Topic 'Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS?' in forum 'Security' - dslreports.com http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19629260 en Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:46:31 EDT Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:46:31 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19660696 said by Mele20:

That is a weak, vague statement and out of touch also. The FTC evidently believes users don't block ads or cookies. I haven't seen an ad in about seven and one-half years and I never accept cookies except permanent ones needed for login a handful of sites.
Your practices and mine would not be the same as the vast majority of users.

As for " weak" and "vague", hey, I'm an old man and old men are weak and vague. Ask any 18 year old. ;)

Edit - I just realized you were referring to the FTC's statement. Therefore I rescind my comments on being old, weak, and vague. :)

--
I do hereby call for more authoritative links and fewer opinions.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19660696 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:19:18 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19660671 --
"The same ferocity that our founders devoted to protect the freedom and independence of the press is now appropriate for our defense of the freedom of the internet. The stakes are the same: the survival of our Republic". Al Gore, The Assault on Reason]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19660671 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:14:13 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19660350 said by Derspankster:

Get that tin foil hat on - NOW!
It will always be the case that some are more concerned, or sooner concerned, than others and the naysayers will resort to personal attacks. You may or may not consider it worthy of note that now even the FTC has proposed online behavioral ad guidelines.

»www.informationweek.com/news/sho···05101468
"The FTC wants input on the proposed guidelines. Specifically, the FTC wants to define "sensitive data" and whether its use should be prohibited. The commission's staff also is seeking information about possible secondary uses of information that is initially collected for behavioral advertising -- and whether the secondary uses call for more protection."

This was released today:
»www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/12/principles.shtm

It's unfortunate that the FTC is calling for self-regulation. I think we've already seen how well that works. It's also ironic given that the FTC failed to consider privacy concerns in their approval of the Google/DoubleClick merger.
»www.computerworld.com/action/art···c=kc_top
--
I do hereby call for more authoritative links and fewer opinions.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19660350 Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:11:10 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19647744 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19647744 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:28:13 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19646850 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19646850 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:12:45 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19646807 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19646807 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:06:34 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19646801 said by Just Bob:

As I see it OpenDNS = Overture = Yahoo!

If there are concerns about the Google/DoubleClick merger, why would there not be even greater concerns with OpenDNS as there is the potential for an even greater aggregation of information?

Thanks for the links OZO.
I know it's bad form to reply to oneself, but this just in:
»www.news.com/8301-10784_3-983528···=newsmap

"What Google is claiming, and I'm concerned some commissioners may embrace, is the notion that there are not specific privacy concerns intrinsic to the Google-DoubleClick merger, which frankly is absurd on the face of it, when you're merging the two number ones in search and advertising with vast data for targeting all across the globe," said Jeff Chester, CDD's executive director.
---
If there's a concern in the merging of search and advertising data, why would there not be a concern with the merging of search, advertising, and DNS queries?
--
I do hereby call for more authoritative links and fewer opinions.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19646801 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:04:46 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19645376 said by Nightfall:

[...]
If you use some unknown, then these risks apply to you. I know I wouldn't trust my DNS to be hosted by someone or some company I didn't know. It would have to be a trusted solution. My ISP is trusted. OpenDNS is trusted. There are a lot of DNS services out there that are trusted and well reviewed. The OP is asking about a trusted company that is well reviewed.

Now, if he was talking about some DNS servers that none of us have used before, I am sure people here would be cautious to say the least.
If you follow the line of replies all the way back to page one, this sub-thread was in reply to CylonRed who seemed to be addressing the safety of all open DNS servers as you have as well.

said by Nightfall:

As for my statement about Malware which was not addressed before we went down this path, I am sure that you and both agree on that.
I guess that could be a chicken/egg thing, but not necessarily. Malware can result in a DNS hijack. However, there's always the danger of malicious sites that use scripts and default passwords to change the DNS settings on routers.

