Cisco ScanSafe Web Security SaaS vs Quad9 comparison

Quad9 is a free, recursive DNS service that replaces your ISP's or company's default domain name server (DNS) settings. Quad9 blocks lookups of malicious host names from an up-to-date list of threats when your computer makes any internet transaction that uses the DNS.

This blocking action protects your computer, mobile device, or IoT systems against a variety of risks, including malware, phishing, spyware, C2 command-and-control domains, exploit kit-compromised sites, and botnets. It can also boost performance while ensuring privacy.

Quad9’s service uses threat intelligence from a variety of sources, including:

• Cisco
• F-Secure
• Netlab
• IBM X-Force
• Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG)

Quad9 employs DNSSEC, which assures that the results supplied are accurate. It also filters out websites that have been categorized as hazardous using blacklists provided by various security suppliers.

Quad9 supports DNS over TLS (DoT) and DNS over HTTPS (DoH). It’s been increasingly obvious in recent years that standard DNS has significant security flaws due to a lack of encryption. As a result, it is more susceptible to DNS hijacking. Quad9 users are effectively protected from cyber criminals as well as government censorship.

The Quad9 service is run by the Quad9 Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland whose purpose is to make the internet a safer and more reliable place for everyone.

Quad9 Features

Quad9 has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

• Privacy: Quad9 is the custodian of a worldwide DNS infrastructure that allows people to communicate and participate in governance and civil society more easily. Quad9 protects their users' privacy by not collecting personal data; Quad9 protects their consumers' privacy by preventing connections between their devices and harmful Internet sites. Quad9 provides users with performance by placing servers in hundreds of communities all over the world to deliver service on a local level. Because of their non-commercial position, they are able to give equal emphasis to regions that are otherwise underserved.

• Addresses: Quad9 offers a number of distinct recursive DNS service options. Each has its own IP address (or, in certain situations, hostname), which you may use to configure your devices.

• Threat blocking: Both commercial and publically available threat intelligence feeds have been merged by Quad9. Each was picked based on its shown ability to identify threats and provide a comprehensive set of capabilities for detecting exploits, malware, ransomware, spyware, and other potentially hazardous websites. Quad9’s threat intelligence (TI) partners provide us with data on feeds that are rapidly updated and dispersed as new domain-based risks emerge, and these domains or hosts are updated in their lists.

• Locations: Quad9 systems are available in more than 150 places in 90 countries, with significant expansion planned. Quad9's servers are primarily positioned at internet exchange points, which are the locations with the highest concentration of interconnections within a typical network region.