There are a lot of elements to protecting yourself digitally that require little effort, little knowledge of how the computer works, and that will have a big impact on your privacy and security. If we think of your connection to the internet as a railway with stops between your computer and your destination then we can begin to check to see if the railway is secure. In simplified form, the train stations are your Computer & its programs, Router, Internet Service Provider(ISP), Domain Name System (DNS), and your destination -the Website you want to connect to.
I won’t be covering the Computer, Internet Service Provider, or your destination in this article. I will focus mainly on one program on your computer and depending upon how your internet is set up the Router. I will be focusing on the DNS you use and how your Computer connects to it. I am also focusing on your personal computer, laptop, Mac device. Mobile devices are a bit more difficult to address.
A Domain Name System is what converts Website Names into actual internet addresses. The internet address for beallfp.com is 45.60.98.30. If you want to try it out open a new browser tab and type in 45.60.98.30 (numbers and the 3 periods) into the search bar and press the Enter Key on your keyboard. For most people their DNS is already set to your ISP’s DNS. There is nothing wrong with that. Yet, changing the DNS allows you more control over your privacy and the content. The four most popular and reliable alternative DNS providers are Cloudfare, OpenDNS, Quad9, and Google.
Cloudfare, and Quad9 have their primary missions as privacy and security. Google promises privacy and security but keeps their data longer. OpenDNS did not specifically address privacy that I could find but it does have some additional perks that are worth checking out. Namely OpenDNS has two free options to choose from that all the filtering of content. OpenDNS Family Shield is preconfigured to block adult content and OpenDNS allows customizable content filtering. The Internet is a complex place and there are few guarantees but if you are worried about pornography in your home or organization then you should check out OpenDNS Family Shield as a way to mitigate access to it.
I personally use Cloudfare now and previously used Google’s public DNS. Each of the DNS provider’s websites have specific instructions on how to change your DNS depending upon your system. It is easy and takes only a few minutes.
Cloudfare: https://1.1.1.1/
OpenDNS: https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/
Quad9: https://www.quad9.net/
Google public DNS: https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/
There are plenty of other options and they are only a quick internet search away.