Guest Writer: Jerry Smith, Print & IT Consultant

Phishing attacks account for $26 Billion lost globally between 2016 and 2019, and Ransomware attacks increased 41% in 2019 and the main objective of Ransomware attacks is Business Disruption. This is why JustTech includes DNS Protection as a Core IT Service for all of our SMB and municipal customers.

DNS (Domain Name Service) is often referred to as the “phone book” of the Internet.  Every computer on the internet identifies itself with an IP address which is a series of numbers. All servers that host websites and apps have IP addresses, too. DNS was invented so that people didn’t need to remember long IP address numbers and you could look up websites by human-friendly names like www.google.com instead. There are too many computers on the Internet for every computer to have a reference list, so computers connect to DNS servers, that look up the IP address, and then connect you to the website you were looking for.

Imagine you sit down at your computer and type google.com into your browser. First, your browser connects to a recursive DNS server. There are many thousands of recursive DNS servers in the world. Which one you use is configured in the settings of your computer or network. If you have never tinkered with your recursive DNS in the past, you probably use the recursive DNS servers of whoever provides your Internet. Once your computer connects to the recursive DNS server, it asks the question “what’s the IP address assigned to www.google.com?” The recursive DNS server doesn’t have a copy of the phone book, but it does know where to find one. So it connects to another type of DNS server. The second type of DNS server holds a copy of the phone book that matches IP addresses with domain names. These are called authoritative DNS servers. The authoritative DNS server tells the recursive DNS server about the correct IP address assigned to the domain name, and the recursive DNS server sends that information back to the computer (and browser) that requested it. The computer connects to the IP address, and the website loads. This all happens so quickly that you might not even notice it happening at all unless something is broken.

Cisco Umbrella (formerly known as OpenDNS) started its recursive DNS service to provide everybody with the most reliable, safest, smartest, and fastest Internet connectivity in the world. Umbrella has a highly resilient recursive DNS network that boasts 100% up-time since 2006. The 30-plus worldwide data centers use Anycast routing, so requests are transparently sent to the fastest available data center with automatic fail-over. By configuring your network to use Umbrella’s recursive DNS service, you’ll get the fastest and most reliable connectivity you can imagine and that is why JustTech uses this service with all of our IT clients.

Your computer uses recursive DNS as the first step to connect to places on the Internet. Unfortunately, so do cyber criminals. Malware, ransomware, phishing and other scams use DNS servers to look up and connect to infrastructure that is set up by cyber criminals to power these attacks. Monitoring DNS requests, as well as subsequent IP connections, is an easy way to provide better accuracy and detection of malicious activity and compromised systems, improving security visibility and network protection. DNS is the first step in making a connection on the Internet, and if a connection is blocked at the DNS layer, then it stops there.  This is why it is so important to have DNS Protection.

About JustTech
Just·Tech is a technology company and has been keeping more than 3,000 clients happy since 2006 in providing our Print Solutions, Network & IT Solutions and custom Xerox App Solutions.
Areas we support:

  • Southern Maryland and Washington DC area
  • Northern Virginia, Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia
  • North Eastern Virginia and the Northern Neck of Virginia including the cities of Fredericksburg & Stafford
  • West Central Virginia including the cities of Harrisonburg, Staunton & Charlottesville
  • South Western Virginia including the cities of Lynchburg and Roanoke
  • North Central West Virginia including the cities of Fairmont, Clarksburg & Elkins
  • WV/KY/OH tri-state region including the cities of Huntington, Charleston, Ashland and Portsmouth

Through our Print Solutions, we offer sales and support for Xerox multifunction copiers & printers. JustTech is a Strategic Xerox Partner and one of the top ten Xerox partners in the country.  We also provide supplies & service support for HP, Lexmark, Dell and Brother printers. Currently we are managing thousands of copiers & printers making millions of copies & prints every month.

With our Network Solutions, we provide Managed Network Services & IT Support to hundreds of small businesses, non-profits and religious organizations. We specialize in proactive support and provide onsite & remote assistance.

Just·Tech is the first Xerox certified Personalized Application Builder Authorized Developer in the United States. With our App Solutions, we create custom apps for Xerox multifunction copiers that increase efficiency and improve workflows. JustTech is the exclusive reseller in the U.S. of the most affordable and complete print management app solution, PrintAnyWay.  There are more than 54,000 apps that we have created installed on Xerox devices across the globe.

Contact us for more information.