In this article

DNSFilter is a cloud-based, AI-driven content filtering and threat protection service. 

Eager to get started? Check out Get Started with DNSFilter to start protecting your network today.

How does DNSFilter work?

It’s all in the name: we filter Domain Name System (DNS) requests made on your network through our servers to match against DNSFilter threat feeds and your account policy settings. 

If a request is to a malicious/blocked domain, the user is diverted, cutting off unwanted activity at the root: the request never makes it to the blocked domain. 

DNSFilter also protects all devices on your network—from servers and computers to printers and tablets—because DNS is essential to establish most network connections.

This video was produced in 2022 and is technically accurate, but our app design and the location of some of these functions has changed.

DNSFilter network

70 global locations

Utilizing the largest public Anycast network, our transit provider boasts an impressive 2300+ BGP peers and growing, with 19+ Internet Exchange memberships and an open peering policy.

See our Network page for a complete list.

Roaming protection

Utilizing our Roaming Client, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Chromebook devices can be protected when outside your organization’s network.

DNSFilter features

Content filtering

Select from a wide variety of Filtering Categories to block or allow at your discretion. 

Unsure which domains fall into which category? Use our Domain Report Tool to confirm.

Block/Allow List

Add up to 15,000 domains to your Filtering Policy’s Allow and Block list. 

This means domains and subdomains you want users to access are completely customizable (and CSV import of domain lists is supported). 

Realtime categorization

Our AI scanning engine categorizes newly registered domains in real-time: the average domain categorization completes in 5-15 seconds! 

Multi-lingual support

Our categorization scanners support 20 of the world’s most-spoken languages, and our user block pages can be displayed in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian, or Czech.

Threat protection

Threat categories

Using a multi-pronged approach to blocking threats—from Malware and Phishing to Botnets and Cryptomining—results in DNSFilter’s robust threat intelligence.

Community threat feeds

DNSFilter uses threat feeds managed by the global security community that's monitored by humans, which results in highly reliable data.

Government threat data

DNSFilter works with US and UK-based governmental organizations, so that we’re able to prevent dangerous activity, such as:

• Terrorism
• Child Pornography (All of our customers have Internet Watch Foundation and Project Arachnid filtering active)
• Child Exploitation
• Hate Speech

Machine learning

Remove the unknown parts of the internet—like suspicious or newly registered domains—from being a constant threat. Every request filters through our rigorous analyzation and scoring process to block threats fast.

Our system provides heuristic blocking that other security companies wouldn’t catch until after fielding a customer case, removing the unknown parts of the internet from being a constant threat up to 7 days faster than our competitors.

Data exchange partnerships

DNSFilter trades fully anonymized security and content filtering data with other security firms, utilizing trusted data feeds from the world’s leading security organizations.

Who uses DNSFilter?

From single roaming devices to multinational corporation's offices across the globe, DNSFilter has the threat protection you need. 

Business

From DNSFilter’s easy-to-use dashboard you can:

• Eliminate time spent disinfecting and reinstalling computers
• Prevent new malicious threats
• Neutralize any existing threats
• Block access to employee time-wasters like Reddit, Facebook, and X

All this is backed by a global network of DNS servers. Let us protect your perimeter and keep your bandwidth costs low.

Public/Guest wireless network

Coffee shops, short term rental hosts, churches, and hotels are targets for malicious activity because devices on their network change frequently and users may not have current and effective anti-malware solutions on their devices. 

Add to this that users may access inappropriate content while on a guest Wi-Fi. 

With DNSFilter, you can prevent malicious activity and ensure that your users, no matter what devices they are using, are restricted to online content that you deem appropriate.

Public transit wireless network

Public transit providers wish to provide the convenience of internet access to their passengers, but it only takes a few passengers streaming Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, or Vimeo to ruin the experience for everyone else. 

DNSFilter reduces bandwidth from these services so that you can provide a good experience for all your passengers across your fleet.

Education

The IT Department is often the last consideration in a school district’s budget. Yet, the government mandate of CIPA means that you have a responsibility to protect your students from inappropriate content. 

DNSFilter ensures that you stay within regulation and protect your students from the growing list of internet threats.