ClearCloud DNS Service Bites The Dust – Pick Up The Slack With Norton DNS

Occasionally, when I’m stuck for time, I’ll post an edited version of an earlier article. In choosing an appropriate article, I try to focus on a free application or service that has real value, but is often underappreciated. More and more often though, I’m finding that a free application I reviewed is no longer free, or the free service I recommended, no longer exists.

Another one bites the dust.

Regular reader Georg L., has just notified me that ClearCloud DNS, a free DNS alternative (reviewed here September 5, 2010) which prevented users from visiting sites identified as harboring malware exploits, will be closing the curtain – effective September 1, 2011.

If you are currently using ClearCloud DNS, you will need to reconfigure your network connection prior to September 1, so that your Internet connectivity is not interrupted. You can learn how to remove ClearCloud DNS from your computer by clicking here.

If you’re convinced that an alternative DNS service has value, and you wish to continue to harden your system by substituting your ISP provided DNS service, with a more secure alternative – you have a number of choices to consider, including – Norton DNS, with Norton Safe Web.

Benefits of running with Norton DNS:

Malware Site Blocking – Automatically blocks known dangerous and infected Web sites. Provides a complete overview of the threats found so you know why a site is blocked.

Web Content Filtering – Lets you block Web sites that contain content that you think is inappropriate or dangerous. You can choose from over 45 different categories of content to block and specify individual sites to block.

Here’s an example of Norton DNS in action following my clicking on a spam comment link. 

Further investigation of the Threat Report, reveals the following.

Pretty scary stuff, I think you’ll agree.

You can install Norton DNS either by download and running the installer or, if you want to have a bit of fun – you can choose to install manually. At first glance, you may think this is complicated when it fact, it’s quite easy. So, give it a try, and don’t be nervous. 

The screen captures below, reflect the changes I made.

Manual Setup for Windows:

Open the Control Panel from your Start menu.

Click Network Connections and choose your current connection.

On the General tab of the Connection Status screen, click Properties.

On the General tab of Connection Properties, scroll down and select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then click Properties.

On the General tab of Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties, select Use the following DNS server addresses, then enter the two NortonDNS IP addresses 198.153.192.1 and 198.153.194.1.

Click OK until each window is closed. You are now using NortonDNS.

Once installation is complete, you will be presented with the following confirmation screen.

To ensure that you have in fact, been successful in making the change, visit this Norton page. The page will let you know if you are currently using Norton DNS.

or

System requirements: Windows XP (32-bit) with Service Pack 2 or later, Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) Win 7 (32-bit and 64-bit).

Download at: Norton DNS

Note: Uninstalling or canceling Norton DNS is easy – simply uninstall it. The process will revert your DNS settings to their previous values.

Additional free alternatives include OpenDNS, and Google Public DNS.

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Steer Clear of Malware Web Sites With ClearCloud DNS

Security conscious Internet users are aware, that so called “trusted” websites, are not always to be trusted. We’ve covered this issue here on Tech Thoughts a number of times, most recently in, “How Safe Are Trusted Web Sites? Not Very!”

The following is a brief explanation, from that article, on how cyber crooks manage to infect web sites:

“Cyber-crooks can exploit vulnerabilities on the server hosting the web page to insert an iFrame, (an HTML element which makes it possible to embed another HTML document inside the main document). The iFrame can then activate the download of malicious code by exploiting additional vulnerabilities on the visiting machine”.

Unfortunately, installed anti-malware solutions may not always provide adequate protection against this type of attack. Luckily, there is a solution which can add an additional layer of security by substituting your ISP provided DNS service, with a more secure alternative. An alternative that can prevent you from visiting sites that harbor malware exploits.

Free alternatives include OpenDNS, Google DNS, Norton DNS – and now, an additional free service can be added to this list with the release of ClearCloud Beta from Sunbelt Software, the developer’s of the highly regarded VIPRE antivirus application.

According to ClearCloud, the application “checks every website address your computer is trying to access, whether you’re browsing the internet, clicking a link in an email, or a program “under the hood” trying to communicate with servers for information or updates”.

In a quick 24 hour test, I found ClearCloud worked as advertised. With ClearCloud up and running, you will be prevented from visiting sites identified as harboring exploits. In which case, you will get detailed information on why ClearCloud believes the site is unsafe.

Taking advantage of this service couldn’t be easier. Simply download the setup application, execute, and as the simply interface shown below indicates, you’re now protected by ClearCloud.

Following installation, visit the ClearCloud block page to verify the service is up and running.

System requirements: Windows, Mac.

Download at: ClearCloud

Alternatively, you can manually set your DNS server address to 74.118.212.1.

