DNS hides your I.P. Address and sites you visit

[#1]

OK... so ... It`s a Daily Mail story... but...

I wonder if some of our "expert advisers" on here, can enlighten others, as to whether using this 1.1.1.1. is a good idea ,   or not ....

And ... whether using it, the "professed" internet speed increase is worth the effort  ? ? 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5585843/Free-new-tool-help-data-private-speed-interne...

[#2]

For those that want to avoid the Daily Mail link

https://blog.cloudflare.com/announcing-1111/

[#3]

Seems much faster than Plusnet (isn't everything)?

But I'm not keen on Google getting a list of the hosts I visit.

My router has 1.1.1.1 & 8.8.4.4 (google) configured.

However, my PC has 3 name-servers configured...

1.0.0.1, 1.1.1.1 and 192.168.1.1 (the router).

Pleased with the speed - so I've installed a caching DNS (dnsmasq) which gives subsequent access times of "zero".

dig community.plus.net

; <<>> DiG 9.9.5-9+deb8u15-Debian <<>> community.plus.net
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 14180
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;community.plus.net. IN A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
community.plus.net. 86399 IN CNAME aptgm87544.lithium.com.
aptgm87544.lithium.com. 898 IN A 46.19.168.229

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Sat Apr 07 16:19:56 BST 2018
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 99

[#4]

Been running Routerstats to check on my speed BEFORE changing the DNS to 1.1.1.1    it showed  Rx Noise 8.4db  Rx sync 5147kbps

having done the DNS change to 1.1.1.1  and also the IPV6  settings..... it now shows   Rx Noise 8.4db  Rx sync 5147kbps

so I cannot see any speed increase.... it takes about 10 seconds for a page to load,  from clicking the bookmark to the page on screen ready to use... i.e. all the bells and whistles loaded up,   so I don`t see any increase in speed for page loading either.

As for my "invisibility"...... I suppose I just have to take their word for it....  

If I want to go to any dodgy sites... I can always use OPERA browser with it`s in built VPN ! ! ! ! ! ! ! .

[#5]

If your download speed is low or you have high ping times it will make little difference whether you use a fast DNS or a slow one.

Most of the time is consumed by your broadband crawling from the exchange to your PC.

[#6]

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@shutter wrote:

Been running Routerstats to check on my speed BEFORE changing the DNS to 1.1.1.1    it showed  Rx Noise 8.4db  Rx sync 5147kbps

having done the DNS change to 1.1.1.1  and also the IPV6  settings..... it now shows   Rx Noise 8.4db  Rx sync 5147kbps

so I cannot see any speed increase....

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@shutter

Changing DNS servers will not affect the 2 parameters you have quoted.

AIUI any speed increase comes from the decreased time taken to resolve the URLs of the page and its various components (of which there can be many per page e.g. images etc.).

[#7]

I use dnsmaq at the router level.

bbc.co.uk 2.7 secs

amazon.co.uk 5.5secs

community.plus.net 2.7secs

amazon.co.uk 5.5secs

ebay.co.co.uk 3.9secs

most of those not pre cached

[#8]

@VileReynard  so..... the increase in speed is only applicable if you have lots of money for a fibre optic hi speed connection...  ? ?   seems a bit pointless then.

@RobPN  Ok  understood.... just posted those 2 sets of figures for information...  and the info about the page load speeds was in respect of what @VileReynard posted...  so ... very disappointed, that blindingly fast page loads have not. and probably will not be happening  ! ! ! ..

[#9]

@shutter

If you're interested in comparing the speed differences between various DNS servers there are lots of sites which offer you the opportunity to test them in relation to your location.  I thought I had a link to particular one saved but I can't find it, so here's a link to a Google search, take your pick! 

[#10]

@RobPN  Thanks for the info...... not really "that" bothered !.... was expecting to see a faster loading of pages, but it seems that a nanosecond or two quicker will be all that can be achieved ! ! !..

[#11]

Alternative DNS addresses are also useful if your ISP happens to block sites that they deem "unsafe", because of some past issue the site may have had, but they never bothered to release the block, since moving to Vodafone, a number of sites I'd visit kept getting blocked, and once I'd figured out where the heck the DNS server setting was on the router, I changed it to the Google DNS, and hey presto, annoying vodamoan censorship defeated...

[#12]

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@shutter wrote:

OK... so ... It`s a Daily Mail story... but...

I wonder if some of our "expert advisers" on here, can enlighten others, as to whether using this 1.1.1.1. is a good idea ,   or not ....

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Depends on your angle on it. DNS typically operates via a UDP broadcast mechanism but can also operate via TCP (it's the only standard protocol that can use both). Both can be intercepted with a packet sniffer on the network so from a security POV using 1.1.1.1 instead of plusnet or any other name server makes no sense - plusnet still carry the data packets and can still inspect them autonomously and record them (trust me i done loads of packet inspections using wireshark for my own nameserver).

So from a privacy POV it's not doing you any favours other than their claim not to log anything. Of course they can make that claim but there is no guarantee of it - they may well be logging everything like any other dns provider. It may well also be a state sponsored service operating to attract intel on terrorism etc.

Also there is a claim that they're offering dns over https using ssl tech yet nowhere in that article does it mention how to get that running with your device - only how to change the ip addresses of the nameservers you use.

To be honest, I wouldn't bother wasting my time reconfiguring my dns options. Also the subject of this thread is inappropriate since DNS itself cannot hide your IP address - thats the job of a proxy.

[#13]

If you want to truly hide your DNS request you need something like https://simplednscrypt.org/ which is based on https://dnscrypt.info/ but those requests may be slower than unencrypted ones.

[#14]

@7up Thanks for your explanation...  I don`t fully understand it all, but do get "the general drift" of it all, so ,   Thanks again.

[#15]

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@7up wrote:

Also there is a claim that they're offering dns over https using ssl tech yet nowhere in that article does it mention how to get that running with your device - only how to change the ip addresses of the nameservers you use.

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You'll find the answer to that here.