How to Hide Your Browser History with Encrypted DNS

With net neutrality on its way out, ISPs have more free reign than ever before to go through everything you do online. When you run a business, privacy is essential, so you don’t need ISPs selling your data to interested parties, especially competitors. Fortunately, there are ways around this, even with the death of network regulation.

One of the best ways to hide your browser history from ISPs is with an encrypted DNS or Domain Name System. Your DNS server is essentially the server ISPs use to monitor your internet habits. While it’s essential for browsing the internet, there is a way to hide your activity from your provider using encryption. Learn more about how to protect your business with Encrypted DNS.

DNSCrypt

The original method of encrypting your DNS is DNSCrypt, which has been around for about ten years now. While it was initially designed to prevent DNS spoofing, it can be used as a privacy tool as well. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an expert to make use of this handy system as Simple DNSCrypt for Windows and DNS Cloak for iOS have been developed. Installing either will give you added protection when your business goes online.

Your primary advantage of using DNSCrypt is that it looks and functions almost exactly like a typical DNS server in terms of function and appearance. You won’t experience too much lag in your response time and will still be able to get past some of your ISP’s firewalls. It’s important to remember, however, that DNSCrypt was never developed to meet a high standard, as it never had corporate sponsorship.

Transport Layer Security

If you’re looking for something a bit more trustworthy to protect your business’ online activity, Transport Layer Security or TLS might be a better choice. The first thing you need to know is that it’s a proposed Internet Engineering Task Force standard, which DNSCrypt was not. TLS also handles encryption in an easy-to-understand manner simply by encrypting DNS requests as they happen.

Utilizing TLS can be a bit tough, however, if your systems aren’t running on Linux. A working version for iOS has some hang, while the Windows 10 version frequently fails. When it does work, it uses Simple Public Key Infrastructure, which is a system in which a stored copy of your provider’s certificate is referenced for encryption. While this is good enough in most cases, it becomes useless if your ISP changes its certificate. You’ll have to go into the program and update it manually, which can be daunting for someone without technical expertise.

HTTPS

Arguably the best solution to your privacy concerns is using HTTPS DNS encryption. It’s the IETF standard and turns all of your provider’s DNS requests into encrypted web traffic, hiding your activities from their view. HTTPS works extremely well with web protocols, so you’ll have no problem accessing virtually anything you want without DNS requests revealing your activities.

This protocol can add some extra wait time to your browsing, but a second or so is a small price to pay for privacy and security. Quite a few DoH (DNS over HTTPS) programs are available for you, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding one. If you want to reduce the performance hit, you can actually run it through a DNSCrypt Proxy, but that’s not exactly easy to set up on your own.

DNS Encryption from U.S. Computer Connection

If you want to run your DNS over HTTPS in conjunction with a DNSCrypt Proxy or want to try any other privacy solution, U.S. Computer Connection is happy to help. You don’t need to learn how to hide your browser history when you can have us simply do it for you. We offer a wide variety of IT solutions for businesses and can offer as much or as little help as you want. Contact us today to learn more about how we can protect and optimize your business.