigation.