.png){kind=logo}
There is no denying how incessantly we are tracked; based on this, we get served with ads. Advertisements in any form have always been detested across all age groups, especially when it gets invasive and gets thrown at you randomly while trying to focus on some important projects. What if I tell you there is a free tool with comprehensive protection against ads and those malicious and high-risk domains? It's called NextDNS.
DNS converts domains into IP addresses enabling the browser to fetch websites and other internet resources. The journey of DNS started somewhere around 1987, and it has primarily remained unencrypted, giving the opportunity of being snooped upon by your ISP or the government affecting privacy in the form of revealing every domain visited. The people snooping cannot always tell what you are looking for on the search engines or the messages and emails, but they can pinpoint the services used and the frequency with which it's used.
Unencrypted DNS has always been taken advantage of by ISP for advertisements or by cybercriminals for stealing information. Don't fret because there are several options to safeguard yourself, ensuring your DNS stay encrypted. The best possible way would be to use NextDNS, which not only encrypts your DNS but also block advertisements, trackers, and those malicious websites across all your devices. The icing on the cake is that the company clearly states in its privacy policy that they don't sell your information to anyone.
The security aspect of NextDNS gives the ability to secure all of your devices like threat intelligence feeds that block websites from spreading malware and phishing attacks, and the best part is NextDNS constantly updates the list of such websites to give the latest protection to its users. Now coming to the security aspect, which again is way more important as we cannot forget how we are tracked around across different websites to profile us uniquely to the maximum accuracy. Another notable feature is parental control which gives us the ability to ensure our kids are safe while they are browsing the internet on their personal devices especially blocking child sexual abuse materials.
I have been using NextDNS on my Macbook Pro and my iPhone and can vouch for the fact that it has opened my eyes as to how many times I am being constantly attempted to be profiled, exposing all my personal information. Every month the free version gets 300,000 queries, but if you're using the service for multiple devices, then do consider subscribing, which doesn't break the bank for sure. I won't say I am completely protected, but it definitely adds a major shield to my online privacy, which we must value at all times with our increasing dependence on the internet, be it for business or personal use.