Note: You can configure ClearCloud on your router. Click here for a setup walkthrough.

A big ”Thank You” to regular reader TeX for bringing this service to my attention.

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Norton DNS Can Save Your Butt!

In early June, I posted an article – Norton DNS – Another Layer of Computer Security, in which I stated –

You should consider additional system hardening by substituting your ISP provided DNS service, with a more secure alternative.

A few days later, I posted an article – Follow the Link and You “Takes Your Chances”, in which I made the point –

As a matter of policy, I test every allowed link included in a comment, for safety. Spam filters can often miss comment spam, some of which are highly dangerous. While comment Spam is a pain for the Blogger, a reader who follows a link in a malicious Blog comment, which leads to a malware site, is in for a very painful experience.

The following comment emailed to me by WordPress just today, and not picked up by the Askimet spam filter, provides a perfect example where these two intersect:

The email notice:

A new comment on the post “Download TrueCrypt –  TrueCrypt Beats The FBI Decryption Team!” is waiting for your approval.

Author : retnol (IP: 202.70.54.67 , 202.70.54.67)

E-mail : retno.larasati08@student.ipb.ac.id

URL    : http://retno.larasati08.student.ipb.ac.id

Comment:

well, nice post. Thank you for sharing.

Approve it:

Trash it:

Spam it:

On testing the URL (the link), contained in the comment, I get this result from Norton DNS. This is not as uncommon as you might think.

Further investigation of the Threat Report, reveals the following.

Pretty scary stuff, I think you’ll agree.

So, I’ll repeat –

Be cautious when following links contained in comments on any web site – not just Blogs.

Be particularly cautious of comments, on any web site, where the writer is describing a problem with recommended software and offers a link to alternative software.  This is a favorite technique employed by cyber-criminals. All software reviewed on this site, for example, has been thoroughly tested, by me, for usability. If a reader has a problem with recommended software, it’s generally a machine specific problem.

Be cautious when following any link contained in any web page. Recent reports indicate there are 5.8 million individual web pages infected across 640,000 compromised websites. Cyber-criminals are finding it easier than ever to inject malicious content into legitimate sites.

Since the majority of infected sites are infected with Java based scripts, consider using Firefox with the NoScript add-on. NoScript offers superior protection.

Install an Internet Browser add-on that provides protection against questionable, or unsafe websites.

Use Norton DNS as an added safety precaution.

You simply cannot trust links, given the state of the Internet, so if you haven’t hardened your system by substituting your ISP provided DNS service, with a more secure alternative, I urge you to do so.

I deal with comments like this every day – it just happens, that today, I had some spare time to bring this situation to your attention, one more time.

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Norton DNS – Another Layer of Computer Security

Here’s an item from today’s Tech Net News – “Thousands Of High-Ranked Web pages Infected With Malware, including ……”

We’ve covered this issue here on Tech Thoughts a number of times, most recently in, “How Safe Are Trusted Web Sites? Not Very!”

The following is a brief explanation, from that article, on how cyber crooks manage to infect web sites:

“Cyber-crooks can exploit vulnerabilities on the server hosting the web page to insert an iFrame, (an HTML element which makes it possible to embed another HTML document inside the main document). The iFrame can then activate the download of malicious code by exploiting additional vulnerabilities on the visiting machine”.

Unfortunately, your anti-malware solutions may not always protect you from this type of attack, so you should consider additional system hardening by substituting your ISP provided DNS service, with a more secure alternative.

Free alternatives include OpenDNS, Google DNS, and now Norton DNS – a free service (in Beta), that provides faster web browsing with basic security. The additional security is provided by Norton Safe Web, which provides a quick check on each site to make sure that it isn’t a threat. If it is, you are protected from the site, and you will get detailed information on why Norton believes the site is unsafe.

Norton DNS, with Norton Safe Web incorporated, prevents users from visiting sites identified as harboring exploits including.

Viruses

Drive-By Downloads

Malicious Downloads

Worms

Suspicious Applications

Suspicious Browser Changes

Security Risks

Heuristic Viruses

Adware

Trojans

Phishing Attacks

Spyware

Backdoors

Remote Access Software

Information Stealers

Dialers

Downloaders

Norton has not yet provided an install client, but in the meantime, you can make the required changes manually by following the instructions below. At first glance, you may think this is complicated when it fact, it’s quite easy. So, give it a try, and don’t be nervous.  🙂

The screen captures below, reflect the changes I made.

Manual Setup for Windows:

Open the Control Panel from your Start menu.

Click Network Connections and choose your current connection.

On the General tab of the Connection Status screen, click Properties.

