( 🇨🇵 Cette page est disponible en Français: Listes de blocage DNS )
DNS Block List
DNS filtering is an easy way to block a vast majority of advertising, tracking and malware sites with a minimum of effort. This is quick to setup and easy to revert.
Frankly, this is the kind of thing I would install on all friends and family computers and smartphones. This significantly reduces system "rotting" (advertising, spyware, malware, tracking…)
Advantages of DNS filtering:
Filters a large quantity of advertising/tracking/malware without the need for additional software (Exception: Android needs additional software).
Works under all OSes (Windows, Linux, MacOSX…)
Works in all applications (and not only the browser)
Under Android, gets rid of almost all advertising and tracking, including inside applications.
Can be setup device by device, or on an entire network if configured on your router (pi-Hole, pfSense, etc.)
Easy to setup.
Fast.
Drawbacks:
You do not need to worry: The setup is easy to reverse.
As an example, a typical CNN page is 20 Mb. With this DNS blocklist alone, it drops to 10 Mb. This is a 50% gain. Not only the page will load faster, but you will save on your data and phone bills, even if you use a browser which is not capable of filtering.
List
What does this list blocks ?
Web advertising (smartadserver.com, doubleclick.net, googleadservices.com, googlesyndication.com, tradedoubler.com, adbrite.com, yimg.com(YahooAds)…), including site-specific domains (ad.paypal.com, ad.foxnetworks.com, ads.sun.com…), including first-party advertising and tracking.
Malvertising (advertising networks known for spreading malware, trojan horses…) (adshufffle.com, conduit.com…)
Advertising in mobile applications (admob.com, inmobi.com, mopub.com, adinfuse.com…)
Web analytics (google-analytics.com, scorecardresearch.com, quantserve.com…)
Mobile applications analytics (crashlytics.com, applovin.com, flurry.com…)
Analytics/tracking from smartphone manufacturers (nmetrics.samsung.com, sdkconfig.ad.xiaomi.com, tracking.intl.miui.com…)
Tracking services (canvas fingerprinting, evercookies…).
First-party trackers.
Social badges and buttons (addthis.com, badges.instagram.com, badge.stumbleupon.com…)
Web site counters (sitemeter.com, free-counter.co.uk, webcounter.com, statcounter.com…)
Fraudulent or malware sites (goggle.com, googfle.com, antivirus-scanner.com, adblock.fr, audacity.fr, myfuncards.com…)
Popup-hell websites.
Non-reliable download websites (softonic.com…)
Sites linked to spam campains (buy-viagra.go.to, cheap-valium.polybuild.ru, forex-market.hut1.ru, norton-antivirus-trial.searchservice.info…)
Websites designed to shock (goatse, 2girls1cup…)
Domains linked to Windows 10 tracking/reporting/telemetry (reports.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com, feedback.microsoft-hohm.com, telemetry.appex.bing.net, statsfe2.ws.microsoft.com…)
Sources
This list is an aggregation of the following sources:
The blocklist is available in several formats:
Whitelist
These blocking lists make occasional mistakes. I have put some domains on a whitelist. These domains will never be blocked.
Domaine | Reason |
sebsauvage.net | My own domain so that list updates are not blocked. |
proxad.net | Professionnal french hosting company (branch of Free.fr ISP) |
commentcamarche.net | Computer tutorials website |
www.commentcamarche.net | Computer tutorials website |
mail.gandi.net | Mail server of one of the biggest french professional hosting companies |
c.orange.fr | Linked to the webmail of Orange, one of the biggest french ISP |
iapref.orange.fr | Linked to the webmail of Orange, one of the biggest french ISP |
iapref.wanadoo.fr | Linked to the webmail of Orange, one of the biggest french ISP |
metric.gstatic.com | Some sub-domains are used for DoT (DNS-over-TLS) |
ssl0.ovh.net | Mail servers hosts at OVH |
60gp.ovh.net | Mail servers hosts at OVH |
vboxsvr.ovh.net | Shared hosting at OVH |
cdn.tagcommander.com | Required for LaPoste webmail |
ae01.alicdn.com | Required to display images in AliExpress |
www.sugarsync.com | Required for SugarSync cloud synchronization. |
lilo.org | Searchengine |
www.ismonaco.org | University |
cpc.cx | URL shortener of CanardPC. |
simplelogin.fr, simplelogin.io | Antispam mail service |
go.icann.org | Non-profit internet coordination organization |
idp.impots.gouv.fr | French IRS |
ipfs.scalaproject.io | IPFS Gateway |
app.simplelogin.io | Antispam email |
t.co | Twitter URL shortener |
PS: If you find a domain which should not be blocked, please let me know (by email, Mastodon, Wire or Telegram).
