The objective of this lab is for students to gain the first-hand experience on various attacks on DNS (Domain Name System). DNS is the Internet's phone book; it translates hostnames to IP addresses and vice versa. This translation is through DNS resolution, which happens behind the scene. DNS Pharming attacks manipulate this resolution process in various ways, with an intent to misdirect users to alternative destinations, which are often malicious. This lab focuses on seveal DNS Pharming attack techniques. Students will first set up and configure a DNS server, and then they will try various DNS Pharming attacks on the target that is also within the lab environment.
The attacks conducted in this lab assume that the attacker is on the same local network, and can thus sniff the DNS packets. This assumption is made to simplify the lab tasks. There is a follow-up lab called {\em Remote DNS Attack Lab}, which removes the assumption, i.e., attackers can launch the attack remotely. If you are interested in that, you can work on that lab after finishing this one. It should be noted, the remote attack lab is much more challenging than this one.