CS 6250 Quiz 10 (All Quizzes) 2026/2027 Latest Update |
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Question:
What is DNS censorship?
Answer
Large scale network traffic filtering strategy to suppress material which they deem as objectionable.
Question:
What are the properties of GFW (Great Firewall of China)?
Answer
1) Locality of GFW nodes - majority view is that GFW censorship nodes are present at the edge.
2) Centralized management - blocklists obtained from two distinct GFW locations show a high possibility of a central
GFW management entity that orchestrates blocklists.
3) Load balancing - GFW load balances between processes based on source and destination IP address.
Question:
Censorship Technique 1: DNS injection
Answer
For DNS requests that are blocked by the GFW, the GFW will respond with a fake DNS record to prevent the client
from reaching the requested content.
Question:
3 steps of DNS injection
Answer
1) DNS probe is sent to a DNS resolver
2) The probe is checked against the blocklist
3) A fake DNS A record response is sent back if the request matches the blocklist. The direct domain can be blocked, or
specific domain keywords can be blocked.
Question:
How many DNS Censorship Techniques are there?
Answer
5
Question:
1. Packet dropping
Answer
all network traffic going to a set of specific IP addresses is discarded
Question:
Pros: (easy to implement, low cost)
Answer
Cons: (maintain a long blocklist, overblocking)
Question:
2. DNS Poisoning
Answer
When a DNS receives a query for resolving hostname to IP address - if there is no answer returned or an incorrect
answer is sent to redirect or mislead the user request
Question:
Pros: (No overblocking)
Answer
Cons: (Blocks the entire domain)
Question:
3. Content inspection
Answer
all traffic traverses a proxy and is inspected for objectionable content, if matches -> dropped
Question:
Pros: (precise censorship, flexible)
Answer
Cons: (not scalable)
Question:
4. Blocking with reset
Answer
sends a TCP (RST) to block individual connections that contain requests with objectionable content.
Question:
5. Immediate reset
Answer
suspends traffic coming from a source immediately, for a short period of time
Question:
What is overblocking?
Answer
If two websites share the same IP address and the intention is to only block one of them, there's a risk of blocking both
Question:
Our understanding of censorship around the world is relatively limited. Why is it the case? What are the challenges?
Answer
1) Diverse measurements
2) Need for scale
3) Identifying the intent to restrict content access
4) Ethics and minimizing risks
Question:
What are the limitations of main censorship detection systems?
Answer
They either no longer exist or rely upon volunteers performing measurements, which can cause them to get in trouble
with their local governments.
Question:
Augur
Answer
This system focuses on IP-based disruptions, not DNS-based manipulations.
Question:
IRIS
Answer
Machine learning model for identifying DNS manipulation
Question:
How does Iris counter the issue of lack of diversity while studying DNS manipulation? What are the steps associated
with the proposed process?
Answer
Iris uses open DNS resolvers located all over the globe.
Question:
The two main steps are:
Answer
1) Scanning the Internet's IPv4 space for open DNS resolvers
2) Identifying infrastructure DNS resolvers
Question:
What are the steps involved in the global measurement process using DNS resolvers?
Answer
1) Perform global DNS queries
2) Annotating DNS responses with auxiliary information
3) Additional PTR and TLS scanning
Question:
What metrics does Iris use to identify DNS manipulation once data annotation is complete? Describe the metrics.
Under what condition, do we declare the response as being manipulated?
Answer
1) Consistency metrics
2) Independent verifiability metrics
If neither of these metrics are satisfied, the response is said to be manipulated
Question:
How is it possible to achieve connectivity disruption using routing disruption approach?
Answer
Withdrawing previously advertised prefixes or re-advertising them with different properties using BGP
Question:
How is it possible to achieve connectivity disruption using packet filtering approach?
Answer
Block packets meeting a certain criteria disrupting the normal forwarding action.
Question:
IP ID
Answer
Assigned a unique 16-bit IP identifier ("IP ID"), which the destination host can use to reassemble a fragmented packet.
This IP ID should be different for the packets that are generated by the same host.
Question:
2 mechanisms used by Augur
Answer
1) Probing: a mechanism to monitor the IP ID of a host over time.
