Objectives of a DNS filtering software
The purpose of DNS filtering software, such as FlashStart, is, ultimately, to protect browsing. It is used in a variety of contexts: in business networks (ISPs and MSPs), at home, at school, and, more generally, in public places. It is used, for example, at home and school to protect minors and sensitive users by preventing them from landing on pornographic sites and contents, sites which glorify violence or extremist doctrines, sites selling weapons, and, in general, any site which publishes offensive or ethically questionable contents.
In business contexts, it is always important to use a web content filter such as FlashStart: both to avoid problems with malware, cryptolockers, and spying by competitors, and to make sure that employees do not browse gaming sites or social networks and, in general, all those domains that, by stated company policy, should not be visited during working hours to avoid loss of time and drops in concentration. All of this, in the case of FlashStart, with a simple and fast configuration that can be “disassembled” just as quickly should one wish to do so.
In general, software for the filtering of internet content is a great way to protect against cyber-attacks originating from an infected web page.
And, in fact, these are, in essence, the goals of FlashStart: to make users’ browsing of your business/school/private network safe and secure, to make them more productive, and to protect them from danger and wasted time.
The category of software in which FlashStart is classified has various names, such as content-filtering software, web filtering software, Internet filtering software, but, in the end, all of the terms refer to one purpose: blocking access to certain sites by the users of a network. We will now discuss what your case scenarios might be.
DNS content-filtering software at work, school, and home
Businesses (small, medium, large, and very large), schools, and households are the main areas in which DNS content-filtering software is used: we will discuss why they are now essential in each of these.
What can DNS content-filtering software do for businesses?
DNS filtering software for web content browsing, such as FlashStart, is now necessary in every network-connected company: first and foremost, in order to protect corporate productivity, preventing employees from accessing sites not related to their business, greater concentration during working hours is fostered.
However, there is a far more important reason for supporting the introduction of a browsing filter at work, and it concerns the protection of the business network.
The majority of attacks on a business network or on an employee’s device occur as a result of a user clicking on a malicious site, i.e., one that harbors a threat. Well, using a DNS content-filter is the best way to avoid serious problems for the entire business network.
All of the information concerning the domains and geographic areas from which cyber attacks originate (of which there are many: you can see them all in real time on our Threat Map) is contained and updated in the databases of sites reviewed by FlashStart. Thus, even in small and medium businesses, activating a browsing-monitoring and filtering service is a very important (and sustainable) investment for the protection of the business network.
So, FlashStart is super easy and super fast to install (and to uninstall should you ever need to), easy almost beyond belief: just book a free, fact-finding call, and try our demo to quickly see for yourself.
Try safe surfing for free !
What can DNS content-filtering software do for a school?
In a particularly sensitive context such as education, web content filtering software, such as FlashStart, is essential at the DNS level . Think about the fact that these kinds of applications originated, just about thirty years ago, as a result of the U.S. Federal Law mandating their use in all educational institutions and public places, such as libraries.
In a school or university, it is essential to guard against the browsing of pornographic sites, sites that glorify violence or promote the use of weapons, sites of religious sects, and more generally malicious sites, through which the entire computer network of the educational institution can be infected. Also, as in the other areas, through DNS filtering a first level of protection is activated against malware-type attacks, worms, and Trojans. FlashStart, after an easy and straightforward installation, can keep students safe from the dangers of the Web.
Try safe surfing for free !
What can DNS content-filtering software do for a household?
FlashStart can do for a family exactly what it does for a business or educational institution: safeguard the browsing of minors and the defenseless from offensive or dangerous contents and, in addition, safeguard the computers in the family from cyber-attacks.
The types of installation for DNS content-filtering software (and the best one, chosen by FlashStart)
DNS filtering can have different characteristics depending upon the type of filter and, especially, depending upon the type of installation required. To be more precise:
Client-based DNS content filter
a client-based (agent) content-filtering solution is installed on each, individual, networked device. Ideal for small businesses and home settings.
Server based
the content-filtering service is activated in a separate, dedicated server. It is ideal for large organizations with a significant amount of technical and financial resources to spend.
