Added security through free DNS - OpenDNS

[Tarun]

OpenDNS makes the Internet experience safer, faster and smarter for you and everyone using your network.

Safer - OpenDNS can identify and stop sites trying to phish (steal) your personal information or money. The OpenDNS phishing protection works with all operating systems and browsers, and complements any other security measures already in use, such as a firewall and anti-virus software.

Faster - Most DNS servers on the Internet are slow. Your computer uses DNS every time you visit a website or send an email, so you want DNS to be blazing fast. Two things make DNS really fast: a big cache and a good network. We have both.

Not to brag, but OpenDNS caches are really big.

The bigger and better the cache, the fewer steps in the process, and the faster the Internet experience. Making the OpenDNS caches really big is part of how OpenDNS makes the Internet faster.

Speed really matters. You make hundreds of DNS queries a day and every delay adds up. We built our network of OpenDNS caches at the major intersections of the Internet. This keeps us close to you, improving performance.

Smarter - We make corrections for common spelling mistakes, on the fly. That means when you are typing fast and type yahoo.cmo instead of yahoo.com you still get there. No annoying pop-ups or evil spyware installed because you made a typo. Things just work.

Other benefits - OpenDNS service is free. OpenDNS makes money by serving clearly labeled advertisements on search results pages where we cannot resolve your intent (i.e., not a known typo).

There is no software to install, so no switching cost and no lock-in. OpenDNS is easy to start using. We're confident you will prefer our service, but it's easy to return to your old settings.

OpenDNS is not an ISP or web host or registrar. We're not ICANN. OpenDNS doesn't proxy or monitor the websites you go to. Read our privacy policy.

[Haze]

Nice new quickly reply box here tarun xd

Im using this openDNS thing now. Seems good so far

[Tarun]

OpenDNS is one year old!

We've been told we seem mature for our age. But did you know today is only our first birthday? You helped us rocket to the honored position of world's fastest growing DNS service. Here's to you smarty pants -- everyone on your network should love you for choosing the best DNS service in the world. Because of your decision to switch to OpenDNS, their Internet is faster, more reliable (we've never gone down!) and easier to navigate. We're working hard to make sure our second year is even better than our first and as always, we love getting your feedback. It's what drives our features, keeps us motivated and ensures you get the best DNS service in the world.

Just recently they added Domain Blocking and Adult Site Blocking. Here's a bit of information on each new feature from OpenDNS.

Domain Blocking -- Many of you asked for a simple way to block a single domain on your network. With OpenDNS, now you can. You might have complex firewalls and other gear but they don't easily do the simple task of blocking myspace.com. We're glad to offer this service, and thousands of you have taken advantage of it. Oh yeah, it's free.

Adult Site Blocking -- If there was one complaint we got about domain blocking it was that we didn't offer a list of adult sites to block. Good news - now we do. We teamed up with our friends at St. Bernard Software to provide an accurate and easy way to block adult sites on your network. Oh yeah, it's free too.

[Eldmannen]

I wish there was some encrypted DNS too...

[tain]

Encrypted DNS? Please explain further what you are looking for.

[Eldmannen]

Encrypted DNS? Please explain further what you are looking for.

Everytime you type in a URL (web address), such as www.google.com or click on a link, it tries to resolve that hostname into a IP address by querying a DNS server.

This DNS query which basically asks a server "I am trying to reach www.google.com, Please tell me its IP address" is sent in plain-text.

Since its sent in plain-text, it can be snooped on, by your ISP, or some other ISP/router along the way that you or your ISP connect through and they can know what domain names you interact with.

With an encrypted DNS, the packet would be sent encrypted, which would make snooping more difficult, and would give users more privacy.

[tain]

The concept is easy enough to grasp, but I was trying to ask if you were referring to a specific IETF specification. "Encrypted DNS" is not a spec I'm familiar with. Perhaps you are referring to DNSSEC? DNSSEC does provide an authentication scheme, but no data encryption that I am aware of.

[Eldmannen]

The concept is easy enough to grasp, but I was trying to ask if you were referring to a specific IETF specification. "Encrypted DNS" is not a spec I'm familiar with. Perhaps you are referring to DNSSEC? DNSSEC does provide an authentication scheme, but no data encryption that I am aware of.

I was diffusively just saying "I wish there was some encrypted DNS too...", as a wishing, because there actually is no widely deployed encrypted DNS. I am aware of DNSSEC, and have read some about it, but unfortunately, it seems it is not widely used.

So I just wish there was some (magical? ) way to get some kind of encryption for the DNS, that would be great.

Wishful thinking. :P