DNS hosting
Hurricane Electric Free DNS privacy rating
Free authoritative DNS hosting from the US network operator Hurricane Electric, with forward and reverse zones, secondary DNS and dynamic DNS updates.
Summary
Hurricane Electric Free DNS scores 25 out of 100 (grade F) on the DNS hosting criteria. It meets 1 of 11 criteria: no ads or data sales. It partly meets no trackers or telemetry, transparency report and TLS configuration. It does not meet open source, independent audit, tells users about requests, security headers, DNSSEC, API access and two-factor login. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade B and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade D.
Score 25 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- No
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Partial
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
No third-party trackers were found, but a first-party cookie records where visitors come from.
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Yes
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Free service from a network operator funded by paid transit and hosting. The privacy policy says personal data is not disclosed to third parties.
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No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.
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Partial
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
The privacy policy says user information is disclosed only to comply with law or valid legal process. No request counts are published.
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No
Tells users about requests Weight 1 of 3
Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
No published policy on notifying users about data requests.
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No
DNSSEC Weight 3 of 3
Can DNSSEC be turned on for hosted zones?
DNSSEC signing is not offered or listed among the service's features.
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No
API access Weight 1 of 3
Can records be managed through an API on every plan?
No API for managing zones. Only a dynamic DNS update endpoint for records marked as dynamic.
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No
Two-factor login Weight 2 of 3
Do accounts support two-factor authentication with an authenticator app or security key?
No two-factor login is documented; the login form asks only for a username and password.
Automated tests
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Partial
TLS configuration Weight 2 of 3
Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
Grade B
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No
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade D (30/100+)
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Not tested yet
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Not tested yet.