06-05-2021, 02:35 PM
If you think that you can't be traced by using a VPN, think again.
A VPN is simply an encrypted tunnel to another place on the internet - it can be used to conceal your real IP address, but not necessarily conceal you as a user of the internet.
When your traffic pops out of the other end of a VPN, say in Germany, it appears to all intents and purposes that you are in Germany. But it's still you.
However there any many tricks that internet services can use to detect the presence of a VPN and to leverage that knowledge. e.g. timezone or browser language differences between where your IP address claims you are and what your traffic from your browser actually says you are. The BBC are particularly good at detecting VPN usage and if iPlayer thinks you are using a VPN it will barf. See the attached image...
Also, the moment you use any personalised service (e.g. email) over a VPN, the new VPN IP address immediately becomes known to watchers, be that Google, Microsoft, the NSA, GCHQ or whoever and can be then tied to you. Normal default system applications and browsers leak information all the time.
VPNs are not a panacea - they're a tool and serve a purpose, but don't be fooled that they in any way disguise your activity on the internet.
Using a VPN when using public WiFi can help secure your connection from those folk who try to intercept and read your traffic in the cafe/station/wherever. So, this specific use case is good advice, but it doesn't conceal to the wider internet what you're doing, it just makes it difficult for someone to intercept your traffic...
I've spent a good chunk of my career doing security for banks and high net worth individuals and hiding on the internet is genuinely hard to do properly.
Using duckduckgo and an anonymous browser is a decent start, but it's a complex and subtle world out there !
If you want to see what can be found out easily simply by looking at your connection to a web page, have a look at https://whoer.net
A VPN is simply an encrypted tunnel to another place on the internet - it can be used to conceal your real IP address, but not necessarily conceal you as a user of the internet.
When your traffic pops out of the other end of a VPN, say in Germany, it appears to all intents and purposes that you are in Germany. But it's still you.
However there any many tricks that internet services can use to detect the presence of a VPN and to leverage that knowledge. e.g. timezone or browser language differences between where your IP address claims you are and what your traffic from your browser actually says you are. The BBC are particularly good at detecting VPN usage and if iPlayer thinks you are using a VPN it will barf. See the attached image...
Also, the moment you use any personalised service (e.g. email) over a VPN, the new VPN IP address immediately becomes known to watchers, be that Google, Microsoft, the NSA, GCHQ or whoever and can be then tied to you. Normal default system applications and browsers leak information all the time.
VPNs are not a panacea - they're a tool and serve a purpose, but don't be fooled that they in any way disguise your activity on the internet.
Using a VPN when using public WiFi can help secure your connection from those folk who try to intercept and read your traffic in the cafe/station/wherever. So, this specific use case is good advice, but it doesn't conceal to the wider internet what you're doing, it just makes it difficult for someone to intercept your traffic...
I've spent a good chunk of my career doing security for banks and high net worth individuals and hiding on the internet is genuinely hard to do properly.
Using duckduckgo and an anonymous browser is a decent start, but it's a complex and subtle world out there !
If you want to see what can be found out easily simply by looking at your connection to a web page, have a look at https://whoer.net
sıʌǝɹq ɐʇıʌ `ɐƃuol sɹɐ
ʞɔıu
ʞɔıu
