What are DHCP Snooping and its types! On this page I we will discuss about DHCP Snooping which comes under Network Technology. Also, I would like to explain about DHCP and its meaning.
Before discussing about DHCP Snooping I would like to explain some information about DHCP. In upcoming paragraphs, I will explain all the terms about DHCP Snooping. I will provide you all aspects and detailed information regarding DHCP.
What is DHCP?
DHCP is also known as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol which is used for a network management protocol. It is used for assigning the IP address and host to work them both efficiently. DHCP is also used to design the device’s subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS Server. So, the network and the host work properly without causing any problems to the server.
What is DHCP Snooping?
DHCP Snooping is a technique in a Computer Network which consist of two-layer security protection, ensuring the security of DHCP’s infrastructure. Attackers may gain access to our network by exploiting DHCP Server. To prevent various attacks, DHCP Snooping is required.
Why do we need DHCP Snooping?
DHCP Snooping helps us to protect our host and network from an unauthorized DHCP server. So, an unknown DHCP server that acts like an authorized server will not be able to access information about our host and network. DHCP Snooping acts like a firewall between the DHCP Clients and DHCP Server. To protect our Server from faulty security and DHCP attack, we need DHCP Snooping. That’s why most networks nowadays use this technique as a firewall for their Server.
Categories of DHCP Snooping
- Trusted Ports
- Untrusted Ports
Trusted Ports
Trusted Ports are those ports in DHCP Snooping which messages comes from DHCP Server and have been trusted. Those Ports are known as Trusted Ports.
Untrusted Ports
Untrusted Ports are those ports in DHCP Snooping which messages comes from DHCP servers have not been trusted. Those Ports are knowns as Untrusted Ports.
Attacks Prevent from DHCP Snooping
- DHCP Spoofing Attack
- DHCP Starvation Attack
DHCP Spoofing Attack
This attack occurs when the attacker shows themselves a host to the default gateway or DNS server to respond to the incoming DHCP request. For this reason, they can block the actual DHCP request from the original DHCP server. So that the attackers can perform Dos and reach the limit of IP addresses to their natural gateway. With the help of Snooping, we can stop DHCP Spoofing Attacks because they know that the host that imposes itself as DNS Server will come through the unauthorized IP by blocking them. This way, they can protect our Server from the DHCP Spoofing attack.
DHCP Starvation Attack
The most common attack done in DHCP is a DHCP Starvation Attack, in which attackers try to put a massive volume of DHCP requests to the DHCP server using a forged source MAC address. DHCP Server tries to respond to all the coming requests without knowing that it is a DHCP Starvation Attack. As a result, it will deplete the DHCP Pool by assigning all the IP addresses available to Server. In this way, a DHCP Snooping is available to protect the Server from DHCP Starvation Attack by knowing all the possible ways the incoming requests are genuine or not; this helps a lot by protecting a server from DHCP Starvation Attack.
Conclusion
After reading all the terms about DHCP and DHCP Snooping, it comes to protecting our DHCP server. We need to ensure the proper security of our Server. To make our Server correctly secured, we used DHCP Snooping, which means two-layer protection to protect our Server from attackers who try to steal our information in various ways. Without this, an attacker can quickly attack our DHCP Server and gain all the information in our Server, so we need a DHCP Snooping in our Server to protect themselves from the attackers.
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