CIRA Canadian Shield provides an enterprise-grade layer of cybersecurity and privacy for Canadian households. It is a free service designed to help Canadian families reduce their risk of identity theft from phishing or malware attacks. CIRA Canadian Shield leverages CIRA’s national domain name server (DNS) infrastructure and decades of experience in protecting Canada’s internet.
To put simply, DNS is essentially the phone book of the internet. It is used to connect the website addresses we recognize with the directory of numerical IP addresses of the servers where those websites and applications live. Hackers use this infrastructure to their advantage – often trying to disguise malicious IP addresses as legitimate company websites, using misspellings or similar names. DNS is used in more than 90% of all malware and phishing attacks.
CIRA Canadian Shield acts as a layer of protection, finding these discrepancies and blocking access to malicious domains. It’s perfect for family members who may not be internet savvy, preventing them from accidentally exposing devices to malware, phishing attempts, and more.
Key features of CIRA Canadian Shield
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Powerful threat blocking: CIRA Canadian Shield has the power to block about 100,000 new malicious domains every day, often adding them to the block list within minutes of their appearance on the web1.
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Canadian data centres: With data centres in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, you can expect faster response times. In addition, your personal data stays inside Canada rather than being potentially stored on foreign servers, protecting your privacy and security.
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Protection for all devices: Designed to protect your devices while at home, and while roaming. CIRA provides instructions to access CIRA Canadian Shield for all devices.
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Multi-level protection: With multiple levels of protection available, you can chose to keep your data private, protect yourself from threats, and even block inappropriate content for children.
Who is CIRA?
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is a not-for-profit organization best known for managing the .ca domain used in Canada. Their goal is to provide a safe, secure, and trusted online experience for Canadians.
Why is SCU recommending CIRA Canadian Shield?
There’s no question that online fraud is on the rise. We do our best to provide information to our members about the importance of only clicking trusted links. However, with the increase in volume of attacks, it becomes increasingly difficult for the average Canadian to prevent online fraud from happening to them. When it comes to fraud, the best way to protect yourself from online fraud is to remain vigilant, while adding layers of protection that help prevent accidental exposure.
Who should use CIRA Canadian Shield?
CIRA Canadian Shield may not be for everyone. You’ll need to be comfortable configuring the service on your home router. CIRA provides detailed, step-by-step instructions to install this service on any of your devices. Be sure to follow their instructions, and we recommend jotting down all of your settings prior to making any changes.
Should you need technical support for CIRA Canadian Shield, please reach out to them directly. They offer web-based customer support: https://www.cira.ca/cybersecurity-services/canadian-shield/support
Learn more about CIRA Canadian Shield by visiting their website:
CIRA Canadian Shield Frequently Asked Questions
CIRA’s Cybersecurity blog
1 Cira.ca website: https://www.cira.ca/cybersecurity-services/canadian-shield/features-benefits-explained#threat