»www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007···216.html
--
I do hereby call for more authoritative links and fewer opinions.
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19645376 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:14:51 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644610 said by schaps:

Is there a particular reason you tested OpenDNS' fourth nameserver instead of the first or second?
OpenDNS nameserver IP addresses are:
208.67.220.220
208.67.222.222
If a third or fourth nameserver IP address is needed:
208.67.220.222
208.67.222.220
We aim to please:

208. 67.220.220 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Cached Name | 0.041 | 0.043 | 0.045 | 0.001 | 100.0 |

208. 67.222.220 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Cached Name | 0.042 | 0.044 | 0.048 | 0.002 | 100.0 |]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644610 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:07:30 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644340 said by Just Bob:

said by Nightfall:

said by Just Bob:

The existence of a second threat doesn't negate the first threat.
Thats a pretty bad excuse. If your system is comprimised by malware or a virus to corrupt your local DNS records, how is that the fault of the DNS host? You could have 3rd party DNS or your ISP DNS, and the result would be the same if you were infected.

Truth be told, there is no danger on using 3rd party or your own DNS servers. I like openDNS a lot, but at the same time, I use ISP supplied DNS without hesitation as well. :)
It isn't a matter of my opinion versus your opinion. It's the result of a study by researchers at Georgia Tech and Google.

Since you missed the link the first time, here it is again:
»arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20···ers.html
If you did follow the link, but missed the pertinent information:

"According to a recent report by PCWorld, research teams working out of Google and the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a series of open-recursive DNS servers that were classified as behaving "suspiciously." Open-recursive DNS servers are DNS servers that will answer any lookup request, no matter where it originates. So long as the DNS servers return accurate information—and the vast, vast, majority do—everything is kosher. When open DNS servers don't return valid information, however, they open the door to an entire world of problems."

If you read that paragraph, but didn't follow the link to the PCWorld article:
»www.pcworld.com/article/id,14046···cle.html

The Georgia Tech and Google researchers estimate that as many as 0.4 percent, or 68,000, open-recursive DNS servers are behaving maliciously, returning false answers to DNS queries. They also estimate that another two percent of them provide questionable results. Collectively, these servers are beginning to form a "second secret authority" for DNS that is undermining the trustworthiness of the Internet, the researchers warned.
I read the first article but not the second. My impression of that snipit is to use a known good DNS system. If you use some unknown, then these risks apply to you. I know I wouldn't trust my DNS to be hosted by someone or some company I didn't know. It would have to be a trusted solution. My ISP is trusted. OpenDNS is trusted. There are a lot of DNS services out there that are trusted and well reviewed. The OP is asking about a trusted company that is well reviewed.

Now, if he was talking about some DNS servers that none of us have used before, I am sure people here would be cautious to say the least.

As for my statement about Malware which was not addressed before we went down this path, I am sure that you and both agree on that.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644340 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:25:12 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644269
When did the internet become trustworthy?
--
I thought I made a mistake once but I was wrong]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644269 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:13:55 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644242 said by Nightfall:

said by Just Bob:

The existence of a second threat doesn't negate the first threat.
Thats a pretty bad excuse. If your system is comprimised by malware or a virus to corrupt your local DNS records, how is that the fault of the DNS host? You could have 3rd party DNS or your ISP DNS, and the result would be the same if you were infected.

Truth be told, there is no danger on using 3rd party or your own DNS servers. I like openDNS a lot, but at the same time, I use ISP supplied DNS without hesitation as well. :)
It isn't a matter of my opinion versus your opinion. It's the result of a study by researchers at Georgia Tech and Google.

Since you missed the link the first time, here it is again:
»arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20···ers.html
If you did follow the link, but missed the pertinent information:

"According to a recent report by PCWorld, research teams working out of Google and the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a series of open-recursive DNS servers that were classified as behaving "suspiciously." Open-recursive DNS servers are DNS servers that will answer any lookup request, no matter where it originates. So long as the DNS servers return accurate information—and the vast, vast, majority do—everything is kosher. When open DNS servers don't return valid information, however, they open the door to an entire world of problems."

