Read the text below. Provide a feedback, analyze and ask challenging questions to begin a conversation.

DNS poisoning,is a tactic used by attackers to insert corrupt DNS data into a DNS resolver's cache. This causes the DNS server to return an incorrect IP address, redirecting users to malicious websites without their knowledge.

One vulnerable point is the Local Hosts file or the DNS cache on a user's machine. If an attacker gains access, they can manually edit this file or poison the DNS cache to redirect users to fake login pages or phishing sites. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Special Publication 800-81r2, DNS cache poisoning can lead to significant security breaches, especially when used to capture credentials or install malware.

Mitigations include:

• Using DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) to validate DNS responses.
• Regularly flushing DNS caches.
• Limiting DNS zone transfers.
• Configuring DNS resolvers to only accept responses from trusted sources.

DNS poisoning is dangerous because it's invisible to users. Defending against it requires layered security and up-to-date DNS best practices.