Dangling domain detection and access mitigation

Abstract

Embodiments detect risky situations in which a domain name record remains viable after the target it identified is not. Such dangling records create various risks because substitute targets, such as fraudulent websites, may be installed without the knowledge of the original target's owner. By obtaining and correlating data from multiple tenants, a cloud service provider detects dangling structures and any attempts to exploit them. Dangling records may specify a custom domain name, for example, or a static IP address that can be misused. In response, the provider's security infrastructure can alert the original target's owner, block the attempted exploit, or otherwise mitigate the risks. Traffic monitoring, control plane API invocations, and domain name server queries may be employed by the security infrastructure to detect resource deletion, resource creation, and resource access attempts that correspond with vulnerable records or suspect activity involving them.