Blogger says their internet provider quietly tampered with site lookups

A blogger has written that their internet provider was quietly tampering with DNS, the system that turns a site name into an address. The post, titled "So my ISP was hijacking my DNS," drew 105 points and 85 comments on Hacker News. The full article was not available for this report, so the details of what happened are not confirmed here.

What DNS is

DNS works like the internet's phone book. You type a site name, and a lookup service tells your device which address to visit. Most home networks use whatever service their internet provider (ISP) hands them. That means the provider answers every lookup, and it can see which sites you ask for.

What is not known

The post is labeled as DNS tampering. Beyond that, the material available does not say which provider is involved, what exactly was changed, how long it went on, or how many customers were affected. The provider has not been quoted here. Readers should treat this as one person's account until more detail is confirmed.

Who it touches

Anyone who uses the default settings from their internet provider could be affected by the same kind of issue. That includes home users and small businesses. Whoever answers your lookups has a view of your browsing habits, and in principle can send you somewhere other than where you meant to go.

What to do

You can check which lookup service your home network uses and switch to another one. The setting is in your router or in your device's network settings.

• Open your router settings and find the DNS entry.
• Note whether it points to your provider or another service.
• Change it to a lookup service you trust, then save.
• Device settings offer the same option if you cannot reach the router.