Disclaimer: We use Cloudflare services and products
Cloudflare is a company that offers CDNs, DNS, DDoS protection and security for websites and on April Fool’s day, they launched a new DNS service with the IP address 1.1.1.1.
Announcing 1.1.1.1: the fastest, privacy-first consumer DNS service – https://t.co/xiM3yllWHj pic.twitter.com/5keff8uuD2
— Cloudflare (@Cloudflare) April 1, 2018
Why am I even reading this?
For the less technical savvy, DNS services are sort of like a telephone book, it help translates web addresses such as www.greatdeals.com.sg to IP addresses e.g. x.x.x.x on the internet. It is the first thing your device or computer looks for when browsing the Internet.
For most of us, our computers and phones, by default, point to the DNS service from our ISPs e.g. Singtel, Starhub, M1, MyRepublic, etc. You could have already set your devices to use Google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) but with growing privacy concerns, Cloudflare is seeking to do better with their new DNS service.
Unfortunately, by default, DNS is usually slow and insecure. Your ISP, and anyone else listening in on the Internet, can see every site you visit and every app you use — even if their content is encrypted. Creepily, some DNS providers sell data about your Internet activity or use it target you with ads. – Cloudflare
Besides guaranteeing privacy, Cloudflare’s DNS is also a lot faster – DNSPerf ranks 1.1.1.1 the fastest DNS service in the world. What this means is the web address you type on the address bar of your browser gets resolved faster, resulting in a improved browsing experience.
Cloudflare has also provided a landing page to help you get started on configuring the DNS settings on your device. Simply browse to https://1.1.1.1/ to find out more.
Learn more from Cloudflare