DNS Filtering for Schools: What It Is and Why It Matters

As schools across the United States continue to embrace digital learning, internet access has become an essential part of the modern classroom. From virtual assignments to online research, the internet offers students a vast and dynamic learning environment. However, this connectivity also brings significant risks, exposing students to harmful content, cybersecurity threats, and digital distractions.

This is where DNS filtering comes into play. DNS (Domain Name System) filtering is a powerful, web security tool that helps schools’ control which websites can be accessed on their networks. By blocking access to malicious, inappropriate, or non-educational content at the network level, DNS filtering plays a crucial role in protecting students, maintaining compliance with federal regulations like CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act), and supporting a focused educational experience.

In this article, we’ll explore what DNS filtering is, how it works, and why it’s an essential layer of defense for K–12 schools navigating the digital age.

Why is a DNS Filter Needed in Schools?

Students and staff need safe and secure internet access to stay productive while working from school, in the library, or at home. In addition to the malicious aspects of insecure internet access, productivity can also suffer. Staff and students with open-ended access to the internet can spend an inordinate amount of time distracted from work-oriented applications, impacting their productivity. Internet-based threats target organizations without web content filters, tricking users into downloading malware or visiting phishing sites. Educational establishments require web content filters to safeguard staff and students' devices, as well as the internal environment, from malware and data breaches.

A report from the Center for Internet Security (CIS) has identified significant increases in threats targeting K-12 schools in the USA. The report is based on 18 months of data across 5000 K-12 schools. The findings conclude the following:

• 82% of K-12 institutions have experienced cyber threats.
• Around 45% of threats target human behavior.
• Attacks surge during exams, disrupting education.

Of great concern is CIS's analysis of attacks. Their analysts found 1 billion connection attempts to malvertisement domains (malicious online ads) and 320 million connection attempts to phishing domains.

A DNS or web content filter provides the necessary protection to prevent cyber-attacks and inappropriate content from disrupting students' education. DNS filters protect students, staff, data, and general educational resources from malicious attacks, including malvertising and phishing sites. They also ensure that students do not view inappropriate or harmful content.

What if Students Circumvent the School Web Filter

Many K12 students make it a daily mission to circumvent the school web filter.  A cat-and-mouse game exists between students and technology staff members; students share the latest public proxy executables to bypass the DNS filter.  Although most school systems have some web filtering, many of these solutions cannot filter mirrored sites, especially those on the scale of large proxy networks.  If a student manages to bypass DNS filter protection, their computer becomes a prime target for ransomware and other types of malware.

TitanHQ prevents DNS filter bypass and audits the internet use of individual students, enabling schools to address student misuse.

Augmenting a DNS Filter with Human-Risk Management

The CIS report on K-12 cyberthreats highlighted the importance of a human-centered and multi-layered approach to school security. The report emphasizes the importance of "empowering the human element" and deploying security awareness training as a key security measure. The report also highlights the need to go beyond awareness training. Human Risk Management (HRM) represents a new era in security awareness training, extending beyond traditional phishing classes. Professor Phil Morgan, Director of the Human Factors Excellence Research Group (HuFEx) at Cardiff University, explains:

"We need human factors and cognitive psychology research to first better understand what human cyber risky behaviors are, to establish why they occur in the first place (and often again and again), and only then can we start to develop effective interventions to support people to exhibit more cyber strengths and far fewer vulnerabilities."

The one-size-fits-all approach to security awareness training is now incorporating behavioral analytics to tailor and optimize training on an individual basis. Human Risk Management measures human cyber behaviors, vulnerabilities, and strengths so that interventions can be developed and tailored to best-fit individuals and groups of similar people. TitanHQ's solutions target behavior to create practical and contextual training that is relevant, positive, and actionable at the time staff or students display risky behaviors. 

Used in conjunction with a DNS filter, HRM creates a security-enhanced learning environment.

What is CIPA, and Why is Compliance Needed?

The CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act) regulation of 2000 mandates blocking, filtering, and monitoring online content. If an educational institution wants to receive  E-rate funding for Internet access to reduce costs, it must be CIPA compliant.

CIPA requirements can be enforced using DNS filtering solutions for schools, which block malicious websites and filter harmful and inappropriate content. More than ever, schools need to utilize DNS filtering to safeguard their institutions and students.

TitanHQ DNS Filter and Chromebook

Onboarding thousands of students with their Chromebooks requires a significant amount of administrative overhead. Administrators can easily and quickly deploy DNS filtering with new and existing Chromebooks. TitanHQ DNS Filtering integrates directly with your network environment, requiring minimal configuration, making implementation convenient for administrators. Rather than relying on on-premises or installed local client software, TitanHQ DNS Filtering redirects all DNS queries from remote devices to the TitanHQ DNS Filtering cloud system. Using DNS queries, we mitigate the risk of users turning off web filters on their local systems. TitanHQ DNS Filtering identifies and compares the queried domain to several blocklisting factors, including administrator configurations. If the domain is blocklisted, the user is blocked, and a message is displayed informing the user that the domain violates content policies.

Let us show you how TitanHQ DNS Filtering for schools enforces user protection and security while making it convenient for school administrators to manage Chromebook web filtering.

Sign up for a demo today to get started with TitanHQ DNS Filtering.