Is dns.quad9.net legit or a scam?
Official security infrastructure for the Quad9 DNS service, a non-profit organization dedicated to privacy and cyber threat prevention.
Analysis Summary
No threats detected
All checks passed. This site appears legitimate — but always stay alert for phishing even on trusted domains.
Website Preview
Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →
Visual Screenshot Analysis
We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.
Visual red flags detected in the screenshot
We could not capture a fully-rendered screenshot of this page; visual analysis is inconclusive.
What our vision model saw
1 signalScreenshot incomplete — site may be slow to render
MT Intelligence
The domain has been active for over nine years and is operated by the Quad9 Foundation, a registered Swiss non-profit. Our analysis shows zero flags across 92 antivirus engines and major browser blocklists. The site serves as a technical endpoint for DNS-over-TLS, a protocol that encrypts internet queries for better privacy. Independent evaluations consistently rank this service as one of the most effective tools for blocking malicious web traffic. There are no credible scam reports or malicious patterns associated with this infrastructure.
Web Research Findings
Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for dns.quad9.net, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.
- dns.quad9.net is the official DNS-over-TLS (DoT) hostname for Quad9's public recursive DNS resolver, which also uses IPs such as 9.9.9.9 and 149.112.112.112.
- Operated by the Swiss Quad9 Foundation (CHE-435.091.407), a public-benefit not-for-profit organization based in Zürich focused on security, privacy, and blocking malware/phishing domains.
- Quad9 blocks malicious domains using threat intelligence from multiple partners; independent tests have rated it among the most effective (up to 97% for malware/phishing).
- Strong emphasis on privacy: GDPR-compliant, no IP address logging or retention of personal data, no selling of user data.
- Domain has long history (registered ~2017, ~9+ years old); Gridinsoft analysis gives dns.quad9.net a 79/100 trust score with no malware/phishing detections.
- Minor mentions of occasional false positives (e.g., blocking legitimate update domains like ESET in one 2023 forum case) which Quad9 has a process to review and whitelist.
- One past legal matter (Sony Music injunction in 2021 regarding DNS blocking, dismissed in Quad9's favor in 2023); no ongoing issues or data-sharing controversies found.
- Wikipediaopen
"Several independent evaluations have found Quad9 to be the most effective (97%) at blocking malware and phishing domains."
- TechRadaropen
"Quad9 is a great tool to ensure your internet queries get accurate responses and prevent yourself from falling victim to malicious sites."
- Gridinsoftopen
"Based on current analysis, dns.quad9.net appears to be generally safe. No major malware or phishing threats were detected, and strong independent trust and a 79/100 Trust Score."
- Global Cyber Allianceopen
"Quad9 is a free, privacy-focused DNS service that replaces your default DNS settings and blocks access to known malicious sites."
Quad9 Foundation, public-benefit not-for-profit foundation, registration no. CHE-435.091.407, headquartered in Zürich. Founded 2016 by Packet Clearing House, IBM, Global Cyber Alliance.
Antivirus Engines
Security Scans
Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.
Domain & Encryption
Server Reputation
Still, stay alert
No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.
- Double-check the exact URL in your address bar
Confirm you are actually on dns.quad9.net and not a lookalike like d-ns.quad9.net.com or an IDN homoglyph.
- Use a password manager
Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.
- OpenDiscuss this site on the forum
If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
Safety FAQ
Common questions about this site, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.
- Our automated security review found no threat indicators on dns.quad9.net. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.
- dns.quad9.net passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 91/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.
- Yes. dns.quad9.net presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by DigiCert Inc · DigiCert Global G3 TLS ECC SHA384 2020 CA1, expiring in 27 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.
- dns.quad9.net is 9.1 years old, registered on 5/25/2017 through Key-Systems GmbH. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.
- No. All 92 antivirus engines in our malware network report dns.quad9.net as clean.
- No. dns.quad9.net is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.
- dns.quad9.net resolves to an IP operated by Quad9 in US (usage type: Commercial). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.
- This is a permanent record of the scan run on June 30, 2026. The verdict and evidence above reflect that scan and do not change on their own. If circumstances around dns.quad9.net have changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan, which re-runs every check from scratch and publishes an updated report.
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