Status of the project

The DNScrypt v2 C++ implementation was taken offline by its creator and maintainer Frank Denis on the 6th December 2017, after announcing in November 2017 that the project needs a new maintainer.

The dnscrypt.org webpage lists a good number of end-user resources built from a new implementation written in Go.

At Dyne.org we rely on the v2 of the DNScrypt protocol and this older but still working C++ implementation of dnscrypt-proxy for our Dowse.eu project and we keep maintaining the C++ implementation of dnscrypt-proxy.

What is DNSCrypt

DNSCrypt is a protocol for securing communications between a client and a DNS resolver, using high-speed high-security elliptic-curve cryptography.

While not providing end-to-end security, it protects the local network, which is often the weakest point of the chain, against man-in-the-middle attacks.

dnscrypt-proxy is a client-implementation of the protocol. It requires a DNS server made available by the DNSCrypt project.

Plugins

Aside from implementing the DNSCrypt v2 protocol, the C++ dnscrypt-proxy can be extended with plug-ins, and gives a lot of control on the local DNS traffic:

• Provide nifty real-time traffic visualization using the Dowse plugin.
• Review the DNS traffic originating from your network in real time, and detect compromised hosts and applications phoning home.
• Locally block ads, trackers, malware, spam, and any website whose domain names or IP addresses match a set of rules you define.
• Prevent queries for local zones from being leaked.
• Reduce latency by caching resposes and avoiding requesting IPv6 addresses on IPv4-only networks.
• Force traffic to use TCP, to route it through TCP-only tunnels or Tor.