If you read that paragraph, but didn't follow the link to the PCWorld article:
»www.pcworld.com/article/id,14046···cle.html

The Georgia Tech and Google researchers estimate that as many as 0.4 percent, or 68,000, open-recursive DNS servers are behaving maliciously, returning false answers to DNS queries. They also estimate that another two percent of them provide questionable results. Collectively, these servers are beginning to form a "second secret authority" for DNS that is undermining the trustworthiness of the Internet, the researchers warned.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644242 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:09:49 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644126 said by NormanS See Profile
GTE is a former ILEC which, along with Bell Atlantic and NYNEX, was merged into a single company..."Verizon".
One of the conditions of that merger was that the ISP business of GTE was spun off to become an independent company, Genuity) See: »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GTE . For several years after the merger, Verizon bought Internet service from Genuity and used that for DSL customers in former GTE areas. Verizon needed to do this because at the time of the merger they didn't have a nation-wide backbone in place in order to connect the GTE DSL customers. Level3 ended up buying Genuity out of bankruptcy. Long story short, those servers were never operated by Verizon.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644126 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:52:35 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644012 said by schaps:

said by Just Bob:

127.0.0.1 Treewalk - I have just manually updated root hints. It will get better as the cache builds.
65.32.5.74 RoadRunner
208. 67.222.220 OpenDNS
... etc.
Is there a particular reason you tested OpenDNS' fourth nameserver instead of the first or second?
OpenDNS nameserver IP addresses are:
208.67.220.220
208.67.222.222
If a third or fourth nameserver IP address is needed:
208.67.220.222
208.67.222.220
None whatsoever.

I would invite you to run the test yourself so you can see the results from your location.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19644012 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:34:51 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643909 
Registrant:  Verizon Trademark Services LLC (DOM-384172) 1320 North Court House Road Arlington VA 22201 US     Domain Name: gtei.net
GTE is a former ILEC which, along with Bell Atlantic and NYNEX, was merged into a single company..."Verizon".

--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643909 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:22:08 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643907 said by swhx7:

OpenDNS won't make much difference privacy-wise. They're presumably collecting request patterns and building a profile of what each user looks at - but unless you register, it's all by IP address. To match it up with who you are it would be necessary to ask the ISP who had that IP during those times. If your ISP will give this to Opendns, then the ISP is already selling it to whoever will pay and you're no worse off.
OpenDNS could potentially collaborate with 'website x' to identify you by correlating the sequence of events: "'user y' logged into 'website x' from 'IP address z' 8 seconds after 'IP address z' queried OpenDNS for the address of 'website x.'"]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643907 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:21:58 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643810 said by NormanS:

If your ISP won't provide you with barebones DNS service, though, you may be SOL. Even Verizon is moving to the DNS ad model; who knows how long before their 4.2.2.x servers are touched by redirects?
The 4.2.2.x servers belong to Level3 (formerly Genuity...formerly GTE...formerly BBN Planet...which was part of BBN Technologies..which was Bolt Beranek and Newman changed it's name to).]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643810 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:05:04 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643797 --
Warning, If you post nonsense and use misinformation and are here to argue based on those methods, you will be put on ignore.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643797 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:02:47 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643746 said by Rexter:

They monitor their servers constantly, and and continuously perform maintenance on them. While it's not totally fool proof, I feel much safer not using my Comcast DNS servers.er, that's at least what the OpenDNS website says. Of course my ISP's website says that their service is reliable as well...who to believe?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643746 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:53:42 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643207 said by Just Bob:

The existence of a second threat doesn't negate the first threat.
Thats a pretty bad excuse. If your system is comprimised by malware or a virus to corrupt your local DNS records, how is that the fault of the DNS host? You could have 3rd party DNS or your ISP DNS, and the result would be the same if you were infected.

Truth be told, there is no danger on using 3rd party or your own DNS servers. I like openDNS a lot, but at the same time, I use ISP supplied DNS without hesitation as well. :)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19643207 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:17:28 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19642665 said by nwrickert:

I might well know the IP address. But I don't normally SSH to an IP address. I use the hostname, and rely on correct DNS resolution.
And if you're a sysadmin, and you don't know how to bypass the opendns servers you set up, you shouldn't be a sysadmin.

