vpn Find Out If Your VPN Leaks Your IP Address

[vissha]

Find Out If Your VPN Leaks Your IP Address

 

Find out if your Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection leaks your computer's IP address and how it is leaked to plug the leak.

 

Virtual Provider Networks (VPNs) are used for a variety of purposes. Common reasons include protecting one's privacy on the Internet, improving the security of the Internet connection, bypassing censorships and blocks, and using it for business purposes.

 

If you use a VPN for privacy, regardless of whether that is your main reason for using it or just a nice addition, you may want to make sure that your "real" IP address is not leaked when you are connected to the VPN.

 

The reason for this is simple: there is no privacy if the device IP leaks.

 

The IP address links back to you directly. While a court order is usually required to link the IP to a name, it alone can reveal information such as the country and region you are connecting to directly.

 

Find out if your VPN leaks your IP address

 

 

It is suggested to verify that a VPN connection does not leak IP address information. I suggest you do so on every connect, but at least the first time you connect to it and maybe occasionally afterwards as well.

 

There are plenty of sites out there that you can use for the purpose. Good news is that you only need to load one of them to find out whether your VPN leaks information.

 

The site that I use frequently is IP Leak. You find other sites for that purpose listed on our privacy test resource listing.

 

Note: It is recommended that you disable any script blocker (including ad-blockers) when you run the test as they may block scripts from running on the site that are required to give you an accurate reading.

 

All you need to do is connect to the site, and wait for it to display the results of its analysis. This should not take longer than a couple of seconds.

 

IP Leak tests the following:

1. The IPv4 IP address.
2. The IPv6 IP address.
3. Whether WebRTC leaks the IP address.
4. Whether DNS leaks the IP address.
5. Whether a proxy is used (if not transparent).
6. Torrent address detection.
7. Geolocation detection.
8. Look up of the IP address that reveals Tor and AirVPN use, ISP, organization, country, and more using public databases.
9. User agent and system information.

If you see different IP addresses or locations, say the correct one for the IPv4 IP address, and another for the IPv6 IP address, then there is a chance that third-parties that you connect to see both IP addresses as well.

 

You may want to make sure that the IP address and the country that IP Leaks displays after the test matches the VPN Provider's network.

 

Closing Words

 

It is highly recommended to run tests regularly to find out if your VPN connection leaks your IP address. While you may not want to do so on each connect, I recommend you do so at least on first connect, on every software update, and every now and then in between.

 

If you notice a leak, you may want to plug it before you start using the VPN. How that is done depends largely on the leak and the client you use to connect to the VPN.

 

Some VPN providers provide leak protection options in the VPN clients that they provide their customers with.

 

Now You: Talking about VPNs: which do you use and why?

 

Source

[Airstream_Bill]

I am good according to the link you use.  That is good.

[mehdibleu]

thank you for all these information

.

i use personnally windscribe that i discovered by chance a few days ago. I've chosen this VPN because there was a promotion that allowed to have a lifetime license using this VPN so i took this opportunity because i don't think there will be such opportunity in the future.

i have to say that i asked myself why they provid this huge promotion to the public ? what is the point of making this kind of big advantages ? do we have to worry about that ? what do you think ?

 

i did the test using "ipleak.net" adress and here what i got :

 

your ip adress : the VPN ip address is shown

your ip addresses -WebRTC detection : my real ip adress is shown

DNS adress detection : the VPN ip adress is shown

 

so what do we have to conclude from these information ?  can third parties see my real adress ip from these information ?

 

 

[vitorio]

This is very useful.

[vissha]

16 minutes ago, mehdibleu said:

Spoiler

thank you for all these information.

i use personnally windscribe that i discovered by chance a few days ago. I've chosen this VPN because there was a promotion that allowed to have a lifetime license using this VPN so i took this opportunity because i don't think there will be such opportunity in the future.

i have to say that i asked myself why they provid this huge promotion to the public ? what is the point of making this kind of big advantages ? do we have to worry about that ? what do you think ?

