DNS measures help ensure safer online experience – MCMC

Following revelations that local internet service providers (ISPs) are plugging a loophole that could be used to access blocked websites, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said such measures help ensure a safer online environment for internet users.

It said this after the digital rights advocacy group Sinar Project said it found ISPs implementing transparent domain name service (DNS) proxies, forcing internet users to use local DNS servers even if they have configured their networks to use DNS services abroad.

In a statement today, the MCMC said it is committed to working with local ISPs to improve prevention and protection measures and ensure the blocks remain effective, including by changing how DNS requests are handled.

“MCMC’s cooperation with ISPs can ensure a safe online environment, thereby ensuring all users’ safety.

“This aligns with the 10 national policy goals under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, including ensuring information security, reliability, and network resilience.

“This effort also requires a whole-of-nation approach from all members of society not to bypass the existing protection measures, which could have adverse effects on oneself and families, especially teenagers and children,” it said, without mentioning Sinar Project’s reports or its findings.

A DNS server is akin to an address book or directory that is used by a computer for navigating the internet. The MCMC typically blocks websites by ordering ISPs to tamper with DNS records and redirect computers looking for blocked websites to a different address.

Hence, a common way to circumvent this is to use DNS services provided by third parties such as Google, Cloudflare, or OpenDNS.

A transparent DNS proxy would foil such efforts by redirecting DNS requests to third-party servers back to the ISP’s own DNS servers.

Sinar Project said affected users could sidestep this by changing their DNS settings again to use the newer DNS-over-HTTPS protocol, which also has the benefit of better security by keeping DNS requests away from prying eyes because such transmissions would be encrypted.

Downtrend

The MCMC has disclosed statistics for the last five years, which show the number of blocked websites is on a downtrend since reaching a peak in 2021.

It said 3,370 websites were blocked in 2020, 6,571 in 2021, 4,572 in 2022, and 3,724 in 2023.

For this year up to Aug 1, there are 2,127 websites that have been blocked.

For the 10,423 websites blocked since Jan 1, 2022, the MCMC said 95.7 percent of them fall within one of the top five categories.

These are gambling (4,484 websites), pornography (3,271), copyright violations (1,654), scams and illegal investment schemes (316), and prostitution (249).

The MCMC said the blockages are done under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, as well as laws under the jurisdiction of other agencies including the police, the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry, and Securities Commission.

“In the wider context, blocking websites also prevents other crimes such as human trafficking, (sexual) grooming of children, sale of prohibited items such as drugs, and other organised crime,” it said.

While not mentioned in the statement, it should be noted that news organisations had their websites blocked as well during the period.

Last year, several news websites were also briefly blocked by the MCMC, namely MalaysiaNow, UtusanTV, and TVPertiwi.

Some of these incidents occurred despite Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil’s assurance that news websites would not be blocked while an investigation is ongoing.

Earlier in 2018, Malaysiakini’s website for live updates of the 14th general election results was also blocked after it announced Pakatan Harapan had won the election, which was later vindicated by the official results.

Responding to last year’s incidents, the MCMC had said its actions are guided by provisions under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, including the agency’s function to prevent the commission or attempted commission of an offence under any written law of the country.

It declined to comment on specific cases.

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