I'm the network manager at a high school. I set up a free account with OpenDNS and use it to block bad sites, many ads, and bandwidth-sucking sites, as well as produce reports on which sites are the most used. Non-admins cannot change their workstation or laptop's DNS servers, but I can in literally two seconds on my MacBook Pro - I just defined a location that that has custom DNS servers (Verizon's) and can switch the location in my Apple menu in literally two seconds (could also set up a key combo, but no real need). The custom blocking options and categories in OpenDNS are quite flexible, but you need a free account to set that up. You also obviously need a service like dyndns if you don't have a static IP. It helps us make the most of our T1s in an ever-increasingly streaming world.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19642665 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:53:12 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19642646 said by the tech guy :

You haven't noticed any problems in the last year because Open DNS is pointless. I know VERY few people who have problem resolving with their ISP DNS.
Is that a common topic of conversation with all the people you know? In any case, most people would not know their DNS is slow or not resolving. They just know the the "Googles don't work."

You apparently don't know anyone who had Comcast a year or so ago when they had several major DNS outages over the period of months. Those of us who knew how to change dns servers were lucky.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19642646 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:33:34 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19642641 said by Just Bob:

127.0.0.1 Treewalk - I have just manually updated root hints. It will get better as the cache builds.
65.32.5.74 RoadRunner
208. 67.222.220 OpenDNS
... etc.
Is there a particular reason you tested OpenDNS' fourth nameserver instead of the first or second?
OpenDNS nameserver IP addresses are:
208.67.220.220
208.67.222.222
If a third or fourth nameserver IP address is needed:
208.67.220.222
208.67.222.220]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19642641 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:25:35 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19642017 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19642017 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:45:29 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19640111
»www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/DNS···1605.pdf

»computerworld.com/securitytopics···,00.html

»mvp.support.microsoft.com/profil···D1950543

»grc.com/miscfiles/dnsru.exe

»87.127.177.127/readmessage?id=%3···offtopic]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19640111 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:32:23 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19639991 --
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19639991 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:05:24 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19639794 I live in the Midwest and even though openDNS still doesn't have Chicago server it's still faster than my ISP. one would think I would notice more latency getting my DNS from one of OPEN dns servers on the east or west coast, but thats not the case.

Charters not the only one with poor DNS, allot of ISP's DNS is horrible. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19639794 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:33:25 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19636763 said by that tech guy :

I would tough it out the your ISP DNS. your isp's cache can usually resolve faster than another dns server somewhere else by the time it gets there. Open DNS is cool and all but not really practical. Stick with the isp
Why isn't it practical? On what do you base your opinion? Why haven't I noticed any problems in the year that I've used OpenDNS?
--
I thought I made a mistake once but I was wrong]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19636763 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:06:45 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19636137 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19636137 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 00:26:13 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19635462 said by NOCMan:

said by Just Bob:

said by Kerodo:

Sure, caching is faster than an actual lookup, but every time you go somewhere new, there is an actually lookup which for me took longer with the Treewalk servers. Win caches entries also, just doesn't preserve them on reboot.
Right, and TreeWalk preserves the cache over a reboot.

The key issue is really the response time of the server when busy. The DNS servers from my ISP respond to a ping in half the time or better than 4.2.2.1, 4.2.2.1 (approximately 12-15 msec versus 30 - 36), but the ISP servers struggle under peak loads.

