System vulnerability

Question

Hi; I am a longtime Discussions reader but first time contributor; this time I couldn't find an answer in what has been said before!
I have had to get my desktop and router checked for security vulnerabilities and the automated system is failing me. No one at the security company or my ISP will help, saying that I need to get a tech pro in to solve the issues. If that's really the case, I'll do it, but I wanted to be sure that it's not something that would take me 2 minutes if I just knew how.
Here is the message I am getting;
"you need to configure your DNS server to restrict recursive queries to the hosts that should use this nameserver (such as those of the LAN connected to it). If you are using bind 8, you can do this by using the instruction 'allow-recursion' in the 'options' section of your named.conf If you are using bind 9, you can define a grouping of internal addresses using the 'acl' command Then, within the options block, you can explicitly state: 'allow-recursion { hostsdefined_inacl }' If you are using another name server, consult its documentation. You will also want to make sure that the DNS cache cannot be queried anonymously"
Can anyone please tell me how I access the DNS server to reconfigure it as suggested?
Thanks in advance
Nick

Answer 1

Welcome to the forums!
Who is sending you that message?
I have had to get my desktop and router checked for security vulnerabilities and the automated system is failing me.
Checked by whom and why? What security company?
Adding DNS codes to your Network Settings, should gives good results in terms of speed-up as well as added security:
Open System Preferences/Network. Double click on your connection type, or select it in the drop-down menu, and in the box marked 'DNS Servers' add the following two numbers:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
(You can also enter them if you click on Advanced and then DNS)
(An explanation of why that is both safe and a good idea can be read here: http://www.labnol.org/internet/tools/opendsn-what-is-opendns-why-required-2/2587 /
Open DNS also provides an anti-phishing feature: http://www.opendns.com/solutions/homenetwork/anti-phishing/ )
Wikipedia also has an interesting article about Open DNS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDNS
Whilst in System Preferences/Network you should also turn off 'IPv6' in your preference pane, as otherwise you may not get the full speed benefit (the DNS resolver will default to making SRV queries). If you want to know what IPv6 is:
This is Apple's guidance on iPv6:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8708.html
Click on Apply Now and close the window.
Restart Safari, and repair permissions.