Screenshot of the Asus router config web UI, showing a "Use Yandex.DNS" toggle switch. [EDIT: This screenshot is not from the actual router (AC1900 / RT-AC68U V3) but from the Yandex.DNS website.]

Notices where this attachment appears

1. Embed this notice
   Rasmus Bondesson (raek@tilde.zone)'s status on Thursday, 26-Oct-2023 03:49:13 JST Rasmus Bondesson

   New-ish Asus routers [CORRECTION: at least two routers bought in Sweden] seem to enable "Yandex.DNS" by default. This forwards all of your DNS lookups to Yandex, a large Russian search engine. I discovered this on my dad's router when he had troubles accessing his bank from his broadband but not on his phone. (Presumably, the bank geoblocked Russian IPs as a protest to the invasion of Ukraine.)

   I get that you need to trust someone with your DNS lookups (your ISP, Google, Cloudfare, etc), but I didn't expect the non-ISP option to be the default...

   Check your router!

   #security #privacy