 

i did the test using "ipleak.net" adress and here what i got :

 

your ip adress : the VPN ip address is shown

your ip addresses -WebRTC detection : my real ip adress is shown

DNS adress detection : the VPN ip adress is shown

so what do we have to conclude from these information ?  can third parties see my real adress ip from these information ?

 

Note: This isn't good. You should disable WebRTC in VPN and run these tests again.

FYI: In Windscribe promo there is no option to unsubscribe/disable newsletters until delete account as mentioned here. Also, there are issues with accessing top websites in certain countries servers as mentioned here.

[mehdibleu]

17 minutes ago, vissha said:

 

Note: This isn't good. You should disable WebRTC in VPN and run these tests again.

FYI: In Windscribe promo there is no option to unsubscribe/disable newsletters until delete account as mentioned here. Also, there are issues with accessing top websites in certain countries servers as mentioned here.

 

it's done through firefox by changing one option (about:config)

here what i get now :

 

your ip adress : the VPN ip address is shown

your ip addresses -WebRTC detection : my real ip adress is not shown anymore with a message (no leak, RTCPeerConnection not available)

DNS adress detection : the VPN ip adress is shown

 

i suppose it's all good now. Isn't it ?

 

 

[vissha]

6 minutes ago, mehdibleu said:

it's done through firefox by changing one option (about:config)

 

i suppose it's all good now. Isn't it ?

Nope! Firefox is not just the one used to access internet. There are many programs which use to connect using IE/Edge/... You should configure VPN too to be safe. If no setting to configure/not auto-disabled , the VPN is complete jerk.

[mehdibleu]

9 minutes ago, vissha said:

Nope! Firefox is not just the one used to access internet. There are many programs which use to connect using IE/Edge/... You should configure VPN too to be safe. If no setting to configure/not auto-disabled , the VPN is complete jerk.

 

i haven't found any option or setting to disable WeBRTC on the VPN i use (windscribe)

so do you suggest to leave that VPN and find another one more secure that this one ? If yes, which VPN do you suggest me to install ?

[vissha]

2 hours ago, mehdibleu said:

i haven't found any option or setting to disable WeBRTC on the VPN i use (windscribe)

so do you suggest to leave that VPN and find another one more secure that this one ? If yes, which VPN do you suggest me to install ?

Yes, in that case you need to switch to a better VPN.
There are many better VPN's available. Read this but do note that some of the top of the list VPNs in there are sponsored. Choose accordingly. Also, note that even if a good VPN promo ask for social network/contact number then there is surely a privacy issue. Hence, don't opt for those promo.

[IronY-Man]

2 hours ago, mehdibleu said:

 

i haven't found any option or setting to disable WeBRTC on the VPN i use (windscribe)

so do you suggest to leave that VPN and find another one more secure that this one ? If yes, which VPN do you suggest me to install ?

install privacy settings addon and choose full privacy option that'll do it fine !! & dont worry I did the test too and windscribe is ok !

 

& About article, I mostly use Jondo Nyms site for a full detailed report on my browser's footprints and dns-leak info !

[mehdibleu]

1 hour ago, vissha said:

Yes, in that case you need to switch to a better VPN.
There are many better VPN's available. Read this but do note that some of the top of the list VPNs in there are sponsored. Choose accordingly. Also, note that even if a good VPN promo ask for social network/contact number then there is surely a privacy issue. Hence, don't opt for those promo.

 

Ok thank you for the link but if decide to keep Windscribe and choose to access internet only through firefox, i will have nothing to fear, right ? i mean, there will be no chance in that case that third parties see my real ip adress if i connect to internet only with firefox after the configuration change i made in firefox to disable WebRTC. Right ?

