
Privacy is a vital concern among people in this new technological era. At a time like this, a more promising technology that could keep up your privacy concerns is intriguing. So what exactly is this new technology?
It’s called DNS over https or DoH in short.
What is this DoH(DNS over https)?
First, you need to know what DNS is. Your browser first needs to know the location of the server hosting the web page(IP address) before actually loading it to you. DNS, Domain Name System, is what converts the human-readable URL address(eg: www.google.com) into the address which the computer can understand( 8.8.8.8) to locate it.
The browser locates the IP address by sending a DNS query to the global database, where IP address and their relevant URLs are located, and waits for the response IP address of the URL entered. This is the technology that has been prevailing since the 80’s. However, this has changed due to the evolving of the new technology as a matter of privacy concern. This is where DoH comes into play.
DoH has the same basic architecture but security is where it plays the vital role. DoH encrypts your DNS query before sending it and only the recipient can decrypt it securing the data that is sent through your DNS query. This technology is quite useful when you need to hide your data specifically when using public wifi or networks that can be monitored like in hotels.
How is this scenario currently working?
Web browsers that use DoH have to send the queries to someone who can decrypt it, mainly the ISP(Internet Service Provider). However, not all ISPs have implemented this new technology and tend to use third party support to do this process.
Is this scenario safe yet?
Since there is an involvement of a third party provider this is not yet entirely secure, unless the ISP has implemented their own DoH decryptors. Anyhow, the DoH will not have a major impact on the web browsing experience.
The problem starts with the fact that most of the technology is dominated by technology companies. Some organizations have openly raised questions regarding this implementation. Most governments believe that this can limit the monitoring of web activities of suspected criminals. While some companies, like the Internet Watch Foundation, fears DoH may hinder their ability to block web material related to child abuse. With these third party DoH providers, experts believe that this may lead to a false sense of security which in turn may leave them open for more privacy attacks.
This may bring open solutions as well as problems to the world like every technological advancement has. However, it’s the person’s duty to protect their own data from these huge companies/governments that tend to invade people’s privacy. This technological advancement from DNS to DoH is an advanced step in letting people have a more secure world, but it doesn’t prove that people are ultimately safe without any privacy protection from their own.