On the General tab of Connection Properties, scroll down and select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then click Properties.

On the General tab of Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties, select Use the following DNS server addresses, then enter the two NortonDNS IP addresses 198.153.192.1 and 198.153.194.1.

Click OK until each window is closed. You are now using NortonDNS.

To disable or uninstall Norton DNS manually:

Follow the same instructions above, but on step five, select Obtain DNS server address automatically on the last screen (or replace our NortonDNS addresses with your recursive resolver IP addresses).

To ensure that you have in fact, been successful in making the change, visit this Norton page. The page will let you know if you are currently using Norton DNS.

Note: According to Norton, this service is currently only available in English and, not all users in all countries will benefit.

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Great News for WOT Lovers – Monty Widenius Now Onboard

Monty Widenius is quite literally onboard with WOT. Widenius, well known in the tech community as the founder of MySQL, has invested in WOT – Web of Trust, and as part of that process will take a seat on the company’s Board of Directors.

“For Web of Trust this new injection of expertise and capital will help us to expedite our growth and take the company to the next level,” said CEO Esa Suurio.

Regular readers of this site are well aware that I write regularly on the importance of Internet browser protection, and how strongly I recommend Web of Trust. It’s no surprise, given WOT’s strong presence, that Widenius sees the opportunity to expand WOT’s reach and impact in the browser protection market.

When addressing this issue Widenius stated “When I first learned about WOT, I was intrigued because it answers the common question Internet users have – Can I trust this website? – by uniquely combining a community-driven approach, Internet resources and browser technology.

The growth and success of MySQL was in many aspects due to our active user community. WOT’s big and active community shows a similar strength, and I like the fact that through WOT we are helping making the Internet a better and safer place”.

WOT in action:

The immediate future promises to be an exciting time for WOT and its 3 million users, and we can all look forward to continued improvement in an already “best of breed”, indispensable security application.

For additional information and download links, please read “WOT (Web of Trust) – Participate in Your Own Internet Security”, on this site.

WOT – Unique Website Security for Color Blind Users

According to the American Foundation for the Blind, visually impaired people work in virtually every sector of our economy, and are just as likely as the general population to use computers and the Internet.

Colorblindness, a particular type of visual impairment, affects approximately two percent of women and eight percent of men. People who are visually impaired in this way then, have great difficulty with color-based distinctions.

Web of Trust (WOT) a popular Internet Browser application has taken the lead in addressing this issue. This free Internet Browser resource which has established an impressive 3.5/5.0 star user rating on CNET, tests web sites for spyware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, unreliable online shops, phishing, and online scams.

WOT which integrates with search engine results from popular search engines including Google, Yahoo, MSN, Dogpile, Ixquick, Baidu and other popular sites, provides impressive protection against Internet predators and helps users’ avoid unsafe web sites.

The Browser add-on’s icon, normally displays a color rating for each site you visit, indicating whether a site is safe to use, should be used with caution, or avoided entirely. Using traffic light colors, (green, yellow, and red), WOT leaves you in no doubt as to the safety rating of a web site.

Recognizing that up to ten percent of Internet users are at a disadvantage however, due to colorblindness, and cannot rely on an Internet safety system based on color coding, the Web of Trust development team released a unique version of WOT. This particular version incorporates equivalent alternative information, through assistive or adaptive technology, for colorblind users.

Esa Suurio, CEO of Against Intuition Inc. referring to WOT’s development of this accessible application stated in part “Our goal is to make the Internet a safer place for everyone, so it was essential for us to make the extra effort.”

This colorblind accessible application will provide the same critical benefits to those individuals who have to contend with visual impairments, as it has to those of us who have come to rely on WOT as a major defense against the pervasive hazards we encounter on the Internet.

If you are challenged by colorblindness, or you know someone who is, then installing this browser add-on will increase Internet safety substantially by providing an in-depth site analysis based on real world results.

Quick facts – WOT checks the following:

Trustworthiness

Vendor reliability

Privacy

Child Safety

More quick facts:

Ratings for over 20 million websites

Downloaded over 1,000,000 times (Checkout WOT’s Million Download contest).

The WOT browser add-on is light and updates automatically

WOT rating icons appear beside search results in Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Gmail, etc.

Settings can be customized to better protect your family

WOT Security Scorecard shows rating details and user comments

Works with Internet Explorer and FireFox

Interface supports English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish and Finnish.

Surf more securely by installing this unique browser add-on which will provide you with an in-depth site analysis based on real world results. Keep in mind however, that you are your own best protection. Stop · Think · Click

Download at: MyWot

Once you have downloaded and installed WOT, follow these instructions to enable the color blind version.

