// HACKER NEWS — CYBERSECURITY
An open DNS recursive service for free security and high privacy
Quad9 is a free service that replaces your default ISP or enterprise Domain
Name Server (DNS) configuration. When your computer performs any Internet
transaction that uses the DNS (and most transactions do), Quad9 blocks lookups
of malicious host names from an up-to-the-minute list of threats. This blocking
action protects your computer, mobile device, or IoT systems against a wide
range of threats such as malware, phishing, spyware, and botnets, and it can
improve performance in addition to guaranteeing privacy. The Quad9 DNS service
is operated by the Swiss-based Quad9 Foundation, whose mission is to provide a
safer and more robust Internet for everyone.
When your devices use Quad9 normally, no data containing your IP address is
ever logged in any Quad9 system. Connections can employ encryption if your
system supports it, and the entire Quad9 platform has been designed to be
GDPR-compliant from the first public announcement in 2017.
Every transaction on the Internet starts with a DNS event. This name lookup
reveals critically sensitive data about the person triggering that transaction.
The nature of those name lookups has created a strong and dangerous motivation
for commercialization of personal data from DNS recursive resolver services.
Quad9 is the only large DNS resolver with a founding charter that includes
privacy as a primary goal, and the Quad9 team is devoted to the concept of
keeping personal data under the control of the end user.
End users have made it clear to industry that privacy should be a central focus for Internet platforms and infrastructure. This demand-side dynamic cannot be fulfilled with the promises of encryption technology alone, however. Quad9 understands the need to compliment complement their its secure and privacy-preserving protocols with policies and practices that protect users too. Based in Europe, Quad9’s DNS service now leverages a strong regulatory environment in the public interest.
Chief Technology Officer,
Center for Democracy and Technology
Privacy matters, but is increasingly endangered. We’re happy to have another major internet infrastructure provider joining the European tech ecosystem, illustrating again that privacy is the future for European tech.
Quad9’s organizational move to Switzerland is important for the free and open internet because it provides much-needed geographic and legal diversity in the open DNS resolver space. It also shows that Quad9 is actively seeking to work within the legislative framework that best serves the privacy of its users.
I support the Quad9 open resolver because it puts the end user first and helps build a secure and private internet without collecting – and therefore without the possibility of commercializing – users’ personal information. I believe Quad9’s philosophy of openness and transparency in handling users’ data resonates strongly with the core beliefs of our community.
As the CEO of Alta Associates, the leading executive search firm in Cybersecurity, and Founder of the Executive Women’s Forum on Information Security, Risk Management & Privacy, I have a unique understanding of the challenges cybersecurity leaders face. Quad9 provides these leaders with an actionable way to protect their systems against threats while preserving their end-users privacy.
CEO Alta Associates,
Founder Executive Women's Forum