Attacks and malware
What is Domain generation algorithm?
Code in malware that creates many pseudo-random domain names each day, so the operator only needs to register one for infected machines to find C2.
A domain generation algorithm, or DGA, lets malware compute a list of domain names from a seed such as the current date. The operator, who knows the algorithm, registers one or a few of them. Infected machines try the list until one answers.
DGAs make blocking a single domain useless. Defenders counter them by reverse engineering the algorithm to predict and sinkhole future domains, or by detecting the many failed lookups for random-looking names.