Scott Seidenberger (University of Oklahoma), Marc Beret (University of Oklahoma), Raveen Wijewickrama (University of Texas at San Antonio), Murtuza Jadliwala (University of Texas at San Antonio), Anindya Maiti (University of Oklahoma)
We introduce NinjaDoH, a novel DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol that leverages the InterPlanetary Name System (IPNS), along with public cloud infrastructure, to create a censorship-resistant moving target DoH service. NinjaDoH is specifically designed to evade traditional censorship methods that involve blocking DoH servers by IP addresses or domains by continually altering the server’s network identifiers, significantly increasing the complexity of effectively censoring NinjaDoH traffic without disruption of other web traffic. We also present an analysis that quantifies the DNS query latency and financial costs of running our implementation of this protocol as a service. Further tests assess the ability of NinjaDoH to elude detection mechanisms, including both commercial firewall products and advanced machine learning-based detection systems. The results broadly support NinjaDoH’s efficacy as a robust, moving target DNS solution that can ensure continuous and secure internet access in environments with heavy DNS-based censorship.