Sky blocking malware sites by default.

So I was browsing the internet on one of my parent’s new Sky ADSL connections after they were moved automatically over from o2 (with a week long loss of internet!).

I was browsing around a website and clicked a link to see the website of their hosting company but, instead of the website I was expecting, I see this:

Sorry, this website is blocked
http://www.ifdnrg.com has been matched to the following categories by Sky Broadband Shield:
– Phishing Malware and Spyware

Unless the ifdnrg site has been hacked and is hosting malware hidden somewhere on a subdomain.. I find it difficult to believe.

I dug some more and found that it appears to just be DNS blocking. I was able to access the site (and not be infected with malware) by changing my DNS server on the computer to OpenDNS.

The top IP – 193.200.98.50 is the real website IP. The 90.207.238.183 IP is the Sky blocked website host.

What worries me more is that Sky offer parental controls / filtering to customers. If their porn blocking is evaded simply by changing DNS on your device or computer it really isn’t very effective.