NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM
Security (NYSE: IBM), Packet Clearing House (PCH) and the
Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) today launched a free service designed
to give consumers and businesses added privacy and security
protection as they access the internet. The new Quad9 Domain Name
System (DNS) service helps protects users from accessing millions
of malicious internet sites known to steal personal information,
infect users with ransomware and malware, or conduct fraudulent
activity.
Businesses and consumers can safeguard their online privacy as
the Quad9 (9.9.9.9) DNS service is engineered to not store,
correlate or otherwise leverage any personally identifiable
information (PII) from its users. In contrast, other DNS services
often capture Information about the websites consumers visit,
devices they use and where they live for marketing or other
purposes.
Quad9 provides an automated security solution at a time when it
is needed most by consumers. New polling1 of consumers
across the U.S., U.K., France and
Germany released today found that
just 27 percent of consumers think they are capable of staying
ahead of the latest online threats and only 14 percent have ever
changed the DNS settings on their computer.
To take advantage of the security and privacy of Quad9, users
simply need to reconfigure a single setting on their devices to use
9.9.9.9 as their DNS server. Full instructions on what a DNS
service does and how to switch to Quad9 can be found at
www.quad9.net.
The protections delivered via Quad9 cover not only traditional
PCs and laptops but can also be extended to internet connected
devices (TVs, DVRs) or Internet of Things (IoT) technologies such
as smart thermostats and connected home appliances. These devices
often do not receive important security updates and are also
difficult to secure with traditional anti-virus tools, yet remain
connected to the internet leaving them vulnerable to hackers.
How Quad9 Works
With the launch of Quad9, consumers
and businesses have a way of protecting themselves that is both
effective and affordable with minimal configuration changes. Quad9
makes using security threat intelligence a hands-off effort and
designed to give users "automated immunity" from known internet
threats by automatically blocking access to known malicious
websites.
Every website has a unique numerical address – known as an IP
address. To make it easier to navigate the internet, those numeric
addresses are translated to company names or words we can remember,
understand, and search. Quad9 helps translate those numeric
addresses into the URLs we are all familiar with, while adding in a
layer of security and privacy before users land on the web
address.
Whenever a Quad9 user clicks on a website link or types an
address into a web browser, Quad9 checks the site against IBM
X-Force's threat intelligence database of over 40 billion analyzed
web pages and images. The service also taps feeds from 18
additional threat intelligence partners including Abuse.ch, the
Anti-Phishing Working Group, Bambenek Consulting, F-Secure,
mnemonic, 360Netlab, Hybrid Analysis GmbH, Proofpoint, RiskIQ, and
ThreatSTOP.
Quad9 provides these protections without compromising the speed
that users expect when accessing websites and services. Leveraging
PCH's expertise and global assets around the world, Quad9 has
points of presence in over 70 locations across 40 countries at
launch. Over the next 18 months, Quad9 points of presence are
expected to double, further improving the speed, performance,
privacy and security for users globally. Telemetry data on blocked
domains from Quad9 will be shared with threat intelligence partners
for the improvement of their threat intelligence responses for
their customers and Quad9.
Why is DNS Security Needed?
The stakes are high –
cybercrime is estimated to cost the global economy more than $2
trillion by 2019. Cybercriminals use tools and techniques to build
realistic-looking websites that mimic legitimate companies. These
websites might even have names that look similar to a household
national chain or a local store – but in reality, are not because
they have a different IP address – something that most users would
find hard to detect.
The problem is compounded by the fact that there will be 80
billion internet connected devices (or IoT devices) in homes and
businesses by 2025. It has proven difficult for users to secure and
update these devices, as software vulnerabilities and
misconfigurations are discovered.
With Quad9 used in a home or business network at the router or
gateway level, users will have an added level of protection for
their IoT devices. These smart devices would also be blocked from
accessing remote hosts which have been identified as being harmful
or IoT botnets such as Mirai, which infected millions of IoT
devices in late 2016.
Globally, regulations relating to security and privacy also
continue to emerge. In May 2018,
Europe will enact the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR), a set of sweeping regulations meant
to protect the personal data and privacy of its citizens. Quad9's
emphasis on data privacy is built with efforts like GDPR in
mind.
