VPN is a tool, which protects and secures users online activity and traffic data from the eavesdropping eyes like hackers, hijackers, higher authorities, and ISPs.
Through confusing IP and DNS fortification, the user remains anonymous while surfing the web.
A hidden secret of VPN manufacturing is that most VPNs seep. An in-depth study of Android free VPN apps reveals that shockingly 84% of these applications draw off the user’s IP address. There are many paid VPNs which are susceptible to data seeps too.
Numerous VPN services which sell and advertise themselves as one the best privacy and security solutions but in reality, they leak user’s IP address along with DNS requests. Leaks such as IP leak, DNS leak, or WebRTC leak expose you and put you in dangerous circumstances contingent on your location, and online activities including political dissent, bloggers and journalist in tyrannical countries.
VPN encryption is crucial and helpful in hiding the IP address and letting you sidestep the website restrictions. Moreover, it minimizes the possibilities of data access by any third party. However, the actual IP address is given by your service provider always show your location, traffic data, and online activities to the ISP.
For example, have you ever noticed a message like ‘’this video is unable in your region’’ or a similar display message like ‘’This video cannot be accessed.’’ The reason for such disclaimer is that your real IP address reveals your location and you are incapable of viewing any content which is blocked in your region/country.
Due to all such reasons, VPN is getting unique and unusual attention. The number of VPN users has shown a significant rise in the past few years, but, many of them are new to this innovative technology and are not aware of the privacy and security risks which a VPN might have.
What makes the VPN’s connection weak?
The significant and recently found fault to which not many people are aware is of faulting VPN encryption. A flaw in VPN encryption not only makes the VPN connection weak but also reduces and risks user’s security. The remote sites can take advantage of the browser’s WebRTC attribute, built-in to most browsers.
In such circumstances, it is quite easy for hackers to know the user’s real IP address even if they have secured themselves with a VPN connection. The websites are not using this technique to expose the hidden IP addresses. However, in future, sites like Netflix, Hulu, and others could use the technique to block the VPN users from accessing their websites. Within a few lines of code, it is easy to find the VPN hidden details like users IP address, location, and internet provider.
The WebRTC weakness is a web-based problem. However, it can influence the applications which can render web pages and eavesdropping eyes such as hackers, government authorities, ISP, and other can trace your data and web browsing history.
In this situation, it is vital to verify your VPN connection and also to execute privacy measures to prevent any barrier to your favorite services like Netflix, BitTorrent, or any other streaming service.
Why do I need to test VPN encryption?
It is necessary to test VPN encryption because it enables us to protect and secure our traffic data and information from the access of third parties. All over the world, various organizations and businesses test VPN encryption to safeguard their confidential information and data. While individuals on the other hand also test VPN encryption to guard their real identity and to avoid identity theft, deception, and other online crimes. The encryption instigated by VPN ensures you to remain hidden on the internet, including your activities and real identity.
Methods to test VPN encryption via specific tools:
VPN encryption test is carried out via various tools. The fundamental purpose of this test is to make sure that VPN connection is working correctly. Following are some of the techniques by which you can test your VPN encryption. These tests are beneficial as they protect and secure you from the snooping eyes of hackers, higher authorities, and ISPs.
1. DNS Test:
To perform a DNS leak test, you need to visit DNS Leak Test website, which will confirm your DNS leak problem within a short interval of time. It is recommended to analyze without empowering the VPN connection and note down your location details and IP address.
Now you can turn on your VPN connection to conduct the test again. The results of the test must show a fake IP address which is given to you by the VPN provider, also the location changes according to the connected VPN server.
However, if your prior details are similar to the one with VPN connection than your DNS is leaking your IP address and traffic data.
2. P2P Torrent IP address test:
People are choosing a VPN connection for various reasons, but the main reason is P2P torrenting. It is imperative to conduct a P2P torrent IP address test to check either your anonymity is protected and secured or not. For torrent IP address test, the ipleak test is the best-considered application which provides quick and effective results. Firstly, you need to download the test torrent file on your P2P client. After download finishes, open it and check the details of IP address it contains. If it shows your real IP address and DNS, then your VPN connection is leaking your data and other information.
