Per-request control of DNS behavior

• US 9,661,108 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2014
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Treuhaft, Noah
• Primary Examiner(s): Sall, El Hadji
• Application Number:
  US14/263,405
• Publication Number:
  US 20140237139A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• Field of Search: 709229, 709200, 709203, 709224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1483 service impersonation, e.g. phishing, pharming or web spoofing detection of rogue wireless access points H04W12/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

In various embodiments, a user or subscriber of a domain name system (DNS) service that provides various DNS resolution options or features, such as misspelling redirection, parental filters, domain blocking, or phishing protection through the DNS process, can influence how requests for domain name (DNS) information are handled on a per-request basis. The user or subscriber may configure the DNS client software of their personal computer or configure their broadband router to provide control information to a DNS server with DNS resolution options that enables the DNS server to resolve DNS queries with the DNS resolution options on a per-request basis. As a result, the user can mitigate exposure to pop-ups, pop-unders, banner ads, fraudulent offers, malware, viruses, or the like, from websites using the domain name system.

Claims

1. A method of domain name system (DNS) communication, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first computer system, a request to resolve a domain name generated by a subscriber associated with an identifier, wherein the identifier identifies subscriber information for the subscriber that includes one or more user-controllable settings for resolving DNS queries;

generating a DNS query based on the request that is encoded with the identifier so that a server resolving the DNS query can determine the one or more user-controllable settings for resolving DNS queries for the subscriber; and

receiving a DNS response for the DNS query that includes an IP address for the request, as determined based on the domain name and the one or more user-controllable settings for the subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more user-controllable settings enable or disable options for resolving DNS queries.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more user-controllable settings include one or more preferences provided by the subscriber for resolving domain names into IP addresses using the options.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the DNS response is generated using the options based on the domain name and the one or more user-controllable settings.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a subscriber identifier for the subscriber.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier includes index information that enables the server resolving the DNS query to retrieve the subscriber information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the DNS query is also encoded with one or more additional settings for resolving DNS queries.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the IP address included in the DNS response does not correspond to the domain name when the user-controllable settings indicate that the domain name corresponds to a malicious or inappropriate IP address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computer system is a network device associated with a plurality of client devices.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium configured to store computer-readable code for programming a processor to resolve domain name system (DNS) queries, the computer-readable code comprising instructions to:

receive a request to resolve a domain name generated by a subscriber associated with an identifier, wherein the identifier identifies subscriber information for the subscriber that includes one or more user-controllable settings for resolving DNS queries;

generate a DNS query based on the request that is encoded with the identifier so that a server resolving the DNS query can determine the one or more user-controllable settings for resolving DNS queries for the subscriber; and

receive a DNS response for the DNS query that includes an IP address for the request, as determined based on the domain name and the one or more user-controllable settings for the subscriber.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the one or more user-controllable settings include settings for a proxy option.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the identifier is a subscriber identifier for the subscriber.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the identifier includes index information that enables the server resolving the DNS query to retrieve the subscriber information.

14. A method for resolving domain name system (DNS) queries, the method comprising:

receiving a request to resolve a domain name generated by a subscriber associated with an identifier, wherein the identifier identifies subscriber information for the subscriber that includes one or more user-controllable settings for resolving DNS queries;

generating a DNS query based on the request that is encoded with the identifier so that a server resolving the DNS query can determine the one or more user-controllable settings for resolving DNS queries; and

receiving a DNS response for the DNS query that includes an IP address for the request, as determined based on the domain name and the one or more user-controllable settings for the subscriber.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the one or more user-controllable settings from the subscriber;

receiving a plurality of additional requests to resolve a plurality of domain names into IP addresses; and

generating a plurality of DNS queries based on the plurality of requests, each DNS query encoding the one or more user-controllable settings.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the DNS query is also encoded with one or more additional settings for resolving DNS queries.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more user-controllable settings enable or disable options for resolving DNS queries.

18. A system for resolving domain name system (DNS) queries, the system comprising:

a communications interface configured to receive DNS queries via a communication network;

one or more storage devices maintaining a plurality of options for resolving DNS queries;

a processor configured to;

receive a DNS query via the communications interface, the DNS query including control information that encodes one or more user-controllable settings for one or more of the plurality of options for resolving DNS queries;

parse a domain name and the control information from the DNS query;

determine an IP address using the one or more of the plurality of options based on the domain name and the one or more user-controllable settings; and

generate a DNS response for the DNS query using the IP address.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the IP address used to generate the DNS response is different from an IP address associated with the domain name.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to enable or disable the one or more of the plurality of options for resolving DNS queries using the one or more settings.