Communication using DNS repurposing
AssigneeIdentity Digital Inc.
InventorsPaul Stahura, Christopher L. Cowherd, Jr.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Technology for communicating by embedding messages in DNS requests/responses is disclosed. In many cases it is desirable for a device to communicate without that device having to supply network credentials. In some network environments, credentials are not required to send or receive DNS messages. The question section of a DNS request message may include a message for a destination DNS server and a query domain which, when using standard DNS routing, will result in the DNS request being directed to the intended destination DNS server. The message may be encoded in such a way that an algorithm run by the destination DNS server is able to parse the message from the DNS request.
Claims18
A computer-readable memory storing instructions configured to, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:
- receiving a DNS lookup request comprising at least a portion of an embedded message in a question portion of the DNS lookup request, the embedded message being distinct from a query domain of the DNS lookup request:
- determining a parsing algorithm corresponding to the embedded message from among multiple parsing algorithms using an identifier associated with the embedded message;
- applying the parsing algorithm to the question portion of the DNS lookup request to extract at least the portion of the embedded message;
- and
- wherein the embedded message comprises instructions specifying:
- when a response should be sent;
- or that the response should be sent to another device upon receiving a request from the other device.
A computing system, having at least one memory and at least one processor, for communicating using embedded DNS messages, the system comprising:
- an interface configured to receive a DNS lookup request comprising at least a portion of an embedded message in a question portion of the DNS lookup request, the embedded message being distinct from a query domain of the DNS lookup request:
- a DNS message receiver configured to determine a parsing algorithm corresponding to the embedded message from among multiple parsing algorithms using an identifier associated with the embedded message;
- a DNS message parser configured to apply the parsing algorithm to the question portion of the DNS lookup request to extract at least the portion of the embedded message;
- and
- wherein the embedded message comprises instructions specifying:
- when a response should be sent;
- or that the response should be sent to another device upon receiving a request from the other device.
A computing system for communicating using embedded DNS messages, the computing system comprising:
- one or more memories;
- one or more processors;
- a component configured to select a query domain corresponding to a destination DNS server;
- a component configured to generate a message configured to be parsed from a DNS lookup request by the destination DNS server as data distinct from a DNS domain of the DNS lookup request, wherein the message comprises an identification of a parsing algorithm from among multiple parsing algorithms to use to extract data from the DNS lookup request;
- and
- a component configured to generate the DNS lookup request, wherein each component comprises computer-executable instructions stored in the one or memories for execution by the computing system;
- and
- wherein the embedded message comprises instructions specifying:
- when a response should be sent, or that the response should be sent to an other device upon receiving a request from the other device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.