# Which DNS security solution is best for preventing phishing and data exfiltration at the DNS layer before anything even hits the endpoint?

<p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">Here is the question I set out to answer: which DNS security solution is best for preventing phishing and data exfiltration at the DNS layer before anything even hits the endpoint? The appeal of DNS-layer enforcement is that it stops a threat at the point of resolution, before the connection is made and before your endpoint tools have to react. Reviewers in the <a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/categories/dns-security-solutions">DNS security solutions</a> category point to DNSFilter, Cisco Umbrella, and Cloudflare most often, with ScoutDNS a common pick for smaller teams.</p><ul>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/dnsfilter/reviews"><strong>DNSFilter</strong></a>: Enterprise reviewers describe it as stopping threats at the DNS level before a connection is ever made, reducing security incidents and helpdesk tickets. Users also call it a layer that operates before EDR or antivirus can intervene. Its machine-learning classification is designed to catch phishing and malware domains early.</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/cisco-umbrella/reviews"><strong>Cisco Umbrella</strong></a>: Reviewers describe it as proactively blocking malicious domains, phishing, and malware at the DNS layer, before they reach the network, and backed by Talos threat intelligence.</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/cloudflare-application-security-and-performance/reviews"><strong>Cloudflare Application Security and Performance</strong></a>: Through its Gateway and Zero Trust features, reviewers filter traffic and secure access before it reaches infrastructure, with bot and threat controls enforced at the edge.</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/scoutdns/reviews"><strong>ScoutDNS</strong></a>: Built as a protective DNS solution that blocks malicious domains and shadow IT at the DNS layer before they reach endpoints, using a lightweight agent. Its reviewers are mostly MSPs and smaller IT teams.</li>
</ul><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">If you moved phishing defense to the DNS layer, did it actually reduce what reached your endpoint tools, and where did it fall short on newer or fast-rotating domains?</p>

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: 2 months ago
- Author title: Marketer
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;Cisco Umbrella and DNSFilter are both well-established names for blocking threats at the DNS layer before they reach the endpoint. Cloudflare&#39;s application security suite covers similar ground if you&#39;re already on their network.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: 4 days ago



### Comment 2

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;The two halves of the title need different capabilities, and reviews mostly speak to the first. Blocking phishing is a reputation and classification problem, which category feeds handle well. DNS tunnelling exfiltration is a traffic pattern problem: unusually long query names, high query volume and high entropy aimed at a domain that may itself look entirely legitimate, so no blocklist catches it. If exfiltration is genuinely in scope, the capability to ask about is anomaly detection on query characteristics rather than domain categorisation. Worth checking whether the tool reports per-client query volume at all, since that&#39;s the signal you&#39;d alert on.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: 5 days ago
- Author title: Tech Consultant



### Comment 3

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;Cisco Umbrella noticeably cut down what was reaching our endpoint tools once it went in. The Talos threat intelligence feed catching known-bad domains before a connection even got made took a real chunk of alerts off our EDR&#39;s plate.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: 7 days ago
- Author title: SEO Content Writer



### Comment 4

The claim worth testing in a proof of concept is the one DNSFilter reviewers keep making: fewer incidents reaching EDR and fewer helpdesk tickets once DNS-layer blocking went in. That&#39;s measurable in your own environment inside a month. Where reviews go quiet is exactly where you&#39;d worry, newly registered and fast-rotating domains. DNSFilter&#39;s machine-learning classification and Umbrella&#39;s Talos feed both exist for that gap, but I haven&#39;t seen either review base claim it&#39;s closed. I&#39;d run whichever tool in log-only mode against a week of real traffic and count what it would have caught before trusting anyone&#39;s numbers.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: 2 months ago





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