3. IP Address Test:
Now you can also check your IP address by visiting whatismyipaddress.com. After visiting this site if you find the same information about your location and IP address as given by the VPN connection then your VPN contains liabilities and problems.
To conduct an extended IP address test, you can perform it on IP Leak Test. This app will examine your VPN service for Java and Flash and will tell you that either they are protected or leaking information.
Other methods to test VPN encryption:
Mentioned below are some different ways by which you can test VPN encryption:
1. Verify VPN encryption on a Mac:
- You can verify your VPN encryption on Mac by downloading CocoaPacketAnalyzer on Mac and start running it. Make sure that the startup screen shows four large buttons.
- Click on Preferences to set up how you are going to capture the data.
- Click on the Capture tab and check Capture Interface.
- Now, firstly click on the Refresh button which is present ar the right side of the list box.
- Now choose the numbers from IPv4 list and numbers after it.
- Choose the number which has the IP address for the connection you’re using.
- By going to System Preferences and then clicking on Network button, you can quickly figure it out.
- Click on a Connection which has a green dot and then check the IP address.
- The IP address says 192.168.1.x, which is same as the en0-IP4-192.168.1.68 option in the list.
- Close the Capture Preferences window to go back to the main screen.
- Now click on Capturing. A dialog box will appear. From here you can choose a few settings and then can start the capture.
- Before pressing the Start button make sure to close all the programs and taskbar programs while the browser window should remain open.
- Quickly load one or two websites and click on Stop. A Window like this will appear.
- If the lines you scroll shows data which will be unreadable like the one in the picture below, then your VPN connection is encrypted.
- If the data is readable like in the picture below, then your VPN isn’t encrypted.
2. Verify VPN encryption on PC:
- Download and install free software like Wireshark on your PC.
- Open Wireshark and click on Capture.
- Now click on Options. A different menu of the same thing as the previous one.
- Click on Ethernet by which you can view your router’s IP address or usual IP address if you are behind a router.
- Click on the Start button and then reload the web page on your PC.
- Click on the Red Cross Button showed at the top of Capturing from Ethernet button to avoid a long list of capturing results.
- From the list, you will see Protocols which has different protocol results like DNS, TCP, HTTPS, etc.
- Click on different captures, and you will notice several readable stuff as shown below and this is when your VPN connection is not encrypted.
- To check the performance of your VPN, you need to carry out the previous process again by turning on the VPN connection.
- Check the protocols after carrying out the capturing process. All the protocols should be ‘’UDP’’ for effective working of VPN. After clicking on Captures, all the content displayed will be unreadable.
Preventive Measures:
The cyber crimes have increased immensely, and now it is easy to become a victim of hackers and hijackers with malevolent intentions if you are using an insecure VPN service. Many users are not aware of the WebRTC vulnerability which can affect the workability of VPN.
A user must check their VPN connection and must follow preventive measures to prevent vulnerability risks. Below are some of the useful measures which should be followed to secure and protect the users.
Deactivate WebRTC in Browser:
The Browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Opera are the ones who allow WebRTC by default. However, Internet Explorer and Safari won’t enable WebRTC until you turn it on.
- For Chrome and Opera: Install the Chrome Web extension and ScriptSafe to your browser. It can be installed in Opera browser and will deactivate the WebRTC in your browser.
- For Firefox: You can choose between two options, i.e., you can either install the deactivate WebRTC which is add-on from the Mozilla Add-ons, or you can also disable the WebRTC straightaway from the browser setting.
Conclusion:
It’s a great deal to test the VPN encryption to ensure everything is working correctly. The tests discussed above in this blog will surely help you to protect and secure your IP address along with traffic data and other online activities from snooping eyes. There are several VPN services which also offer a trial period to test if the VPN is providing enough protection to the users or not. It is a good idea to check the VPN encryption in that trial period to avoid any issue in the future.
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