Edit - corrected ping times
Yes but ping is only an indication of network latency. You also have to consider lookup times on a DNS server during peak times. With thousands of people querying it, it could become slow to respond even for cached entries.
127.0.0.1 Treewalk - I have just manually updated root hints. It will get better as the cache builds.
65.32.5.74 RoadRunner
208. 67.222.220 OpenDNS

127. 0. 0. 1 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Cached Name | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.001 | 0.000 | 100.0 |
Uncached Name | 0.033 | 0.137 | 2.085 | 0.327 | 83.4 |
DotCom Lookup | 0.040 | 0.066 | 0.154 | 0.029 | 100.0 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

65. 32. 5. 74 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Cached Name | 0.012 | 0.014 | 0.017 | 0.001 | 100.0 |
Uncached Name | 0.033 | 0.064 | 0.143 | 0.022 | 100.0 |
DotCom Lookup | 0.041 | 0.077 | 0.159 | 0.032 | 99.5 |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

208. 67.222.220 | Min | Avg | Max |Std.Dev|Reliab%|
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Cached Name | 0.042 | 0.044 | 0.048 | 0.002 | 100.0 |
Uncached Name | - | - | - | - | - |
DotCom Lookup | - | - | - | - | - |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+

I don't know what to think of the lack of replies for OpenDNS uncached and DotCom lookups.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19635462 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:43:55 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19635397 said by DreamWraith:

said by Just Bob:

said by CylonRed:

There is nothing about other DNS's that make them a security risk...
»arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20···ers.html
Sure, while malware, et al can utilize local DNS stuff to hijack your computer, that can happen regardless of what dns servers you have yourself set to use.
The existence of a second threat doesn't negate the first threat.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19635397 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:29:28 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19635137
Hop on over to the ATT Southeast/Bellsouth forum and see how much trouble people have with their DNS servers.

I have never had any type of security compromise on any of my home network computers.
--
Take your hatred of our Government out of the Technical Forums!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19635137 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:31:25 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19635095 said by Just Bob:

said by CylonRed:

There is nothing about other DNS's that make them a security risk...
»arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20···ers.html
Sure, while malware, et al can utilize local DNS stuff to hijack your computer, that can happen regardless of what dns servers you have yourself set to use.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19635095 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:21:18 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634977 Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634977 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:50:48 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634379 said by Just Bob:

said by Kerodo:

Sure, caching is faster than an actual lookup, but every time you go somewhere new, there is an actually lookup which for me took longer with the Treewalk servers. Win caches entries also, just doesn't preserve them on reboot.
Right, and TreeWalk preserves the cache over a reboot.

The key issue is really the response time of the server when busy. The DNS servers from my ISP respond to a ping in half the time or better than 4.2.2.1, 4.2.2.1 (approximately 12-15 msec versus 30 - 36), but the ISP servers struggle under peak loads.

Edit - corrected ping times
Yes but ping is only an indication of network latency. You also have to consider lookup times on a DNS server during peak times. With thousands of people querying it, it could become slow to respond even for cached entries.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634379 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 17:13:30 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634258 said by DNS :

Is there any security risk to using an open DNS instead of Optimum's DNS? I do online banking and wanted to know if its safe. I have read online about DNS poisioning and other DNS threats but honestly I dont completely understand how they work.
For a little tutorial, see here.

Rereading, I noticed that which is in italics. From a security perspective, I consider alternative DNS services as I do the so-called "anonymizer" proxies. the question is whether I trust them to do what I think they'll do, so you have to make that decision as to what provider to use.

As you've probably read, there are a blue million DNS servers from which to choose. For banking, first ask yourself which ones you'd trust NOT to redirect your banking requests to a malicious site.

Personally, I'd use one of the major ISP, LEVEL3 or other U.S. based commercial servers to do my banking. If anyone comes up with a reliable source that shows these have redirected to phish or malicious sites, I'd be interested to read.

As for the rest of the stuff about tracking etc;

If you're worried about the evil three letter US or international agency intervening, they can already get to about anything you'd use. I'm personally suspicious of the providers who pop up like mushrooms claiming doom and gloom if you don't use their services. If the server is offshore, it's covered by whatever laws, practices and enforcement exist in that country.

If you don't like ads, don't use an ad-supported service.

If you don't like error redirection, don't use that service.

