I did a post last week entitled “I Hope This Isn’t A Trend” and in it, I mentioned how one way to protect yourself from phishing attacks was to use OpenDNS on your computer, or router. The other day I found another reason to recommend the service — malware protection.

Mac Trojan Outbreak

Last week, news come out that approximately 1% of all Mac OS computers were infected with something called the “Flashback trojan”. If this is news to you, then I strongly urge you to go read this MacWorld article from Rich Mogull. It gives you all the information you need to know regarding the outbreak, how to test to see if your Mac is infected and how to prevent becoming infected.

Apple was a little slow to release a fix, which is what led to the outbreak, but OpenDNS was quick to respond in 3 days with news that if you were using their service, you are protected. Color me impressed!

But Isn’t DNS Super Nerdy?

Yes and no. If you dig into the subject, it’s of course pretty nerdy; however, OpenDNS has made it super easy and you don’t have to be a geek to use it. You simply change two fields in the network settings on your computer, or on your router. That’s it!

For home use, I highly recommend creating a free account and setting your router to use OpenDNS. If you’re mobile, then adding the same settings to your laptop is a good idea too.

To help walk you through the process, Katie Floyd, of the MacPowerUsers podcast, did a wonderful screencast on the subject, which I’ve posted below. If that’s too much detail for you, OpenDNS has excellent tutorials as well.