OpenDNS Web Content Filtering System Achieves 5 Million Milestone
Domain Tagging System, Powering OpenDNS's Free Web Content Filtering, Now 5 Million Domains Strong
Mar 11, 2009 — San Francisco -- OpenDNS, provider of the award-winning DNS service that makes the Internet safer, faster, smarter and more reliable, today announced its Domain Tagging system, which powers OpenDNS's Web content filtering service, is now populated with more than 5 million domains - all of which have been added in the past twelve months. The announcement marks a milestone that proves the OpenDNS model is both faster-moving and more comprehensive than other Web content filtering systems. OpenDNS's free Web content filtering service is today in use by more than 10 million people at businesses, schools and in homes around the world to filter unsafe or otherwise inappropriate Web content.
Particularly in the current economic climate, OpenDNS's free Web content filtering service is a no-brainer for management and network administrators at organizations of all sizes seeking to reduce their IT spend. According to a recent industry study, at least 90 percent of large enterprises and 50 percent of small companies in the United States now filter their employees' Internet access. Further, all schools and libraries in the United States must effectively block Web content that is unsafe for children under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). OpenDNS provides a way to filter unwanted Web sites for free and in an efficient manner, without expensive hardware to deploy and maintain.
Domain Tagging is the people-powered security system that uses the intelligence of the OpenDNS community of network administrators to sort Web sites into 50 content categories. The process is simple: community members submit domains into the system and tag them with a category such as "gambling," "video sharing" or "social networking." Then other community members vote on the accuracy of the submitter's tag. There is a trust metric built into the system so the more a community member votes and the more accurate their votes are, the more weight their votes carry. Once a tagged domain crosses a threshold of accurate votes, it is added into that category in the OpenDNS system and blocked across the OpenDNS service in real-time. This is in stark contrast to other filtering services, which perform a nightly or even weekly update, leaving new sites uncategorized and unblocked in the interim.
In addition to the domains submitted into the Web content filtering system through Domain Tagging, OpenDNS partners with St. Bernard Software to populate the system's seven "Adult Site" categories, ranging from "adult themes" to "pornography." Through the partnership, OpenDNS is able to leverage the St. Bernard iGuard™ URL database, the industry's only 100 percent human-reviewed database, and deliver best-in-class adult site filtering to OpenDNS customers.
"The 5 million-domain milestone is extremely significant both for OpenDNS and for network administrators tasked with filtering Web content," said OpenDNS Founder and CTO David Ulevitch. "This Domain Tagging system is directly benefiting thousands of businesses, schools and homes around the world by liberating them from paying top dollar to security companies, simply for filtering access to unsafe or otherwise inappropriate Web sites. OpenDNS provides an invaluable service for network administrators, and one that is a true game-changer for the Internet security industry."
About OpenDNS
OpenDNS is the leading provider of free security and infrastructure services that make the Internet safer through integrated Web content filtering, anti-phishing and DNS. OpenDNS services enable consumers and network administrators to secure their networks from online threats, reduce costs and enforce Internet-use policies. OpenDNS is used today by millions of users and organizations around the world. For more information about OpenDNS, please visit: www.opendns.com
Particularly in the current economic climate, OpenDNS's free Web content filtering service is a no-brainer for management and network administrators at organizations of all sizes seeking to reduce their IT spend. According to a recent industry study, at least 90 percent of large enterprises and 50 percent of small companies in the United States now filter their employees' Internet access. Further, all schools and libraries in the United States must effectively block Web content that is unsafe for children under the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). OpenDNS provides a way to filter unwanted Web sites for free and in an efficient manner, without expensive hardware to deploy and maintain.
Domain Tagging is the people-powered security system that uses the intelligence of the OpenDNS community of network administrators to sort Web sites into 50 content categories. The process is simple: community members submit domains into the system and tag them with a category such as "gambling," "video sharing" or "social networking." Then other community members vote on the accuracy of the submitter's tag. There is a trust metric built into the system so the more a community member votes and the more accurate their votes are, the more weight their votes carry. Once a tagged domain crosses a threshold of accurate votes, it is added into that category in the OpenDNS system and blocked across the OpenDNS service in real-time. This is in stark contrast to other filtering services, which perform a nightly or even weekly update, leaving new sites uncategorized and unblocked in the interim.
In addition to the domains submitted into the Web content filtering system through Domain Tagging, OpenDNS partners with St. Bernard Software to populate the system's seven "Adult Site" categories, ranging from "adult themes" to "pornography." Through the partnership, OpenDNS is able to leverage the St. Bernard iGuard™ URL database, the industry's only 100 percent human-reviewed database, and deliver best-in-class adult site filtering to OpenDNS customers.
"The 5 million-domain milestone is extremely significant both for OpenDNS and for network administrators tasked with filtering Web content," said OpenDNS Founder and CTO David Ulevitch. "This Domain Tagging system is directly benefiting thousands of businesses, schools and homes around the world by liberating them from paying top dollar to security companies, simply for filtering access to unsafe or otherwise inappropriate Web sites. OpenDNS provides an invaluable service for network administrators, and one that is a true game-changer for the Internet security industry."
About OpenDNS
OpenDNS is the leading provider of free security and infrastructure services that make the Internet safer through integrated Web content filtering, anti-phishing and DNS. OpenDNS services enable consumers and network administrators to secure their networks from online threats, reduce costs and enforce Internet-use policies. OpenDNS is used today by millions of users and organizations around the world. For more information about OpenDNS, please visit: www.opendns.com
