ZDNS | Terms of Service

The service and what it can and cannot do

ZDNS Protective DNS is a DNS filter. Your network sends its DNS lookups to the ZDNS resolvers at 139.84.232.67 and 34.35.85.199. The second runs at a different hosting provider, so lookups keep being checked if one provider has a problem. ZDNS checks each lookup for signs that it is carrying data out, such as card numbers, South African ID numbers or machine-generated names. Once blocking is on, it answers a suspicious lookup with "does not exist", so the device never connects.

ZDNS also blocks names on Google Web Risk, Google's list of suspected phishing, malware and unwanted-software sites. That list comes from Google, which cannot guarantee it is complete or error-free: some risky sites may not be identified, and some safe sites may be identified in error. You can whitelist a site that is blocked in error.

ZDNS is not antivirus, a firewall or endpoint protection, and does not replace them. It checks only lookups that come from your registered public address and use our resolver, so a device or browser set to another DNS service, including "secure DNS", skips it. It cannot see web pages, emails or files.

It will not catch every leak, and it will sometimes block something harmless. You can whitelist those. We make no promise about detecting any particular attack, working in real time, or any uptime percentage.

Starting out: accounts, registered addresses and shadow mode

Account. Signing up gives you a login to your own dashboard. Keep it private; you are responsible for what is done with it.
Registered address. You give us the public IP address, or a small range, of your office connection. Lookups from it are treated as yours. If it changes, for example because your internet provider gives you a new one, ZDNS keeps answering your network's lookups without filtering them, so your internet keeps working, and we email you. Press "Keep my protection on" on your dashboard from a computer at the office to confirm the new address, or tell us. We may refuse ranges larger than a normal office connection.
Shadow mode. Every new customer starts in shadow mode for about 7 days. ZDNS records what it would have blocked and blocks nothing, so you can review the dashboard and whitelist the services your business relies on. We switch blocking on after reviewing it with you, and we tell you first. The week is an estimate, not a promise. If an IT partner manages your account, the partner reviews it with you and switches blocking on instead.
Blocking. From then on, suspicious lookups are blocked and shown on your dashboard. You can whitelist a domain there, or ask through the Telegram bot if you have connected it. Some requests are applied at once and others wait for us to approve them.

Price, seats and payment

The Small Office plan costs R499 a month and covers an office of up to 10 people. It is sold directly by ZDNS only. Larger offices pay R50 per seat per month, sold in packs of 25, so a pack is R1,250 a month. We are not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added. You can add seats yourself on the dashboard, in packs of 25. A Small Office customer moving up to packs pays for the new seats that month less the R499 already paid. Use of the service is subject to our Fair Use Policy.

Billing is monthly and in advance, for the package you choose. You can pay by card through our payment provider, or by EFT against an invoice.

Card. The first payment is taken at sign-up. Your card is then kept on file with our payment provider (we never see or store the card number), and each later month is charged to it automatically on its due date. We email the invoice about 7 days before. If a charge is declined we try again up to twice over the next 3 days and email you each time. You can change the card, or remove it and pay by EFT instead, at any time under Profile & billing in your dashboard. To check a new card we may charge a small amount and refund it straight away.
EFT. We email a numbered invoice. Please use the invoice number as the payment reference. The first invoice is due 7 days after we send it. Each later invoice is sent about 7 days before your next month starts and is due on the first day of that month.

Blocking is switched on once your first payment reaches us. If a card payment fails or an invoice is unpaid on its due date we will email you a reminder, and if it is still unpaid 7 days after it was due we may suspend the account as described below.

Free pilot. We may offer a free 7-day pilot in shadow mode before your first payment. Nothing is charged for it and nothing is blocked. If you decide not to continue, tell us. If we have not heard from you 14 days after the pilot ends, we may end it, with the same 7 days of unfiltered DNS described below.

A "seat" is one staff member who uses your network. You can reduce your seats from the start of the next billing month. Fees already paid are not refunded, in whole or in part, including for unused seats. We will give 30 days' notice of a price change.

IT partners who resell ZDNS buy packs at a wholesale price under a separate partner agreement, with a minimum of 100 seats.

Your responsibilities

Give us correct information, and keep your registered address current.
Use ZDNS lawfully, and tell your staff that their lookups are recorded. The Data Processing Agreement has a notice you can use.
Whitelist with care. Whitelisting a domain tells ZDNS to stop checking it, so a wrong entry can let data out.
Keep your login private, and tell us at once if you think someone else has it.
Do not try to disrupt, probe or test ZDNS systems without asking us first.
Do not resell ZDNS without a partner agreement.

Availability, pausing, suspension and ending the service

We work to keep ZDNS running, but we do not promise a particular level of uptime. If both of our resolvers are unreachable, lookups through them can fail. We will tell you about planned maintenance that affects you.

Emergency pause. You can pause blocking from your dashboard for up to 24 hours. Lookups are still checked and recorded, and blocking comes back on by itself.

Suspension and ending. We may suspend an account for non-payment or for a serious breach of these terms. After a suspension or cancellation your DNS keeps working, unfiltered, for 7 days so you are not cut off. After that, lookups from your registered address are no longer answered, so point your router back to your own DNS before the 7 days end. You can cancel with 30 days' notice by emailing admin@zdns.co.za. What happens to your data afterwards is in the Privacy Policy and the Data Processing Agreement.

Liability, changes and the law that applies

Our total liability to you under these terms is limited to the fees you paid in the 3 months before the claim arose. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, such as lost profits or lost data. Nothing in these terms excludes any liability that the law does not allow us to exclude.