DNS Over HTTPS: How Does It Work In Firefox And Chrome Now?

2023 Author: Sheila Hailey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 04:29

If you follow the IT press, you will find there more and more mention of the "DNS over HTTPS" protocol and also an indication that providers are reluctant to do so. GIGA explains what this technology is supposed to do, how it increases your data protection and which browser supports it.

Firefox

Facts Version: 78.0.2 Languages: German License: Freeware Platforms: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows, Windows 10 Manufacturer: Mozilla Genres: Browser More about Firefox: News, articles, tips, photo galleries 64-bit download 64 bit - for Windows32 -Bit-Download32 bit - for Windows

Content:

How does DNS over HTTPS work?
Why are providers against it?
Which browser supports DNS over
- Enable DNS over HTTPS on Firefox
- Enable DNS over HTTPS on Chrome

Start photo gallery (16 photos)

What does DNS over HTTPS actually mean?

DNS over HTTPS (DoH) is a method to encrypt DNS requests. The "Domain Name System" (DNS) is a "phone book of the Internet" and every time you go to any web address or follow a link, the browser usually asks the Internet access provider where to find the address.

You can set in your computer that, for example, all DNS queries go to server 1.1.1.1. This can even speed up Internet access and your provider no longer knows which pages you are visiting. Now Mozilla with Firefox and Google with the Chrome browser want to go one step further and encrypt every DNS query in the future. To do this, they want to integrate the DNS over HTTPS protocol into the browser and set it as the standard method.

With DNS over, every DNS query is then sent over an encrypted HTTPS channel, so that no one can listen in anymore. These requests end up with a powerful web server, which in turn forwards them to a digitally signed name server.

This is currently celebrated as a major security gain, with the normal user wondering what it should bring him. This question is answered by the fact that the provider associations in the United States are even planning to sue Google to prevent DNS over

Windows 10: Maximum data protection increase (tutorial video)

That's why providers are protesting against DNS over

A fairly underhanded business model has developed in the United States and some other countries, which the Internet providers there see as being attacked by DNS over HTTPS: Every time a customer requests a website, a DNS query is made to the provider. This will control the correct address. At the same time, the providers save this access and sell the data anonymously to advertisers and other data traders.

If you can see in this data how often Telekom customers go to eBay, Amazon, GIGA or Pornhub, you can target your advertising accordingly and calculate the advertising costs accordingly. Accordingly, DNS access is a valuable asset that these companies do not want to be simply snatched away.

So far - even with us - all DNS queries have been sent to the provider's name server in plain text and can be recorded. In the end, you could even log who accessed which page from where. For advertisers or law enforcement agencies, this is valuable information that providers can get paid for, at least in the United States and some other countries.

The problem for the companies is that Mozilla and Google have announced that they will automatically activate DNS over HTTPS in their browsers in the future. Of course, there will be an option to turn off the protocol, but first of all, every user will surf without their provider spying on them and selling the data.

Enable DNS over HTTPS in the browser - Chrome and Firefox

It is already possible today to change your DNS server and to specify in the operating system or router where browsers and apps should get the address data. DNS over HTTPS goes one step further, encrypts all requests and responses and then sends them to a special web server that has no other task than to handle this communication securely.

As you now know, Mozilla relies on the hoster Cloudflare, while Google is still experimenting with different providers. Ultimately, however, an efficient provider should be chosen who is obliged to maintain absolute confidentiality. Neither the browser manufacturers nor anyone else will evaluate or record the DNS traffic.

Enable DNS over HTTPS in Firefox

In Firefox you can now manually activate DNS over HTTPS from version 60:

Start the browser and enter about: config in the address bar.
You may have to confirm that you know what you are doing.
Now therefore get into the search bar of Firefox configurator network.trr.mode and controls the value. It is probably at 0.
Double click on the entry and a small window will open.

Change the value to 2 and click OK. The change to 2 means that the browser tries DoH first and should not work, falls back on the standard way.
Now look for network.trr.uri.
The value https://mozilla.cloudflare-dns.com/dns-query should be entered for this entry. If this is not the case, double-click to open the edit and enter this value.

Firefox then immediately uses DNS over http as soon as an address is called up. You can also check this by typing about: networking # dns in the address bar. There, the most recently loaded DNS queries are listed and shown whether they have been run via a TRR (Trusted Recursive Resolver).

Activate DNS over HTTPS in the Chrome browser - how it works

With Google Chrome, the DoH protocol is activated via the command line:

Right- click on the Google Chrome icon and then select Properties from the context menu.
The normal start command from Google Chrome is in the Target input field. You have to replace it with

chrome.exe --enable-features = dns-over-https

Image

You can easily test whether that worked with Chrome or Firefox and is now using DNS over HTTPS. Calls the address https://1.1.1.1/help. Next to "Using DNS over HTTPS (DoH)" should now read "Yes".