I note that the OP hasn't responded to the topic, so doubt that any further discussion is needed for his part. Hmmmm, who was that masked poster?
--
BBR's Shooting for a Cause!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634258 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:43:43 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634241 said by Just Bob:

»blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=231
»blog.opendns.com/2007/05/22/goog···he-page/
As a long-time Open DNS user, I was heartened to read those two articles, showing that the Open DNS chairman was rightly slapping Google's and Dell's wrists for those shenanigans. Ironically, but not surprisingly, I noticed that the page at zdnet tried (and of course failed, due to my settings) to open atdmt ads ;).

Of course any DNS server has to be trustworthy or they can wreak havoc. And don't forget a robust HOSTS file ;).
--
The truth of a thing is the feel of it, not the think of it. -- Stanley Kubrick]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634241 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:40:18 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634180
My pings average about 60-90ms so it's VERY SLOW by comparison to my ISP. I have used OpenDNS but it's slower also but only in the 30ms range so preferable. But I still don't see the advantage if my ISP's DNS servers are working (with 3 I hope to never have another outage). thoughts?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634180 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:24:22 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634178
Now my router updates DNS-O-Matic with my IP, which in turn updates DSLReports, No-IP, and OpenDNS.

I also like the new phishing filters.

Nice.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634178 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:23:52 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634106 http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634106 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:04:46 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634092 said by nwrickert:

..., but it only occurs when there is no actual DNS lookup, ...
Sorry, I don't understand that part.

Maybe I am sysadmin for a web server. Somebody has broken into that server, and put up a phish page. So I try to ssh into the server to take down that page. But OpenDNS is "protecting" me from that phishing site by giving a bogus DNS answer, and my attempt to ssh into the OpenDNS advertising site that they substituted of course fails - and it wouldn't have helped me even it it succeeded.

I don't use OpenDNS, so the above won't actually happen to me. But it could affect people who do use OpenDNS.

I am not trying to prevent you or anybody else from using OpenDNS. I was just answering questions about the risks involved.
If you are the sysadmin wouldn't you have the IP address for that case?]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19634092 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:03:08 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19633976
"OpenDNS earns a portion of its revenue by sending the user to an OpenDNS search page when a domain name that he has entered is not valid. Advertisements are displayed on this search page to help fund the operations of OpenDNS."
and
"OpenDNS was launched in July 2006 by hacker/entrepreneur David Ulevitch. It received venture capital funding from Minor Ventures, which is led by CNET founder Halsey Minor."

I'd rather trust my own ISP, then Verizon and A&T as backups.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19633976 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:42:57 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19633919 --
The Firefox alternative.
»www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19633919 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:32:52 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19633306
Instead of blocking port 25 they redirect port 25 outbound traffic to their SMTP server. Gee lets help out spam bots.
--
Am Heimcomputer sitz' ich hier, und programmier' die Zukunft mir]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19633306 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:32:08 EDT Re: Is it safe to use an open DNS rather than your ISP's DNS? http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19633286
OTOH, for somebody who detests Google as much as you, that should be a red flag...

If your ISP won't provide you with barebones DNS service, though, you may be SOL. Even Verizon is moving to the DNS ad model; who knows how long before their 4.2.2.x servers are touched by redirects?
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-Is-it-safe-to-use-an-open-DNS-rather-than-your-ISPs-DNS-19633286 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:29:08 EDT Re: OpenDNS http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-OpenDNS-19633153 quote:
said by antdude

I love OpenDNS. I love being able to block bad sites like porn, phishers, etc. I also love the statistics to see.
quote:
I agree totally. I've used OpenDNS for over a year and have been very satisfied.
--


Same here! :)
--
~~Get our troops home...now!!~~]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-OpenDNS-19633153 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:08:51 EDT Re: OpenDNS http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-OpenDNS-19633116 said by antdude:

I love OpenDNS. I love being able to block bad sites like porn, phishers, etc. I also love the statistics to see.
I agree totally. I've used OpenDNS for over a year and have been very satisfied.
--
I thought I made a mistake once but I was wrong]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/Re-OpenDNS-19633116 Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:02:33 EDT