BNET Insight

Business Hacks

Technology tips, tricks, and hacks to make your workday work better.

Add Free Content-Filtering to Your Network with OpenDNS

October 30th, 2008 @ 8:16 am

5 Comments

Categories: Business, General

Tags: Employee, Network, Internet, Phishing, Servers, Security, Spam And Phishing, Hardware, Rick Broida

opendns.jpg

If you run a small office, you no doubt want to keep your employees from visiting inappropriate Web sites. Normally this would require pricey filtering software, complex proxy servers, or the like, but you can use the free OpenDNS service to filter content and even protect employees from phishing. MakeUseOf shows you how to set up and use OpenDNS as a free content-filtering system.

It’s literally a three-step process, the result of which is that all your Internet traffic gets routed through the OpenDNS servers (where the content-filtering magic takes place). Said servers also promise faster performance, “smart” spelling suggestions for mistyped URLs, detailed stats for administrators, and more. (Check the OpenDNS SMB info page for a full roster of features.)

Strings? None that I can see. OpenDNS does collect (and sell) data about your Internet usage, but doesn’t tie it to your company. If you don’t mind that minor privacy hit, this is a great way to keep your employees on the Internet straight and narrow.

Got a tech dilemma? We're here to help.
.
 
Reply to Story

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

  •  
    1

    opendns

    10/30/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Add Free Content-Filtering to Your Network with OpenDNS

    Rick,

    We have absolutely never sold data about our customers or our DNS traffic to anyone. Ever ever ever.

    It was a great post, short of that significant error. I'd appreciate an update. And happy to talk further if you have questions. happy

    Thanks,
    David Ulevitch (OpenDNS)

  •  
    2

    BizHacksRick

    10/31/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Add Free Content-Filtering to Your Network with OpenDNS

    Fixed. Sorry for the error!

  •  
    3

    wilmoore

    10/31/08 | Report as spam

    Are you sure you updated the article

    @justrick,

    Are you sure you updated your article? The following sentence still remains:

    "OpenDNS does collect (and sell) data about your Internet usage, but doesn???t tie it to your company."

    As a user of OpenDNS, had I not read through the comments and found out that you made a glaring error I would have stopped using OpenDNS immediately; I'd have also spread the word. When you write about something, it is your responsibility to be accurate. Due diligence is our friend.

    -Wil Moore III

  •  
    4

    wilmoore

    10/31/08 | Report as spam

    tag doesn't work

    @justrick,

    Looks like you simply forgot to check the article after updating it as your <"s"> tags don't render in the article body. They do; however, render in comments as you might notice above.

    -Wil Moore III

  •  
    5

    BizHacksRick

    11/01/08 | Report as spam

    RE: Add Free Content-Filtering to Your Network with OpenDNS

    Whoops! Okay, fixed for real this time. Again, I apologize for the error. It was my mistake for trusting comments I'd seen elsewhere and not checking the company's policies directly.

Please add your comment:

  1. You are currently: a Guest |
  2.  

Basic HTML tags that work in comments are: bold (<b></b>), italic (<i></i>), underline (<u></u>), and hyperlink (<a href></a)

advertisement
Quick Poll
What is the top reason for going back to Business School?
Career Advancement
Networking
Personal Growth
All of the Above

Blogger Profiles

  • Blogger Thumbnail Rick Broida A technology writer for more than 15 years, Rick Broida is a regular contributor to CNET, Popular Science, Wired and other publications. He's also the author of numerous books, including How to Do Everything with Your Zune. When he's not chained to his keyboard, he's usually shooting hoops or watching quality television. more »

advertisement
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
  • Click Here
advertisement