Gateway based
this solution is installed in the hardware of the business network provider. It is a low-maintenance solution which offers centralized application of configuration and monitoring policies. Like server-based, gateway-based is also suitable for large organizations.
Cloud based
this is the solution offered by FlashStart. In fact, it provides an alternative to a gateway-based solution that is simpler, cheaper, and less dependent upon direct maintenance (we take care of that). Instead of installing the solution on the system, web traffic for the entire organization is routed to the servers of the cloud-based solution provider, in our case FlashStart. This solution works for both large organizations, e.g., ISPs and MSPs, but it is also ideal for small organizations.
Try safe surfing for free !
The best DNS content-filtering software for you
The broadest spectrum of available features of high-level content-filtering software, such as FlashStart, is reserved for medium, large, and very large companies.
That said, to answer the question, “What is the best web content-filtering software for me?” one must first take into account the context in which one wants to implement it (company, school, small business, or family) and one must basically consider two questions:
- What is the value of the data contained in my computer network to cyber criminals?
- What level of content protection do we want for our employees, children, or students?
DNS filter providers, such as FlashStart, provide a chart of offers with a range of options (you can find the chart for FlashStart’s solutions on this page). The customer will decide based upon his or her answers to the two questions, what to choose and what to forego.
Why choose FlashStart as the DNS content-filtering software
Let’s look at the main distinguishing features of FlashStart’s DNS filter:
This filter provides verification on DNS nameservers belonging to domains known to send links to pages which contain malware, ransomware, worms, etc., and relies on frequently updated tables, lists, and verification databases.
A filter that works like the previous one but which works on different lists, always updated.
It is possible to use a filter which blocks the browsing of IPs known to belong to states known to harbor cybercriminal groups.
This filter blocks newly registered domains for thirty days in order to review their activity before revealing them to network users.
Blocks all domains which exploit a compromised IP.
FlashStart’s DNS filter screens all requests to DNS servers which are in an encrypted mode.
On the other hand, regarding FlashStart’s DNS filter features related to content analysis:
FlashStart is one of the solutions on the market with more content categories available, which is also always updated thanks to our dedicated AI.
The filter, compared to our competitors’, uses more international lists.
FlashStart uses a dedicated block for this type of web content.
FlashStart integrates a filter based upon the results generated by a search on the most-used search engines.
This is a specific blocker for apps which are installed on a smartphone and, in general, guaranteed protection for mobile devices, as well.
Important to check the level of detail of the available reports, their variety, and the ease of building and understanding them independently.
Our DNS content filtering software provides the ability to monitor network traffic in real time in order to understand what is happening on the business network and to spot any dangers in time; this is the best way to monitor network traffic.
One can define monitoring for each individual device, computer, tablet, and smartphone.
It is possible to choose the categories of sites to be blocked, to populate them with new entries, and to remove false negatives from the lists.
It is possible to define white label reporting of activities on the protected network.
Try safe surfing for free !
Other features
Investigation of Internet activity using machine learning in order to prevent DNS resolution of dangerous or inappropriate sites.
Continuous scanning of web content by artificial intelligence, with extremely high predictive performance of categorizing domains into two hundred categories that can be used as blacklists.
Preventive protection from malware, ransomware, botnets, phishing and general hacker attacks by blocking browsing of dangerous domains.
Blocking VPN, social networks, chat, dating sites, games, entertainment and leisure, etc.
Monitoring Internet browsing in businesses, schools, PAs, households, etc. with filtering of explicit, illicit and unwanted content at times of choice.
Artificial intelligence-based cloud protection with DNS resolution blocking for domains that fall into undesirable categories.
Anycast assigns an IP address to multiple hosts, routing requests to the nearest server for fast response times and uninterrupted service.
Blocco geografico preventivo di tutto il traffico verso i domini dei server situati in aree ad alto rischio.
Cloud-based Safe Search filtering of search results on YouTube, Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo.
Synchronization of Active Directory users and groups for immediate assignment of differentiated protections.
Centralized management of multiple tenants/profiles from a single control panel
We offer about 20 standard reports based on a six-month data history.
