Staff Highlight: Babak Farrokhi
At Quad9, we aim to show appreciation for the dedication of our staff and their contributions to the growth and health of the organization by showcasing quarterly staff highlights. This quarter, we are featuring Director of Operations, Babak Farrokhi.
Babak Farrokhi has served as Quad9’s Director of Operations since July of 2023 and brings three decades’ worth of experience in network and software engineering, as well as extensive knowledge in engineering leadership. With Quad9, Babak is an integral part of the team that designs, deploys, and maintains Quad9’s Anycast DNS Resolver network. Babak leads our team in operating this network which spans 117 countries, including many areas that are underserved and more susceptible to threats. He says, “One thing that differentiates our work from other open DNS resolvers is that we are a not-for-profit, and our mission is to provide our users with a secure and privacy-friendly service. Our goal is to expand our services to regions that need our services the most, not just to areas where there is money to be made”
While pursuing goals of expansion, Babak and his team have to ensure Quad9 is providing a reliable service that supports the latest standards and best practices. “Our users have a high bar for privacy, security, and reliability, and we must ensure we stay above that bar. In fact, we work hard to move the ‘bar’ for the DNS community overall, and that is a challenge that I like to work on every day,” Babak says.
After years working in the for-profit sector, Babak joined Quad9 where he immediately noticed the attention placed on improving products for the sake of the end users rather than profit. Babak finds this focus on the users to be the most rewarding part of his position at Quad9. He recalls several instances where users have shown their appreciation for his work and the service that Quad9 provides which makes his efforts even more gratifying. Babak says, “We are always excited to deploy to new locations or expand capacity, as it immediately enhances the security and experience of hundreds of thousands of users. It especially makes us more proud when we expand our services into an underserved part of the world where other commercial service providers have no interest in providing services.”
Babak emphasized that what separates Quad9 from other organizations offering DNS services is our commitment to each individual user’s right to privacy. He says, “Since we are a non-profit, we have no responsibility to prioritize shareholders over users, because there are no shareholders.” Quad9’s allegiance to privacy and user-focused service will always be core to its mission, which was a compelling reason for Babak to join the team and support its growth.
