Control D Use Cases: Start-Up Businesses

Picture this: you’re a hot new start-up with a once-in-a-lifetime idea and some fancy new tech. Money is starting to roll in and you’re generating some serious interest - things are moving fast when all of a sudden…boom! You’ve been hacked. Your data has been breached, your customers are gone, and the investments have dried up.

You’re probably thinking that sounds a bit far-fetched! Do people actually hack small businesses?

Cyber Attacks Against Small Businesses

A still image from The Matrix film showing the descending lines of green code — Welcome to the Digital Age

The answer, unfortunately, is a resounding yes. In fact, in recent years, small businesses have become one of the primary targets for hackers and ransomware. Here are some stats that might be alarming to anyone currently running a start-up:

43% of cyber attacks target small businesses:

That might seem like a high number; after all, surely they can get bigger paydays from bigger businesses? The answer is straightforward: most start-ups or small businesses don’t have the know-how or resources to staff an IT team with cybersecurity capabilities, which makes them a much easier target than multi-million dollar corporations.

60% of small businesses that suffer a cyber attack go out of business within half a year.

No, you didn’t misread that; should a nefarious actor successfully breach your small business’s data, then the odds are high that you will end up shutting down. On top of the PR nightmare that is a data breach, you’re likely to incur enormous costs in reactive cybersecurity measures.

47% of small businesses have no understanding of how to protect themselves against cyber attacks.

Very few start-ups understand or appreciate the urgent necessity of setting cybersecurity protocols. A recent survey of small businesses found that almost 50% say they have no idea how to protect themselves against cyber attacks. What’s more alarming is that many don’t believe they are a target in the first place.

What Can Control D Do For My Business’s Digital Security?

Glad you asked! At Control D, we’ve got you covered. There are several ways our DNS control service can improve security, productivity, and peace of mind in your start-up, all without ever installing an app. It provides complete control over your company's internet traffic, with the ability to block, filter, or route your traffic as you see fit.

How Does DNS Work?

To make a brief analogy, DNS is like the giant phonebook of the internet, linking IP addresses (telephone numbers) to domains (names) to make navigating the web more human-friendly. Computers do not understand human words and are identified by IP addresses, which are large numbers assigned to internet devices like servers. Whenever you enter a domain, your request is sent to a DNS server, which will check the domain name versus its database (the phonebook) to find the matching IP address.

This same process happens whenever you open an email, view an image, or use Cloud Storage or your company's File sharing service. DNS is an essential part of the internet's infrastructure and its ubiquity in usage is often underappreciated.

As your business grows, so too will your necessity to control, monitor, and protect your internet traffic, especially if you work in a field that deals with sensitive information. A DNS control product like Control D offers you high performance, reliability, scalability, and security.

Example Use Cases for Control D in a Start-Up

Enhancing Network Security: Control D can help start-ups enhance their network security by blocking access to known phishing sites and preventing employees from unwittingly giving away sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, customers data, employee addresses, etc, to cyber criminals. If you want to be extra careful, you can even enable our New Domains filter to block newly registered domains that could be used for badware distribution, procedurally generated domains for malware command and control servers, etc.

Screenshot of Control D's Malware filter active and set to Strict

Screenshot of Control D's Phising filter active — *Block phishing, malware, spam, you name it… Control D puts you in charge*

Blocking Malicious Websites: Control D can help start-ups block access to malicious websites that could infect their computers with malware, viruses, or ransomware. By filtering out DNS requests to known malicious websites, it can even prevent your employees from inadvertently accessing these dangerous sites.

A simple concept image showing the consumption of ads, malware, and trackers without Control D, but being safe from them with Control D active — Blocking Ads, Trackers, and Malware helps keep your system clean

Limiting Access to Inappropriate Content: Control D can also be used to block access to inappropriate websites, such as those containing adult or gambling content. This can help start-ups maintain a professional work environment in situations where it often feels like a bunch of friends doing cool stuff. This will exponentially reduce the risk of legal liability for any inappropriate content-related incidents.

Screenshot of Control D's Adult Content filter active and set to Strict — Realistically, no one needs access to this content at work

Increasing Productivity: Control D can also be used to limit access to social media sites and other non-work-related websites during work hours. This can help increase employee productivity and reduce distractions.

Screenshot of Control D's Instagram and Twitter Social Services filters set to Blocked — *Block social media servers to keep everyone (including yourself) from scrolling all-day*

Monitoring and Reporting: Control D can provide start-ups with valuable insights into employee internet usage patterns, including which websites are being accessed most frequently and what times of day have the highest traffic. This can help business owners and stakeholders identify potential security risks, enforce internet usage policies, and optimize network performance.

An image representing analytics, showing bar and plot graphs — *Use DNS monitoring to your advantage and stay one step ahead*

Browse Faster: Internet users are often forced to download a bunch of ads and trackers that kill their bandwidth. Control D offers you the ability to filter all that unnecessary bloatware, meaning you get maximum value from your bandwidth and avoid any unnecessary surcharges.

Rest Easy: With Control D in your arsenal of digital protection tools, you’ll be able to relax knowing that you, your employees, and your company are being protected from getting unwittingly phished, bamboozled, hoodwinked, or otherwise conned into compromising your or your customers' valuable data.

Control D is One Tool Among Many

Let’s be clear, Control D is not an end-all-fix-all.

As awesome as it would be, there is no single tool that can guarantee a full scope of security on the internet; Control D can be a powerful tool for your digital protection, but we still recommend using other tools alongside it.

What those tools are will depend on your business needs. Perhaps you need to operate on an adversarial network, or you are using one or more apps or systems that do not use DNS routing; in those cases, running a VPN like Windscribe alongside Control D will help cover the areas that a DNS control system cannot. You can back this up further by using a password manager, as well as training your staff on basic internet security practices.

Get the Right Package for You

Control D is an extremely customizable tool that allows you to optimize your browsing experience on a personal or commercial level. You can block, route, and monitor with a toggle of a button. You won’t even need to install an app either, as Control D works right inside your browser, operating system, or router, making setup an absolute breeze.

If you would like to discuss a custom price plan tailored to your specific business needs, you can contact us for a quote.