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Introduction:
While geopolitical rhetoric often frames cyber operations as tools of statecraft, the underlying infrastructure of the internet—specifically DNS and digital assets—remains the primary battlefield. When experts like Andy Jenkinson point to “warmongery” rooted in “corruption and greed,” it underscores a critical reality: cyber conflict is less about ideology and more about the exploitation of technical vulnerabilities for financial and strategic control. This article explores the technical mechanics behind these assertions, providing a guide to understanding how DNS vulnerabilities and internet asset mismanagement serve as weapons in modern, greed-driven digital warfare.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the critical role of DNS and Internet Assets in geopolitical cyber strategy.
- Learn to identify and audit common DNS vulnerabilities using command-line tools.
- Explore methods for hardening cloud and on-premise infrastructure against asset hijacking.
- Analyze the intersection of financial greed and technical exploitation in cyber attacks.
- Gain practical skills for implementing defensive measures and conducting threat intelligence gathering.
You Should Know:
1. Auditing DNS Records for Common Exploits
The core of internet asset vulnerability often lies in misconfigured DNS records. Attackers exploit these not for fame, but for financial gain—redirecting traffic, stealing credentials, or establishing persistent communication channels. To understand your exposure, you must first audit your records like an adversary.
Step‑by‑step guide: Auditing DNS with Linux Command Line
- Check for Zone Transfers (AXFR): This is a classic misconfiguration where a server allows anyone to copy its entire zone file.
Using dig to attempt a zone transfer dig axfr @<nameserver> <targetdomain.com> Example: dig axfr @ns1.example.com example.com
If successful, an attacker has a complete map of your internal and external assets.
-
Enumerate Subdomains: Greed-driven attackers look for forgotten development servers or staging sites with weak security.
Using fierce (a DNS reconnaissance tool) fierce --domain targetdomain.com --subdomains accounts admin dev test staging Using dnsrecon dnsrecon -d targetdomain.com -D /usr/share/wordlists/dns/subdomains-top1million-5000.txt -t brt
-
Verify DNSSEC Implementation: Lack of DNSSEC allows for cache poisoning, redirecting users to malicious sites for phishing.
Check if DNSSEC is signed and validated delv @8.8.8.8 targetdomain.com +multiline Look for the 'ad' flag (authentic data) in the response.
2. Identifying Expired Domains and “Drop-Catching”
Jenkinson’s mention of “greed” directly correlates with the practice of domain squatting and “drop-catching.” When a company lets a domain expire due to administrative negligence, attackers snatch it up to host malicious content or send spoofed emails.
Step‑by‑step guide: Monitoring Domain Expiry (Linux/Windows)
1. WHOIS Lookups (Linux/Unix):
Check expiration date programmatically whois targetdomain.com | grep -E 'Expiry|Expiration|paid-till'
Automate this with a cron job to alert you 90, 60, and 30 days before expiry.
2. PowerShell for Windows (Active Directory Environments):
If you manage multiple domains, you can use PowerShell to query expiration.
Requires the 'PSWHOIS' module or a REST API call Install-Module -Name PSWHOIS Get-WhoIs -Domain "targetdomain.com" | Select-Object DomainName, Expiration
3. Hardening Cloud Assets Against “Warmongery”
State-sponsored or greed-driven attackers often target cloud assets (S3 buckets, Azure Blob Storage) to exfiltrate data or deface organizations. Misconfigured permissions are the primary vector.
Step‑by‑step guide: Securing AWS S3 Buckets
1. Audit Public Access (AWS CLI):
List buckets and check their ACLs aws s3api list-buckets --query "Buckets[].Name" aws s3api get-bucket-acl --bucket <bucket-name> Check if 'AllUsers' or 'AuthenticatedUsers' have READ or WRITE access.
2. Block Public Access (Hardening Command):
Apply a public access block to prevent any future exposure aws s3api put-public-access-block \ --bucket <bucket-name> \ --public-access-block-configuration BlockPublicAcls=true,IgnorePublicAcls=true,BlockPublicPolicy=true,RestrictPublicBuckets=true
3. Enable Server Access Logging:
To detect if anyone is scanning or accessing your assets illicitly (a sign of reconnaissance before an attack), enable logging.
aws s3api put-bucket-logging --bucket <bucket-name> --bucket-logging-status file://logging.json
4. API Security: The Gateway to Data Theft
Greed motivates attackers to steal data via APIs. Poorly secured APIs expose backend databases and user information.
