Android’s Going Secure

Too Long; Didn't Read

Ok, well maybe that’s a slight over statement, but they are Increasing their phones <a href="https://hackernoon.com/tagged/internet" target="_blank">Internet</a> <a href="https://hackernoon.com/tagged/security" target="_blank">Security</a> a little bit. Android will be including a new feature in their OS in Android 8.1 called DNS over TLS. What this will do is encrypt all communication between your phone and the DNS Server. As I talk about in <a href="https://www.prevsec.org/single-post/2017/03/04/What-is-DNS-and-How-Does-it-Work" target="_blank">What is DNS and How Does it Work.</a> When you go to a website on the Internet you use a Domain name like google.com or amazon.com to navigate their. The problem is computers don’t understand these names they use IP Address’s to communicate with each other, so we need a service that can translate the domain names into an IP Address of a Server that’s where DNS comes into play. However the way this is currently setup all of this information is transmitted in plain (readable) text. This leaves you wide open to attack from malicious persons. A few benefits of this feature include a more private connection to the Internet and protection from Hackers. The first one is more of a transition of trust because your ISP won’t be able to see your DNS Traffic but the DNS Service will. This is a very important thing to remember if Internet privacy is your concern. Any of the DNS Servers that you use will know what sites you are visiting, when you are visiting them and where you are while you are visiting the sites. This is why it is important to make sure you specify that your phone use a secure DNS Server that you trust when accessing the Internet. However this feature does give you more control over your Internet Privacy and keeps it out of the grasp of your ISP. The second benefit of this new feature is that you all of your DNS TRaffic is encrypted. that means no one can read it. A common attack that Hackers will use to gain access to your confidential information is DNS Spoofing and one way to do this is as a middle man. This means that the Hacker some how places himself in between your phone and the DNS Server and intercepts all of your DNS Traffic. Once he has you DNS Request he can send you to fake website that are designed to steal your information or infect your device. Since your DNS traffic is now encrypted if a Hacker does intercept your DNS request he wont be able to read it and can’t send you to the fake website. This is a great improvement to the Android OS and a great step forwards for Internet Privacy and security.