Google To Boost Internet Speed With New Public DNS Resolver
Google released its first public DNS resolver, aimed at making Web browsing faster and improving the users' Internet experience when they connect to various IP addresses.
Like an Internet switchboard, the DNS (Domain Name System) is an Internet protocol that translates Web site URLs that users type into their browser windows into readable numeric IP addresses that ultimately allow computers to communicate with corresponding Web sites.
"The average Internet user ends up performing hundreds of DNS lookups each day, and some complex pages require multiple DNS lookups before they start loading. This can slow down the browsing experience," Google said in a blog Thursday. "Our research has shown that speed matters to Internet users, so over the past several months our engineers have been working to make improvements to our public DNS resolver to make users' Web-surfing experiences faster, safe and more reliable."
DNS protocol came under intense scrutiny in 2008, after IOActive researcher Dan Kaminsky detected a fundamental flaw in the function that could be exploited by attackers to launch DNS cache poisoning attacks by creating fake messages accepted by the DNS that could trick the server into delivering an incorrect request. Attackers could then use the flaw to redirect Internet traffic to malicious Web sites and install arbitrary code on users' PCs.
Meanwhile, Google said on its blog that its DNS resolver would make the Internet "faster, safer and more reliable," but just how secure Google's new DNS resolver will be remains to be determined.
Also, in order to access Google's new public DNS, users will have to change their network settings. Google provided a link to a Web page with detailed instructions on how to set up the Google Public DNS on computers or routers.
Google indicated on its blog that improvements it made in Internet speed and efficiency due to its public DNS resolver would ultimately benefit the global Internet community and other Web providers, and increase the quality of the Internet as a whole. "As people begin to use Google Public DNS, we plan to share what we learn with the broader Web community and other Web providers to improve the browsing experience for the Internet users globally," Google said. "The goal of Google Public DNS is to benefit users worldwide while also helping the tens of thousands of DNS resolvers improve their services, ultimately making the Web faster for everyone."