2) Perturbation: mechanism which forces a host to increment its IP ID counter by sending traffic from different
sources such that the host generates a response packet.
Question:
Explain a scenario of connectivity disruption detection in case when no filtering occurs.
Answer
When no filtering occurs, the measurement machine will see an increase of 2 in the IP ID - this means the two hosts
communicated
Question:
Explain a scenario of connectivity disruption detection in case of the inbound blocking.
Answer
Traffic from the reflector to the site containing objectionable data is blocked. Thus, the IP ID only increases by 1
because the SYN-ACK from the site never reaches the reflector.
Question:
Explain a scenario of connectivity disruption detection in case of the outbound blocking.
Answer
Outbound reset packets from the reflector do not reach the site. The site will continue to send SYN-ACK packets until
it receives an ACK, causing the reflector's IP ID to increase by 2 each time.
Question:
DNS censorship
Answer
A large scale network traffic filtering strategy opted by a network to enforce control and censorship over Internet
infrastructure to suppress material which they deem as objectionable.
Question:
Great Fire Wall properties
Answer
Locality of GFW nodes
Centralized management
Load balancing
Question:
DNS Injection
Answer
Using a ruleset to determine when to inject DNS replies to censor network traffic.
Question:
DNS Injection Steps
Answer
1. DNS probe is sent to the open DNS resolvers
2. The probe is checked against the blocklist of domains and keywords
Fe. or domain level blocking, a fake DNS A record response is sent back.
Question:
Packet dropping strengths
Answer
Easy to implement, low cost
Question:
Packet dropping weaknesses
Answer
Maintenance of blocking, overblocking
Question:
DNS poisoning
Answer
When a DNS receives a query for resolving hostname to IP address, an incorrect answer is sent to redirect or mislead
Question:
DNS poisoning strength and weakness
Answer
Strength: No overblocking Weakness: Blocks entire domain
Content inspection
Answer
It allows for all network traffic to pass through a proxy where the traffic is examined for content, and the proxy rejects
requests that serve objectionable content.
Content inspection strength
Answer
Precise censorship and flexible
Content inspection weakness
Answer
Not scalable
Blocking with resets
Send a TCP reset (RST) to block individual connections that contain requests with objectionable content.
Immediate reset of connections
Blocking rules in addition to inspecting content, to suspend traffic coming from a source immediately, for a short
period of time.
Why is DNS Manipulation difficult to manage?
Diverse Measurements
Need for Scale
Identifying the intent to restrict content access
Ethics and Minimizing Risks
Steps to use DNS Resolvers
Scanning the Internet's IPv4 space for open DNS resolvers
Identifying Infrastructure DNS Resolvers
DNS Resolver Measurement Process
Performing global DNS queries
Annotating DNS responses with auxiliary information
Additional PTR and TLS scanning
2 metrics to identify DNS manipulation
Consistency metrics and independent verifiability metrics
Packet filtering
It can be used to block packets matching a certain criteria disrupting the normal forwarding action. This approach can
be harder to detect and might require active probing of the forwarding path or monitoring traffic of the impacted
network.
IP ID
Any packet that is sent by a host is assigned a unique 16-bit IP identifier ("IP ID"), which the destination host can use
to reassemble a fragmented packet. The global counter is incremented for each packet that is generated and helps in
keeping track of the total number of packets generated by that host.
Probing
A mechanism to monitor the IP ID of a host over time. We use the measurement machine to observe the IP ID
generated by the reflector.
Pertubation
Forces a host to increment its IP ID counter by sending traffic from different sources such that the host generates a
response packet.
Inbound blocking
Filtering occurs on the path from the site to the reflector is termed as inbound blocking.
Outbound blocking
Filtering imposed on the outgoing path from the reflector.
What kind of disruptions does Augur focus on?
IP
How does Iris counter the lack of diversity while studying DNS manipulation?
She uses DNS resolvers
Routing disruption
The routers share which destinations it can reach and continuously update its forwarding tables to select the best path
for an incoming packet. If this communication is disrupted or disabled on critical routers, it could result in
unreachability of the large parts of a network.