[vissha]

41 minutes ago, mehdibleu said:

Ok thank you for the link but if decide to keep Windscribe and choose to access internet only through firefox, i will have nothing to fear, right ? i mean, there will be no chance in that case that third parties see my real ip adress if i connect to internet only with firefox after the configuration change i made in firefox to disable WebRTC. Right ?

There is the issue. Not all programs/connections made using Firefox even if you make it default browser.

Once you connect to internet/VPN, most connections happen in background for most programs/apps/windows/drivers/.... You'll think that you use only Firefox and you are safe according to tests. However, it isn't since you are using Firefox to test.

Hence, the VPN has to support most s/w and also have WebRTC protection to make the VPN useful.

[46&2]

i mean, there will be no chance in that case that third parties see my real ip adress if i connect to internet only with firefox after the configuration change i made in firefox to disable WebRTC. Right ?

WRONG! for instance if you have Flash installed you might as well not even use a VPN. Flash can easily be used to bypass your VPN/proxy and see your true IP address! There are ways to anonymize Flash applets but I am not convinced that is 100% effective. There are other ways to bypass VPN/proxy too.

NB: also you can be identified by other methods other than IP such as HTTP authentication data, browser cache content, user agent and more.

[mehdibleu]

15 hours ago, vissha said:

There is the issue. Not all programs/connections made using Firefox even if you make it default browser.

Once you connect to internet/VPN, most connections happen in background for most programs/apps/windows/drivers/.... You'll think that you use only Firefox and you are safe according to tests. However, it isn't since you are using Firefox to test.

Hence, the VPN has to support most s/w and also have WebRTC protection to make the VPN useful.

 

i installed cyberghost 6 in one of your topics and applied the patch to use free servers.

 

i did the test with ipleak and here's what i get now :

 

your ip adress : the VPN ip address is shown

your ip addresses -WebRTC detection : the same VPN ip adress is show

DNS adress detection : an other ip adress is shown from another location but not mine.

 

so what can you say about that ? is it good or not yet ?

 

 

[vissha]

38 minutes ago, mehdibleu said:

Spoiler

i installed cyberghost 6 in one of your topics and applied the patch to use free servers.

i did the test with ipleak and here's what i get now :

your ip adress : the VPN ip address is shown

your ip addresses -WebRTC detection : the same VPN ip adress is show

DNS adress detection : an other ip adress is shown from another location but not mine.

so what can you say about that ? is it good or not yet ?

 

Good. However, when you turn VPN ON/Off or switch VPN countries, you should flush DNS cache to avoid DNS tracking.

Tip: You could use this guide to create shortcut on desktop to flush dns in a single step: For flush DNS, it'd be C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c ipconfig/flushdns or C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k ipconfig/flushdns

 

[mehdibleu]

11 minutes ago, vissha said:

Good. However, when you turn VPN ON/Off or switch VPN countries, you should flush DNS cache to avoid DNS tracking.

Tip: You could use this guide to create shortcut on desktop to flush dns in a single step: For flush DNS, it'd be C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c ipconfig/flushdns or C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k ipconfig/flushdns

 

 

ok thank you, it's noted but is there any risk that third parties see that DNS ip adress ?

if yes, they will see that DNS adress which is different from the one they see about the VPN ip adress and thus they will see 2 different ip adresses from 2 different locations and will probably know that the person is using VPN to hide his real ip adress. Am i wrong ?

[vissha]

6 minutes ago, mehdibleu said:

ok thank you, it's noted but is there any risk that third parties see that DNS ip adress ?

if yes, they will see that DNS adress which is different from the one they see about the VPN ip adress and thus they will see 2 different ip adresses from 2 different locations and will probably know that the person is using VPN to hide his real ip adress. Am i wrong ?

No, it isn't an issue. For example, many people use OpenDNS/Google DNS/Adguard DNS. So the same DNS have many users which will eventually have more IP. The real problem is the list of sites/servers accessed using the DNS related to the IP could reveal data if DNS is hijacked. Hence, flushing DNS cache is an important step.