Step‑by‑step guide: Testing API Endpoint Hardening
- Rate Limiting Test (cURL): If an API lacks rate limiting, an attacker can scrape all user data.
Loop a request to see if you get throttled (HTTP 429) for i in {1..100}; do curl -I -X GET https://api.target.com/v1/user/123 2>/dev/null | head -n 1; doneIf you get `HTTP/1.1 200 OK` for all 100 requests, the API is vulnerable to scraping.
-
JWT Token Verification: Ensure tokens are validated correctly.
Decode a JWT without verifying signature (to inspect claims) echo "<JWT_TOKEN>" | cut -d "." -f2 | base64 -d 2>/dev/null | jq .
Check for weak algorithms (e.g., ‘none’) or excessive permissions in the scope.
5. Windows Environment: Hunting for Asset Hijacking Malware
On the endpoint side, “greed” manifests as ransomware or cryptominers that hijack computing assets. These often communicate via DNS to avoid detection.
Step‑by‑step guide: Detecting Malicious DNS Traffic (Windows PowerShell)
1. Flush DNS Cache and Monitor for Anomalies:
While not a direct detection, flushing can sometimes disrupt malware, but we need to look deeper.
View current DNS cache to spot suspicious domains ipconfig /displaydns
2. Use PowerShell to Query Suspicious Connections:
Look for processes making connections to non-standard ports or known malicious IPs.
Get active TCP connections and resolve the remote hostname
Get-NetTCPConnection | Where-Object {$<em>.State -eq "Established"} | ForEach-Object {
try { $hostname = [System.Net.Dns]::GetHostEntry($</em>.RemoteAddress).HostName } catch { $hostname = "N/A" }
[bash]@{
LocalAddress = $<em>.LocalAddress
RemoteAddress = $</em>.RemoteAddress
RemotePort = $<em>.RemotePort
RemoteHostname = $hostname
OwningProcess = (Get-Process -Id $</em>.OwningProcess).ProcessName
}
} | Out-GridView
6. Exploitation Mitigation: DNS Filtering and RPZ
To combat the manipulation of the internet’s logic, implement DNS firewalls.
Step‑by‑step guide: Implementing Response Policy Zones (RPZ) on BIND
RPZ allows a DNS server to override queries for malicious domains, preventing users from reaching known “greed-driven” sites (phishing, malware C2).
1. Configure RPZ in `named.conf`:
zone "rpz.zone" IN {
type master;
file "/etc/bind/rpz.zone";
allow-query { localhost; };
allow-transfer { none; };
};
response-policy {
zone "rpz.zone";
};
2. Populate the RPZ Zone File (`/etc/bind/rpz.zone`):
$TTL 60 @ IN SOA localhost. root.localhost. (1 10800 3600 604800 60) IN NS localhost. ; Redirect known malicious domains to localhost or a sinkhole evil-phishing.com IN CNAME . ; NXDOMAIN response malware-c2.net IN A 127.0.0.1 ; Redirect to sinkhole .cryptominer.io IN CNAME .
What Undercode Say:
Andy Jenkinson’s critique cuts through the sanitized language of “cyber conflict” to reveal the raw economic drivers beneath. The technical reality is that DNS and internet assets are treated as mere commodities, bought, sold, and stolen for profit disguised as geopolitical maneuvering. The key takeaway is that most organizations are vulnerable not because of sophisticated zero-days, but because of basic administrative neglect—expired domains, misconfigured S3 buckets, and APIs without rate limits. This greed-driven exploitation turns the foundational protocols of the internet into weapons. To defend against this, security professionals must move beyond threat hunting and focus on asset hygiene and configuration management as a primary pillar of defense. The enemy is not just a hacker; it is the vulnerability born of corporate oversight.
- Key Takeaway 1: The majority of “geopolitical” hacks are enabled by basic asset mismanagement, making rigorous configuration audits the most effective defense.
- Key Takeaway 2: DNS is the most abused protocol in greed-driven attacks; implementing RPZ and monitoring for zone transfers are non-negotiable controls.
Prediction:
As economic pressures increase globally, we will see a sharp rise in “hack-back” operations where private entities, driven by greed and survival, begin exploiting the DNS and internet assets of their competitors under the guise of threat hunting. This will blur the lines between cybercrime, corporate espionage, and statecraft, leading to a fractured internet where trust in core protocols is replaced by aggressive, automated asset hoarding and preemptive takedowns.
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IT/Security Reporter URL:
Reported By: Andy Jenkinson – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
Basic Verification: Pass ✅