Open WOT settings from the rating window

Go to the Advanced page

Select the option “Enable color blind accessible version”

Press “Apply settings”

Demos:

A WOT demo video shows how WOT works in practice.

Watch the video on the colorblind accessible version.

Web of Trust (WOT) – Adaptive Technology for Colorblind Users

According to the American Foundation for the Blind, visually impaired people work in virtually every sector of our economy, and are just as likely as the general population to use computers and the Internet.

Colorblindness, a particular type of visual impairment, affects approximately two percent of women and eight percent of men. People who are visually impaired in this way then, have great difficulty with color-based distinctions.

Web of Trust (WOT) a popular Internet Browser application has taken the lead in addressing this issue. This free Internet Browser resource which has established an impressive 4.5/5.0 star user rating on CNET, tests web sites for spyware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, unreliable online shops, phishing, and online scams. WOT which integrates with search engine results from popular search engines including Google, Yahoo, MSN and other popular sites, provides impressive protection against Internet predators and helps users’ avoid unsafe web sites.

The Browser add-on’s icon, normally displays a color rating for each site you visit, indicating whether a site is safe to use, should be used with caution, or avoided entirely. Using traffic light colors, (green, yellow, and red), WOT leaves you in no doubt as to the safety rating of a web site.

Recognizing that up to ten percent of Internet users are at a disadvantage however, due to colorblindness, and cannot rely on an Internet safety system based on color coding, the Web of Trust development team has just released their latest version of WOT. This latest version incorporates equivalent alternative information, through assistive or adaptive technology, for colorblind users.

Esa Suurio, CEO of Against Intuition Inc. referring to WOT’s development of this accessible application stated in part “Our goal is to make the Internet a safer place for everyone, so it was essential for us to make the extra effort.”

This colorblind accessible application will provide the same critical benefits to those individuals who have to contend with visual impairments, as it has to those of us who have come to rely on WOT as a major defense against the pervasive hazards we encounter on the Internet.

If you are challenged by colorblindness, or you know someone who is, then installing this browser add-on will increase Internet safety substantially by providing an in-depth site analysis based on real world results.

WOT is designed to work with Internet Explorer and FireFox; the user interface supports English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish and Finnish.

WOT can be downloaded at: MyWot

Demos:

A WOT demo video shows how WOT works in practice:

Watch the video on the colorblind accessible version:

WOT (Web of Trust) – Participate in Your Own Internet Security

Would you wander through a neighborhood which has a reputation for being jam-packed with predators without appropriate protection? Well, if you lack the required resources to protect yourself on the Internet, you may be doing just that. The Internet neighborhood, after all, is alive with predators intent on stealing your personal information, installing damaging programs on your computer, and misleading you with an online scam.

It was reported recently that fifteen thousand web pages were infected daily between January and March of this year; three times the rate of infection noted in the previous year. More disturbing, seventy nine percent of compromised web pages tracked this year were on legitimate web sites; including web sites belonging to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and ironically, security vendors.

WOT (Web of Trust), a free Internet Browser resource that has established an impressive 4.5/5.0 star user rating on CNET, tests web sites you are visiting for spyware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, unreliable online shops, phishing, and online scams. WOT which integrates with search engine results from popular search engines including Google, Yahoo, MSN and other popular sites, provides impressive protection against Internet predators and helps you avoid unsafe web sites.

The Browser add-on’s icon, displays a color rating for each site you visit, indicating whether a site is safe to use, should be used with caution, or avoided entirely. Using traffic light colors, (green, yellow, and red), WOT leaves you in no doubt as to the safety rating of a web site.

An impressive feature of WOT is the dropdown transparent warning curtain, triggered on visiting a dangerous site.

WOT takes conventional security one step further, by soliciting the opinions of users/members whose views on web site safety are incorporated into the overall site safety rating. The advantages of members participation in exchanging their personal knowledge about a web site, in my view, cannot be overemphasized. It allows for a new and exciting trend in Internet security, and that is the concept of “people driven security”. A concept that encompasses the philosophy, that we are all responsible for each others security on the Internet. According to WOT, the user community now has reputation data on over 18 million sites worldwide.

The shared information on a site’s reputation includes trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and critical in the current Internet environment, child safety. As well, to bolster the effectiveness of the protection, WOT uses hundreds of trusted sources including phishing site listings, to keep users protected against rapidly spreading threats.

WOT is designed to work with Internet Explorer and FireFox; the user interface supports English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish and Finnish.

Surf more securely by installing this browser add-on which will provide you with an in-depth site analysis based on real world results. Keep in mind however, that you are your own best protection. Stop · Think · Click

WOT is available for download at: MyWot