How to Use Quad9
In four easy steps, consumers and
businesses can have Quad9 filtering out websites that pose a threat
to their devices and networks. Individuals or businesses can use
this DNS service from their computer, router or network devices to
resolve DNS requests and receive domain-blocking
protection.
Setting up Quad9 is a simple configuration change. Most
organizations or home users can update in minutes by changing the
DNS settings in a central DHCP server (router or Wi-Fi access
point) which will update all clients in a few minutes, with no
action needed at end devices at all.
In order to start using Quad9 today, simply change your DNS
settings in your device or router to point to 9.9.9.9.
Quad9 has laid out the four easy steps for Mac OS and
Windows.
The Genesis of Quad9
Quad9 began as the brainchild of
GCA. The intent was to provide security to end users on a global
scale by leveraging the DNS service to deliver a comprehensive
threat intelligence feed.
This idea lead to the collaboration of the three entities:
- GCA: Provides system development capabilities and brought the
threat intelligence community together;
- PCH: Provides Quad9's network infrastructure; and
- IBM: Provides IBM X-Force threat intelligence and the easily
memorable IP address (9.9.9.9).
Quotes from Quad9 Partners
"Protecting against attacks by blocking them through DNS has
been available for a long time, but has not been used widely.
Sophisticated corporations can subscribe to dozens of threat feeds
and block them through DNS, or pay a commercial provider for the
service. However, small to medium-sized businesses and consumers
have been left behind – they lack the resources, are not aware of
what can be done with DNS, or are concerned about exposing their
privacy and confidential information," said Philip Reitinger, President and CEO of the
Global Cyber Alliance. "Quad9 solves these problems. It is
memorable, easy to use, relies on excellent and broad threat
information, protects privacy, and security and is free."
"PCH is pleased to participate in Quad9 by allowing the system
to leverage our global network and infrastructure. Through local
deployment of technology versus some distant datacenter, Quad9
works to significantly improve performance for the entire end-user
experience and Internet transactions," said Bill Woodcock, Executive Director, Packet
Clearing House. "We strongly support the values Quad9 places on
end-user privacy. The personal information protections and
selectable DNS encryption, DNSSEC, and blocklist that are in place
show that this project is in line with PCH's values. Quad9
will inspire trust in both individuals and businesses who
understand the importance of securing their private browsing
data."
"Leveraging threat intelligence is a critical way to stay ahead
of cybercriminals," said Jim
Brennan, Vice President, Strategy and Offering Management,
IBM Security. "Consumers and small businesses traditionally didn't
have free, direct access to the intelligence used by security firms
to protect big businesses. With Quad9, we're putting that data to
work for the industry in an open way and further enriching those
insights via the community of users. Through IBM's involvement in
Quad9, we're applying these collaborative defense techniques while
giving users greater privacy controls."
1 Four online surveys of 1,000 U.S. consumers,
602 French consumers, 633 German consumers and 611 United Kingdom
consumers were conducted from Nov.
3-6. The U.S. polling has a margin of error of +/- 3.1% and
the French, German and U.K. polls have a margin of error of +/-
4.0%
About IBM Security
IBM Security offers one of the
most advanced and integrated portfolios of enterprise security
products and services. For more information, please visit
www.ibm.com/security or follow @IBMSecurity on Twitter.
About Packet Clearing House
The Packet Clearing House
is the international organization responsible for providing
operational support and security to critical Internet
infrastructure, including Internet exchange points and the core of
the domain name system. For more info, please visit
www.pch.net.
About Global Cyber Alliance
The Global Cyber Alliance
(GCA) is an international, cross-sector effort dedicated to
confronting cyber risk and improving our connected world. Learn
more at www.globalcyberalliance.org.
Contacts:
Kelly Kane
IBM Security
413-297-2668
kkane@us.ibm.com
Aimee Larsen Kirkpatrick
Global Cyber Alliance
646-677-5532
alkirkpatrick@globalcyberalliance.org
Josh Zecher
Global Cyber Alliance
Phone: (703) 930-4941
Email: josh@vrge.us
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SOURCE IBM