Secutec is going to filter millions of websites with malware for Belnet and its customers
Belnet is launching its new service ‘Advanced DNS Security’ on April 1, which allows customers to avoid surfing to malware-infected websites. To do so, it uses technology from Secutec, an internationally active Belgian company that is specialized in cyber security. Belnet provides innovative network infrastructures and associated value-added services to universities, research centres and government services, among others.
“Of all new domain names, 22% are used for cybercrime and 90% of the cyberattackers are making use of insecure Internet or DNS connections to gain access to a network,” says Geert Baudewijns, founder and CEO of Secutec. “When someone uses our service Secutec SecureDNS and visits a website, our database checks the reputation of the domain name. This takes a nanosecond, so the user does not experience any delay when visiting a website. In case of a new domain name, we block access for 24 hours to properly analyse whether the visit to the website is safe or not.”
‘Advanced DNS Security’ is an additional protection from Belnet on top of the customer’s firewall and antivirus software. Secutec manages to quickly detect new domain names – including Belgian ones – used for cybercrime. The database of safe and millions of unsafe domain names is fed by, among others, more than twenty suppliers of security software, the Computer Emergency Response Team and the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium.
Easy to use
Belnet started looking for a supplier that could offer its customers additional protection at the end of last year. “Secutec prevailed over the three other candidates because they met all the technical requirements in the specifications. In addition, their Secutec SecureDNS security service is configured in an hour for the customer’s network. No hardware or software needs to be installed and users do not have to perform any manual operations. So you can use the service easily and quickly. Our customers also receive an overview of the visits to websites with malware that have been foiled,” says Dirk Haex, technical director of Belnet.
End users such as patients, students or visitors are immediately protected when they surf via a WiFi or other network of the Belnet customer. Also devices that are connected to the internet such as servers, scanners and printers are immediately protected. The mining of crypto coins via the customer’s network is made impossible.
The agreement between Belnet and Secutec runs for four years. Belnet has 250 organizations as customers, good for over 829,000 end users.