AI Cyber Defense / Network detection, DNS and egress analytics
AI Cyber Defense: Detect unauthorized encrypted DNS paths
Define approved encrypted DNS use by device group and enforce supported settings. Route exceptions through an owner-controlled process and preserve privacy boundaries.
Environment and inputs: Network detection and response using resolver logs, proxy metadata, flow records and optional Zeek or Suricata sensors.
Scenario and goal
Encrypted DNS can bypass resolver visibility when endpoint and network policies disagree.
Why it matters
For this scenario, expect behavior to vary across destinations, timing and client software. Network metadata supports a hypothesis, while endpoint and identity records often explain the actor and purpose. Account for encryption, sampling and sensor placement before interpreting absence. A statistical anomaly, protocol fingerprint or unfamiliar domain should remain a supporting observation until its consequence and business context are established.
Evidence to collect
Review managed resolver configuration, proxy destinations and endpoint process connections; encrypted web traffic alone cannot establish DNS contents.
Validate with an authorized exercise
Use a managed test browser to confirm its approved resolver path, then check a prohibited path is denied and internal resolution still functions.
Rollout and checks
Preserve event time, source tuple, sensor identity and the original record identifier for every decisive observation. Verify clock alignment and collection health before joining sources. Compare a representative benign workload with the suspected behavior in a lab or stored-event replay. Adjust a detection only after documenting which observed distinction justifies the change.
Scope and limits
This guide proposes a defensive test; it is not a tested production design. Check platform support and local requirements. References explain the mechanisms but do not certify the design. Behavior alone does not prove AI involvement.