What type of web filtering inspection mode focuses on DNS traffic?

The focus of DNS-based web filtering inspection mode is on DNS traffic, which plays a critical role in how web filtering operates. In this mode, the firewall analyzes DNS queries to determine the categories and reputations of the websites that the user intends to access before the actual web traffic reaches the network.

This approach allows the firewall to block requests for malicious or inappropriate sites at the DNS resolution stage, thereby providing faster and more efficient filtering. By evaluating the domain names through their DNS requests, this method helps prevent users from initiating connections to harmful sites and can effectively enforce security policies without delay.

Other inspection modes serve different purposes. For instance, FQDN-based filtering focuses on fully qualified domain names for policy enforcement but does not specifically inspect DNS traffic. Flow-based inspection is designed for analyzing the actual flow of the data packets as they traverse the network rather than focusing on DNS queries. URL-based filtering, on the other hand, inspects URLs as users attempt to access web pages but does not inherently analyze the underlying DNS traffic. Each method has its own applications, but in the context of DNS traffic, DNS-based inspection is uniquely positioned to handle and filter DNS queries effectively.