With spyware and cybercrime on the rise, protecting your privacy is more important than ever. Enabling Secure DNS in Google Chrome is a crucial step in this process.
Secure DNS, also known as DNS over HTTPS, is a feature that ensures the privacy and security of your web browser. But, exactly, what is Secure DNS? What is the mechanism behind it? What is the procedure for enabling secure DNS in Google Chrome? All of these questions will be addressed in this article.
What is DNS?
We use alphanumeric web addresses to access the internet. To navigate to a website, type strings of text like “www.google.com” into the address bar of any browser.
The problem is that these addresses do not exist. In general, computers only work with numbers. On the internet, each connected machine is identified by its IP address, which is made up entirely of numbers. So, how does browsing the internet work?
The Domain Name System (DNS) (DNS). Simply put, DNS is an online database that maps domain names (such as google.com) to IP addresses. DNS servers are open to the public and are used by web browsers to find the correct IP addresses of websites.
Why is Traditional DNS Vulnerable to Cyberattacks?
DNS lookup operations have the flaw of never being designed with security or privacy in mind. Any savvy hacker can intercept your browser’s DNS requests and respond with false data.
Your browser could be redirected to a fake website or your browsing activity could be tracked. A malicious ISP can also do this, leaving your sensitive data in the hands of others.
The Solution: DNS Over HTTPS
End-to-end encryption is the simple solution. You may be familiar with the HTTPS protocol that is currently in use. These requests are encrypted, which is an improvement over the standard HTTP protocol. Hackers will be unable to intercept those requests and extract any information from them as a result of this.
In Google Chrome, you can enable DNS over HTTPS to secure your DNS requests in a similar way. Secure DNS is the name for this feature, and it’s quickly becoming the new standard for web security.
Keep in mind that this feature is also reliant on the DNS server and the specific website. Regrettably, not all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide a secure DNS server or respond to encrypted requests. Switching to a custom DNS server is your best bet in these situations.
How to Enable Secure DNS in Google Chrome
Secure DNS was originally an experimental feature in Chrome. It had to be activated by using the browser’s hidden menus. Secure DNS, on the other hand, is now part of Google Chrome’s standard functionality.
- Open a new tab in your browser and click the three-dot button in the top right corner to enable secure DNS.
- Open Settings and scroll down to the Privacy and Security section.
- Click on Security.
- Select Advanced from the drop-down menu. This is where you can tell your browser to use DNS and which DNS server it should use.
- Secure DNS should be enabled by default in your browser. However, this is dependent on your Internet service provider, who may or may not provide the service. It’s preferable to use a more dependable DNS service. Select Google Public DNS from the drop-down menu.
Testing Secure DNS on Your Browser
It’s not enough to simply enable secure DNS in your browser. There’s no way to know if your DNS requests are encrypted, leaving you in the dark about your security situation.
If you’re using your ISP’s DNS servers, this is a problem. Not all Internet Service Providers have completed the upgrade to the most recent standards. This can give you a false sense of security while you’re still using an insecure DNS server.
Fortunately, determining whether or not your browser is using secure DNS is simple. Many online tools can check the security of your DNS requests without installing any software. We’ll be using Cloudflare’s online tool for this tutorial.
- To see if your browser is using secure DNS or not. Go to Cloudflare’s security check tool.
- To begin the scan, click the Check My Browser button. The test will be completed in a matter of seconds, and the results will be displayed below.
As you can see, Secure DNS was not detected by the test. This can be resolved by switching to a secure DNS server or contacting your internet service provider. I was able to get a green check after using CloudFlare to enable Google Chrome Secure DNS.
Is Secure DNS Necessary?
With the number of hacking and cyberattacks on the rise, security measures to combat them must evolve to keep up. Secure DNS is a simple way to protect your privacy without making any major changes.
Your browser’s DNS settings may appear insignificant, but they are a critical component of internet security. Malicious entities can tamper with your DNS requests in order to track your movements or direct you to dangerous websites.
As a result, you’ll need to enable and test secure DNS in your Google Chrome browser.
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