“Safe Browsing” function/filter in Asus Router App

[JTnola]

Question: what is the “safe browsing” function in the asus router app? (Aka, what is actually happening when enabling one of the filters?)

(Sorry — I rarely ever use the app anymore now that I’m back to running Merlin firmware.)

 

[bbunge]

Question: what is the “safe browsing” function in the asus router app? (Aka, what is actually happening when enabling one of the filters?)

(Sorry — I rarely ever use the app anymore now that I’m back to running Merlin firmware.)

Where in the app and what router?
Found it. Turns on parental controls.

 

[bbunge]

As discovered several months ago, the Asus router app for iOS and Android has a Safe Browsing function. This is an adaptation of the Merlin DNS Filter which is now called DNS Director. This provides a means to "redirect" DNS queries from specific clients to one of four DNS "Filters: Security, Family, Ad Block and Ad Block and Family. This is currently configurable only via the Asus router app with Asus firmware on the router. I did not test the app feature with Merlin firmware as it has DNS Director built into the GUI.

Here are the Safe Browsing DNS Servers assigned via the app:

Security 1.1.1.2 (CloudFlare Security: no malware)

Family 1.1.1.3 (CloudFlare Family: no malware or adult content)

Ad Block 94.140.14.14 (AdGuard: will block ads and trackers)

Ad Block + Family 94.140.14.15 (AdGuard: will block ads, trackers, adult content, and enable Safe Search)

Once assigned an entry will appear in the router System Log - Port Forwarding with an Open By of DNSFILTER. At first this looks like a port forward but a discussion with RMerlin disclosed that this is a redirect, not a port forward, and the way DNS Director/DNS Filter does work.

I have tested this function and it does work quite well. The actual DNS server that is contacted will depend upon how your ISP has the Anycast servers configured. For me, the Ad Block is sent to an AdGuard server in Germany but it still works well.

 

[SeriousFamily]

My experience was bad using this addon.

I do use family profiles(through the app) and never had a problem using content block.

I enabled the (adblock) filter by safe browsing for most of my devices, it seemed to work but then all the device lost internet connection and the only way to get it back was to disable the filter. as soon as i removed the filter the internet connection came back. (a fellow user here mentioned the dns server could of gone down).

I now only have this enabled on the samsung tv for testing purposes. it hasn't caused any problems since.

I did post on one of the topics here and a fellow member advised to manually enter the dns servers manually if you want to use for global network.

 

[bbunge]

My experience was bad using this addon.

I do use family profiles(through the app) and never had a problem using content block.

I enabled the (adblock) filter by safe browsing for most of my devices, it seemed to work but then all the device lost internet connection and the only way to get it back was to disable the filter. as soon as i removed the filter the internet connection came back. (a fellow user here mentioned the dns server could of gone down).

I now only have this enabled on the samsung tv for testing purposes. it hasn't caused any problems since.

I did post on one of the topics here and a fellow member advised to manually enter the dns servers manually if you want to use for global network.

I agree that a single DNS resolver is not a good idea. If that one goes down or the Anycast link fails that client is sunk. Would be better for Asus to add another option to redirect the client DNS to the router DNS as Merlin DNS Director does. I have several IoT clients that do not allow setting a static IP address or a specific DNS server

 

[Luis Soto]

Something that I discovered today, and found this thread
I am currenlty on 3.0.0.4.388_22525-gd35b8fe, I do not know if it is since the introduction of this feature and didn't use it yet, of if this is introduced on my firewall, but the Safe browsing feature should be a direct redirect to the DNS servers, in a way that it doesn't even resolve the local dns/dhcp in you home. Since you enable it you could not resolve internal/home names anymore.