Installation
Linux / MacOSX
You can paste this list at the end of your hosts
file located at: /etc/hosts
Note: Some distributions require that 127.0.0.1 machineName
is defined in host file. You can paste the blocklist after this line.
If you want to automatically update the blocklist, here is an example script which has to be run by root (you can just drop this script in /etc/cron.weekly/
).
- hosts-update
#!/bin/bash
# Update the DNS blocklist from the web
logger "hosts-update: Updating hosts."
tempname=`mktemp`
echo "127.0.0.1 `hostname`" > $tempname
printf "\n\n" >> $tempname
curl --fail https://sebsauvage.net/hosts/hosts >> $tempname
res=$?
if test "$res" != "0"; then
logger "hosts-update: Failed to update hosts : $res"
rm $tempname
exit 1
fi
mv /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.old
mv $tempname /etc/hosts
chmod 0644 /etc/hosts
logger "hosts-update: hosts file successfully updated."
Windows
Under Windows, the "DNS Client" service seems to cause problems. It's a DNS cache. You must disable this service before installing this blocklist (run services.msc
, right-clic on "DNS Client" > Properties > Startup: Disabled, then restart your computer).
Under Windows 10, even the administrator is not allowed to disable this service. Run regedit
and put 4
(=disabled) in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Dnscache\Start
then restart your computer.
You MUST disable DNS Client
service before installing this blocklist. You have been warned.
You can paste this list at the end of your hosts
file located at: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
If this does not seem to work, run ipconfig /flushdns
in a terminal.
If you want the host file to be automatically updated, you can try the freeware HostMan [NOT TESTED] : http://www.abelhadigital.com/hostsman/
Android
There are several Android applications capable to downloading and applying a blocklist. Please note that these applications use the VPN feature of Android. It's the only way for an application to collect network traffic of all other applications. You can use one of these applications:
As DNS filtering application use the VPN feature of Android, you cannot have your VPN and one of these three applications running simultaneously. It's either VPN or DNS filtering.
In each of these applications, disable the lists provided by default and add https://sebsauvage.net/hosts/hosts
For an extra layer of security, you can use alternate DNS resolvers such as Quad9 (9.9.9.9/149.112.112.112): This resolver also dynamically blocks botnets.
Regarding
Blokada:
I do not recommend the default blocklist provided by Blokada (Energized Blue) because it blocks legitimate websites (such as www.commentcamarche.net).
By default, Blokada imposes not restriction on GooglePlay, GoogleDrive and other Google applications. You should disable whitelists.
Update
I recommend updating the list every week.
Under Android, Blokada and DNS66 are capable of updating the list automatically on a regular basis.
Security
Keep in mind that this blocklist alone is not enough. You must:
Keep your operating system and applications up-to-date (security patches).
Use blocking addons in browsers (uBlock-Origin, PrivacyBadger…)
Under Windows, use an anti-malware (The anti-malware provided with Windows is sufficient. You can complete with a weekly scan of MalwareBytes (free version)).
Beware of what you download.
Backup !
FAQ
Which Android application do you recommend ?
Why use 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1 ?
Why not add list X ?
What happens when a website is blocked ?
How often do you update your list ?
What if your website disappears ?