Meet AdGuard DNS v2.22: Your DNS just got a lot harder to fool

Picture this: you get sent a link to a website that looks totally legitimate, like “google.com” — but buried in there is a Cyrillic “o” standing in for a Latin one. This technique is called an Internationalized Domain Name (or IDN) homograph attack, and it’s sneaky enough to fool anyone.

Blocklists can help, but they’re always playing catch-up, since attackers can register new lookalike domains faster than any list can track them. While browsers offer some built-in protection, they only cover so much ground.

AdGuard DNS now detects and blocks suspicious domains at the DNS level — so the connection is cut off before it even starts.

This feature is disabled by default. To turn it on, Go to Security → IDN homograph attacks protection.

Improved custom blocklists

If your organization runs an internal blocklist that is not meant to be publicly accessible, you can now easily use it with AdGuard DNS. With HTTP Basic Auth support, you can add both private organizational lists and password-protected lists from external providers.

The update also includes some quality-of-life upgrades to make things run a little smoother.

Smarter email guidance

Last but not least, we’ve rethought the emails you get from AdGuard DNS. Based on your account type (Home or Business) and activation status, you’ll receive more relevant content — setup instructions, troubleshooting tips, and feature recommendations.

That means you’ll get your DNS protection up and running faster, sort out setup issues more easily, and discover useful features over time.

As always, we’d also love to hear from you on social media and GitHub.