Force Google Safe Search with this Simple DNS Modification

Is your content filter doing enough to protect your students?  Many administrators and even technology professionals aren’t aware that by default Google encrypts its searches making the results page extremely difficult to filter.  A quick test can show you how easily your students are accessing inappropriate information.  Open Google and click on the images link on the top right of the page.  Now enter the inappropriate word of your choice.

***Warning the resulting images can be extremely explicit***

How can your expensive content filtering solution allow such inappropriate content?  Unfortunately the answer is that it can be configured to filter this content however the solution is so cumbersome and not user friendly that it isn’t a viable solution in most cases.

There is good news however.  Google offers a Safe Search feature to address this specific problem.  While their implementation is almost as difficult as that provided by the content filters there is an easy solution if you have even a small amount of DNS expertise.

Simply create a DNS Zone for www.google.com then right click the zone, select Other New Records, and select Domain Alias (DNAME).  Leave the Alias name blank and enter forcesafesearch.google.com as the FQDN.

That’s it.  Once your DNS Records replicate you will notice a notification that Safe Search has been turned on the next time you go to Google and will no longer be able to search for the inappropriate content.