Using Passive DNS for Gathering Business Intelligence
Andy Dennis demonstrates leveraging passive DNS databases to uncover competitor infrastructure, corporate acquisitions, and business intelligence.
Summary
Andy Dennis explores the strategic value of passive DNS (pDNS) repositories for business intelligence, corporate reconnaissance, and competitive intelligence gathering at the Recon Village.
[07:26] Dennis explains how passive DNS sensors operate by capturing DNS query responses at recursive resolvers across the globe and storing historical domain-to-IP mapping telemetry in databases maintained by providers like Farsight Security, Spamhaus, and VirusTotal. Unlike active DNS brute-forcing, passive DNS allows investigators to reconstruct an organization's digital footprint historically without sending packets to target infrastructure.
[14:58] The presentation illustrates how corporate activity leaves unmistakable DNS footprints long before public announcements. Dennis demonstrates tracking naming patterns [22:21] to identify unannounced product launches, confidential brand acquisitions, development environments, and cloud migrations. He shows how analyzing third-party service subdomains (client.salesexample.com, customer.portal.com) allows intelligence analysts and investors to map out an enterprise's major clients, partner ecosystems, and strategic business relationships.
(AI summary — Gemini Flash)
Related talks
Creator Stage·28 min
Vlatko Kosturjak · MJ Casado
Presents findings from passive OSINT reconnaissance across the top 50 global maritime organizations, analyzing DNS, email authentication, and exposed services.
Recon Village·19 min
Utku Sen
Utku Sen reveals how brute forcing and analyzing short URL endpoints leaks confidential cloud documents, private tokens, and unindexed internal infrastructure.
Recon Village·29 min
Jeff Foley
OWASP Amass project lead Jeff Foley demonstrates advanced network mapping, asset discovery, and external attack surface enumeration.