Security against circumvention with JusProgDNS

How easy or difficult children and teenagers can bypass or trick the parental control filter with JusProgDNS depends on their cleverness and technical experience as well as on the end device on which JusProgDNS is installed.

Basically, no parental control program is absolutely secure and cannot be circumvented, not even JusProgDNS – even if it can be quite difficult to crack the system. The level set by the legislator (JMStV) is that minors “usually do not perceive” content that is not suitable for them. TV achieves this goal, for example, by showing programs unsuitable for children only after 10 or 11 p.m., knowing full well that there are also some underage night owls and VCRs.

Put another way: Even if you use a parental control program like JusProgDNS, you should still keep an eye on the websites your offspring usually visit and talk to them regularly about their experiences on the worldwide web – nice and not so nice.

The security against circumvention depends strongly on the device

For younger children in particular, the fact that the name server settings are made in the “depths of the operating systems” means that there is a high level of security against circumvention – minors are usually not familiar with this and do not dare to change the settings. But this might be different for tech-savvy older people.

Whether the name server settings made for JusProgDNS by you as parents or administrator can be changed by minors, depends strongly on the end device. In the FRITZ!Box, for example, the settings are protected with a password (which your child should not know, not even from a piece of paper stuck on the DSL box) and very secure, in the Mac it usually needs the admin password for changes, this also belongs in principle not in children’s hands. In game consoles and SmartTVs, however, it is usually not possible to protect settings separately with a password.

Especially for devices and operating systems where name server settings are not password-protected, you should regularly check that your smart child has not made any changes.

In the step-by-step instructions for device installation on specific endpoints, we provide tips and hints for bypass security on the specific device.

Tip for higher anti-circumvention security

JusProg’s youth protection programs specifically for certain operating systems generally have a very high level of protection against circumvention on these end devices, as they were developed specifically for these devices and fully exploit the possibilities of the respective operating systems.

JusProg parental control programs are available free of charge for Windows as well as for smartphones and tablets with Android and iOS (iPhone/iPad) – more information here.

 

Choose an appropriate age level

If you talk to your child when choosing the appropriate age level and take their wishes and surfing habits into account, you can expect fewer attempts at circumvention. Most children have no interest at all in the “really bad” content (see KIM and JIM studies) and are even quite happy to be protected from it. But despite this, young adolescents in particular would like to move around the Internet as much as possible without frequently coming up against limits. Experts call this “intelligent risk management”. With this in mind, it can also make sense to set a child’s age level to “16 and up,” even if he or she is actually a bit younger (which, by the way, is allowed by law).

Circumvention security – this is what you should pay attention to

If in the terminal device on which JusProgDNS is set, the name server settings are to be protected with a password, then your child should of course not know this or be able to guess it easily. The same applies to the password you use when registering with JusProgDNS.

But even if the JusProgDNS name server settings are well secured, clever children may come up with ideas on how to trick the filter. This is especially true if JusProgDNS is not installed on the device your child is surfing with, but remotely on the network or DSL box. Basically, JusProgDNS can only protect if the name server queries actually run through JusProgDNS.

Of course, we don’t want to give anyone any ideas publicly at this point, so we will refrain from giving too detailed information.

A few tips for greater security against circumvention:

  • Check the end device from time to time to see if it is actually filtering.
  • As the network administrator, prevent NS queries from downstream end devices via port 53 UDP. This can also be done with FRITZ!Box (see instructions).
  • Use the free parental control functions in the operating systems, with which you can set the age at which games, apps and other software are allowed and can be used. Such functions are available on smartphones and tablets, gaming consoles and Windows. By the way, Netflix also has parental controls.
  • Talk to your child regularly about experiences with digital media.