At NEWROCKIT, we’ve always believed that the best security stops a threat before it ever touches your business. That’s why we’re excited to share one of the most impactful tools we’ve recently deployed for our clients here in Northeast Louisiana: DNSFilter.
If you’re a business owner in West Monroe, Monroe, Ruston, or anywhere across the region, this is a solution worth knowing about — because the threat it protects you from is one most local businesses don’t even realize they’re exposed to.
What Is DNS — and Why Should You Care?
Every time someone in your office types a website address, opens an email link, or your software “calls home” to check for updates, your computer sends a DNS query. Think of DNS (Domain Name System) as the internet’s phone book — it translates human-readable addresses like yourbank.com into the IP numbers computers actually use to connect.
Here’s the problem: nearly 9 in 10 cyberattacks involve DNS at some stage. Attackers use this because DNS traffic is often unmonitored, fast-moving, and trusted by default. Ransomware phones home through DNS. Phishing sites resolve through DNS. Malware downloads happen through DNS. It’s one of the most exploited layers in cybersecurity — and historically, one of the least protected.
What Is DNSFilter?
DNSFilter is a cloud-based, AI-powered DNS security platform that acts as a guardian at the front door of your internet connection. Before your device ever loads a webpage or connects to an external server, DNSFilter checks the destination against a constantly updated threat database. If the destination is known malicious — or even brand new and suspicious — the connection is blocked. The page simply never loads. The threat never reaches your network.
What makes DNSFilter stand out from older solutions is its use of real-time AI classification through a proprietary engine called Webshrinker. Instead of relying on static blocklists that might be weeks or months out of date, DNSFilter can identify and block new phishing sites within minutes of their registration. That matters enormously when attackers are spinning up fresh malicious domains daily to evade traditional filters.
What Can DNSFilter Do for Your Business?
Here’s a breakdown of what DNSFilter brings to the table for a local SMB:
🛡️ Threat Blocking
- Blocks malware, ransomware callbacks, phishing sites, and command-and-control connections at the DNS layer — before any damage occurs
- Identifies threats across 8 threat categories and 36 content categories
- Stops nearly one-third of all security incidents before they ever reach your devices
🔒 Content Filtering & Acceptable Use Policies
- Lets you set policies for what types of websites employees can access on your business network
- Block time-wasting or inappropriate content (social media, gambling, adult content, streaming) during work hours
- Supports compliance with frameworks like HIPAA and PCI DSS — important for medical offices, law firms, retailers, and other regulated businesses in our area
📱 Protection Everywhere — Not Just at the Office
- DNSFilter’s roaming client extends protection to laptops and devices working from home, coffee shops, or job sites across the region
- No VPN required — employees stay protected on any network
📊 Visibility and Reporting
- Clear, real-time dashboards showing what’s happening on your network
- Detailed query logs and exportable reports so you know exactly what your network is doing
- Quickly spot unusual activity that might indicate a compromised device
⚡ Fast and Easy to Deploy
- DNSFilter is cloud-based, so there’s no hardware to rack and no complex configuration
- Deployment typically takes under an hour
- Works across Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, and more
Why This Matters for Northeast Louisiana Businesses
You might be thinking, “We’re a small business in Calhoun or West Monroe — why would cybercriminals target us?” The honest answer: because you’re exactly who they target.
Large enterprises have dedicated security teams, million-dollar toolsets, and compliance departments. Local businesses — medical clinics, law offices, car dealerships, contractors, restaurants, retail shops — often run lean IT setups with less visibility into what’s happening on their networks. That makes them attractive targets.
Ransomware attacks against small businesses frequently start the same way: a user clicks a link, that link resolves a malicious DNS query, and suddenly a connection to a command-and-control server is established. From there, the clock is ticking. Files get encrypted. Operations stop. Recovery costs — lost productivity, IT remediation, potential data breach notification — can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, or more.
DNSFilter stops that chain at the very first link.
How NEWROCKIT Deploys and Manages DNSFilter for You
As a managed service provider, we don’t just hand you a license and walk away. Here’s what working with NEWROCKIT on DNSFilter looks like:
- Assessment — We review your current network setup and identify gaps where DNS-level threats could enter.
- Deployment — We configure DNSFilter for your environment, deploy roaming clients to any laptops or mobile devices, and set up policies tailored to your business.
- Policy Tuning — We whitelist the business tools you rely on and set content filtering appropriate for your team and industry.
- Ongoing Monitoring — We monitor your DNSFilter dashboard as part of your managed IT service, watching for anomalies and adjusting policies as your needs change.
- Reporting — You’ll have access to clear reports showing your network’s security activity, so you’re never in the dark.
DNSFilter fits naturally into the security stack we build for our clients alongside tools like Avanan for email security and endpoint protection — layered defense that doesn’t require you to become a cybersecurity expert to benefit from it.
The Bottom Line
If you’re running a business in Northeast Louisiana and your current security strategy is “we have antivirus and a firewall,” you have a gap. DNS is the attack surface most often overlooked — and DNSFilter closes it affordably, quickly, and without disrupting how your team works.
We recently deployed DNSFilter for a client and the difference in network visibility alone was eye-opening. Within the first week, we identified blocked connections to known malicious domains that the client had no idea were happening in the background. That’s exactly what layered security is supposed to do.
Ready to add DNS-layer protection to your business? Give us a call at (318) 532-5964 or shoot us an email at hello@newrockit.com to schedule a discovery call. We serve businesses across West Monroe, Monroe, Ruston, Calhoun, and all of Northeast Louisiana — and we’d love to help you close this gap before an attacker finds it first.
NEWROCKIT is a managed IT services provider based in Calhoun, LA, serving businesses across Northeast Louisiana with cybersecurity, managed IT, development, and Microsoft 365 solutions.
