How do you keep your employees, equipment, and data safe if you’re a business leader or owner? DNS Filtering, an essential layer in any effective cybersecurity solution, helps protect your business by blocking access to known malicious or inappropriate websites via the Domain Name System (DNS).

Cyberattacks, more often than not, are user-initiated events. Regular technology users accidentally click on a malicious link, share sensitive information with a bad source, or download an unexpected virus. DNS Filtering helps prevent users from making these types of bad clicks by preventing access to dangerous websites. According to Webroot, effective DNS Filtering can stop up to 88% of internet-borne malware before it even reaches the network.

DNS Filtering uses a specific set of defined criteria to prevent bad sites and information from coming through to web browsers on your protected network.

Understanding the Domain Name System (DNS)

To understand DNS filters, you first need to get a grasp of what DNS is. Think about the contacts list on your cell phone. You probably have many names and numbers in your contacts, and while you remember people’s names, you probably only know a handful of actual numbers off the top of your head. Like the telephone system depends on a series of area codes and telephone numbers, the internet depends on domain names and IP addresses to locate and download web resources.

What Does DNS do?

Similar to your phone book or contacts list, DNS translates the practical domain name everyone is familiar with, like hightouchtechnologies.com, to an IP address, which is a series of numbers that looks something like 104.215.148.63 (IPv4). Just like it’s easier to type Grandma Alice into your phone to wish her a happy birthday, it’s easier to type microsoft.com into your web browser than it is to recall and type a long numerical IP address.

Like calling someone in your phone’s contacts, this DNS lookup and resolution processes happen quickly behind the scenes. It’s during this process where the DNS Filtering layer of cybersecurity comes into play.

DNS Filtering happens before you download any actual content from a website during the DNS lookup stage. The filter references a known list of domain names and IP addresses to safeguard you from accessing known malicious or inappropriate content.

The DNS Filter works by blocking access to the specific website, and instead, it displays a block page that explains why you can’t access a particular website.

For example, imagine someone at your company receiving a convincing phishing email and clicking through to a link that leads to a known malicious website. Before your coworker can load the website, the DNS Filter realizes that the phishing website is on the block list. Instead of allowing access, the DNS resolver prevents the website page from loading, and instead, it displays a block screen that says something like “Page Blocked, Reason: Phishing.”

Instead of allowing the hacker to take advantage of your coworker to gain access to sensitive, private information, the DNS Filter recognized the phishing attack based on the domain name and shut it down.

1. Reduce risk. When properly configured, DNS Filtering is incredibly effective at preventing malware, phishing, and other types of computer viruses or cyberattacks. More often than not, cyberattacks are, unfortunately, a result of user error. DNS Filtering helps make it more difficult for cybercriminals to take advantage of your company by restricting access to known malicious and inappropriate websites.
2. Restrict website access. The internet is a vast place with a wide variety of content. Depending on your industry or clientele, there’s probably a lot of content you don’t want employees to access at work or content you don’t want clients accessing through your guest network. DNS Filtering can prevent access to inappropriate or productivity-killing websites.
3. Secure company data. Plainly, without DNS Filtering, your company is more vulnerable to a cyberattack. DNS Filtering is an essential layer to any company’s cybersecurity solution, no matter its size or the industry. You can’t always rely on best use practices— cybercriminals prey on the unsuspecting. DNS filtering helps take human error out of the equation by blocking known malicious and inappropriate websites.
4. Make things easier for internal IT. Tracking down cyberthreats on your own and recovering from cyberattacks is time-consuming and expensive for your business. All that time spent cleaning up after a cyberattack by IT staff takes them away from other important aspects of your business. Adding a DNS Filtering layer to your cybersecurity solution helps ensure your business operates safely and your IT staff can focus on supporting the business.