Janet Network resolver

Benefit from advanced DNS and malware protection available at no additional cost to member and customer organisations connected to the Janet Network.

The Janet Network resolver helps to protect your organisation by preventing your devices and network from accessing known malicious or compromised websites. It’s free to all Jisc member colleges, universities and research institutions and Janet connected customer organisations who have actively registered for the service.

When you sign up to the Janet Network resolver, we’ll help you to maintain a safe digital environment for your students, staff and users. Our security analysts and specialists work closely with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and other security researchers to create response policy zone (RPZ) feeds that block malicious domains. These feeds are continuously curated by our cyber threat intelligence team, ensuring that the Janet Network resolver is able to adapt to emerging threats. 

Stay ahead of the cyber threat

As a Janet-connected member or customer, you can access the service simply by registering for our cyber security portal and requesting access to the Janet Network resolver on the services page. You’ll get access to a range of security services that are designed to meet the needs of education and research, including services to help you manage your risk, identify vulnerabilities and tackle specific threats, such as DDoS, DNS attacks, phishing or spam.

Access Janet Network resolver

Our cyber security portal provides seamless access to our range of security services for members of the Janet network and beyond. Sign up to the portal to access Janet Network resolver.

Sign up

Benefits

  • Prevent access to malicious sites
    With RPZ protection, you can mitigate the risk of users' web requests being directed to compromised or dangerous web sites
  • Sign up for free
    Janet Network resolver is available at no additional cost to member and customer organisations connected to the Janet Network
  • Get subject matter expertise from Jisc
    As a Jisc member, you can get access to free advice from our CSIRT team and also share information with other members through our cyber community
  • Meet user needs, no matter how large your organisation
    This carrier grade service is designed to meet your performance and capacity needs as a Janet-connected organisation
  • Reduce costs
    By using RPZ feeds as part of Janet Network resolver, you may choose not to use an RPZ of your own, which could save you time and money
  • Community-level intelligence
    Jisc RPZ derives its data from research and education traffic so the threat intelligence is more closely targeted to your needs

Case study: Trafford College Group’s belt and braces approach to cyber security

The Trafford College Group were already in the middle of a programme to upgrade their web filtering and firewall systems when their Jisc relationship manager recommended adding Janet Network resolver.

“Janet Network resolver helps to protect our devices and any other devices that connect to our systems including students’ own devices and anyone using the guest wifi.”

“We see it as an added-value ‘belt and braces’ service. It gives us extra reassurance and it’s something we can take advantage of as part of our Jisc subscription.”

Dave Fitton, TCG’s director of IT and digital services

Find out more about how Trafford College Group improved their security posture (pdf).

Eligibility

The service is available at no additional cost to organisations connected to the Janet Network.

Use of the Janet Network resolver service is subject to the acceptable use policy and security policy.

Service levels

Availability

This service availability is as per the Janet Network - 99.7% measured monthly over a 12 month period, excluding service-affecting maintenance.

Service

  • 95% of all standard requests for the service will be completed within two working days
  • 95% of all bespoke requests for the service will be completed within three working days
  • 95% of all false positive reports will be assessed and actioned appropriately within two working days 

Additional information

Infection risk

Please note, if you have machines presently infected with malware, using the extra protections of Janet Network resolver may cause that malware to change behaviour, possibly resulting in data loss.

Jisc will not be liable for any costs or damages you may incur as a result of that data loss.

Passive data collection

Jisc will be collecting passive data from Janet Network resolver in order to measure the usage and effectiveness of the service. This data is also critical to the creation of the Jisc RPZ feed.

The passive data collected does not contain any information relating to the data’s origin;  we are only interested in the data in the DNS response. It is therefore not attributable to any organisation or individual.

Defend as one

We believe that intelligence sharing is key to making the UK the safest place to learn online. That’s why we launched our Defend as one campaign to build robust defences across the sector. By signing up to Janet Network resolver and joining our campaign, you can help to protect your organisation and the sector by working with other members to share intelligence, experiences and best practice.

Sign up to the campaign and improve your security posture.

ISO certification

This service is included within the scope of our ISO9001 and ISO27001 certificates.

Read more about International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) standards and view Jisc certificates.

ISO 9001-2015 UKAS logo

ISO/IEC 27001 UKAS logo

To help you add layers of defence to your security capability, we offer a range of services: