On June 30th, we got certified by AV-Comparatives for our parental control software. The certification recognizes anew the capability of SafeDNS to filter out undesirable content for children, e.g., pornography, violence, and the likes.

The test was carried during the month of June against 2000 websites deemed inappropriate for kids, which resulted in a block rate of 98.5% and 0 False-Positives. The full report can be found here. This follows our constant efforts to improve and keep the highest standards for the services we offer you.

Just in case you didn’t know: SafeDNS solutions can be operated with an extensive range of devices. Similarly, SafeDNS offers a wide spectrum of web-filtering categories. Thus, should you have more questions about the installation of our software or its web-filtering categories, kindly get in touch with our support@version-2.com.hk, they’ll be glad to help.

SafeDNS’s changed the names of several content categories and regrouped the categories, so it is easier for our users to grasp their essence to decide which of the categories to block or allow with the web filtering service.

So, we have renamed the category containing sites with child sexual abuse images, criminally obscene adult and child sexual abuse content from a list compiled by Internet Watch Foundation/IWF (UK). Now the category is called ‘Child Sexual Abuse (IWF)’, and we have moved to a large group of categories called ‘Illegal Activity’. To the same group, we have moved two more categories – ‘German Youth Protection’ and ‘Child Sexual Abuse (Arachnid)’.

A new category, ‘Crypto-Mining’, is added to the ‘Illegal Activity’ group. The category contains sites that are known to stealthily mine cryptocurrencies.

Two more categories are renamed – the one we used to call ‘Banner Ads’ into ‘Online Ads’, and the ‘Politics’ category is now called ‘Politics, Society and Law’.

A significant change is that we now have an entirely new group of categories, called ‘Security’. In this group, we have moved the three long-existing categories you know well – ‘Virus Propagation’, ‘Phishing’, and ‘Botnets’.

In the large group of categories, called ‘General Sites’, there’s a new category, ‘Online Libraries’. Its name is pretty much self-explanatory. The category contains online library sites.

We sincerely hope the new names of the filtering categories and new way of grouping them makes it clearer what content the categories have and whether to ban them or not.

Go to the Web Filtering tab of your SafeDNS Dashboard and check the changes. You might want to block some of the new categories to improve your internet security further!

Two years ago, we added support for IPv6 site blocking to all of our solutions – for home, education, business, and telecom – that allow SafeDNS cloud service users to restrict access to sites using the IPv6 protocol. 

In 2021, after having received loads of requests, we’ve finally released the beta version of our IPv6 resolver that comes to pile up on all our web filtering solution features aiming at making our solutions more robust, as we are permanently fighting web-based threats. 

The beta version includes enhanced security, more flexible subnetting, a simple address assignment, and a larger address webspace to name a few features. Therefore, because cyber threats evolve every day and we always strive to strengthen our solutions, we invite you to try and test our IPv6 resolver.

In our upcoming posts, we will inform you about any updates. Meanwhile, if you have any issues with the setup, here is the link on how to install the IPv6 resolver or simply contact one of our support team members.

What IPv6 is

IPv6 is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the internet. Unlike the widely used IPv4 protocol, IPv6 has a larger addressing space as this modern-day protocol uses a 128-bit address system and is a successor to IPv4, designed to replace the latter with its 32-bit address system, which will soon run out of IPv4 addresses.

IPv6 is widely used in different industries for the interaction of M2M sensor systems. The IPv6 protocol is at the heart of IoT networks and is used, along with IPv4, on many popular websites and mail services. SafeDNS is aware of the growing popularity of IPv6 and its influence on contemporary computer networks. In anticipation of a mass transition to this more advanced protocol, we are taking steps to be fully ready for it.

Why supporting IPv6 is important

Despite a relatively small number of IPv6 sites existing now, the SafeDNS support for blocking both IPv4 and IPv6 sites is significant for more comprehensive protection of the company’s users against all kinds of cyber threats. Previously, the SafeDNS filtering service just skipped sites on IPv6. Starting from today, SafeDNS makes the internet safer for you – by filtering out sites using IPv6 as well as IPv4. The opportunity to block IPv6 sites is supported on all the SafeDNS plans.

First and foremost, SafeDNS support for IPv6 is likely to be in demand with internet service providers that use IPv6 on their networks (including for their internal services). However, home and corporate users of the SafeDNS service will find the new opportunity quite useful cause the number of sites on IPv6 (including dangerous ones) is increasing every year.

How to enable IPv6 site blocking with the SafeDNS service

It is simple. You do not have to do anything. IPv6 support is already available for all of the SafeDNS users on any service plan. So there’s a need to change anything in your filtering settings. From now on, the sites using IPv6 are correctly blocked according to your SafeDNS settings.

Stay tuned!

We are happy to tell you the SafeDNS partnership with Friendly Wi-Fi, which is a UK government-initiated safety certification for public wireless networks, has now been extended for another year. 

Public Wi-Fi owners apply for this certification to be able to display a Friendly Wi-Fi symbol at their venues, use the electronic sign on their Wi-Fi landing pages, sites, and marketing materials. This symbol means that a public wireless network is safe for families with kids as it meets the necessary web filtering standards.

The Friendly Wi-Fi symbol is available to any venues or locations worldwide, providing a public or guest Wi-Fi service who are committed to supporting the need for safeguarding online content. Globally, over 5.000 venues have already got a Friendly Wi-Fi certification.

Why we’ve extended this partnership

The SafeDNS entire work is devoted to safeguarding young and adult web surfers from heinous, explicit, harmful content and web-borne threats. We’d love to share our expertise and high-quality web filtering solutions with partners and clients all over the world, and this partnership is a great way to do it.

To SafeDNS corporate and home users in the UK and beyond, this partnership with Friendly Wi-Fi confirms that families and businesses that have deployed our filtering service deliver their network users top-notch protection against malicious, phishing, inappropriate sites. The tried and tested SafeDNS technology, powered by AI and machine learning, has proved its efficiency multiple times in tests and reviews by 3rd-party testers.

Friendly Wi-Fi has awarded SafeDNS filtering its Approved Product badge, which means SafeDNS web filtering and cybersecurity solutions meet the standards required to make the internet cleaner and safer.

Certify your Wi-Fi with a discount

We want to remind Wi-Fi providers and public/guest Wi-Fi owners that if you use a SafeDNS web filtering solution to secure your networks from cyber threats and unwanted content, you have an opportunity to get the Friendly Wi-Fi certification with a 10% discount. Grab your chance to let your patrons, customers, and staff know you take their online safety seriously and take steps to make their online experience more comfortable. The Friendly Wi-Fi symbol will prove that your public Wi-Fi networks are free from adult and child sexual abuse images and videos, porn, and other gross content.

The SafeDNS solutions fully meet the Friendly Wi-Fi requirements and keep your network users safe online. Use the opportunity SafeDNS provides public Wi-Fi owners to certify their networks with a nice discount. Once you receive the certification, you will be able to display the Friendly Wi-Fi symbol in your venue, confirming a safer internet is available to staff members and guests at this Wi-Fi hotspot. Visit the dedicated site page and fill in an online form to apply for the Wi-Fi certification.