VPN, a virtual private network, is an excellent tool that helps you get privacy, security, and anonymity, from third parties. A VPN sounds like everything you need when you’re browsing online and you want to stay private, but before you use a VPN you might want to know – is it possible to track a VPN? Can your location be detected with a VPN? What is the chance of being traced with a VPN? Can government track me with VPN? Can police track me with VPN? (I’m sure you haven’t done something illegal :eye_rolls:)
These are the few most obvious questions you want to know if you are a VPN user, so let’s dig deep into this to find out how safe it is to use a VPN to protect your privacy online!
Can Your Location Be Detected With A VPN?
No, your location cannot be detected with a VPN as it provides you a fake IP address that covers your real one. It gives a virtual location, so if anyone tries to know your location they will only get the fake one provided by the VPN service. However, using free VPN services can be a harm for you IP address because the does not provide you full encryption. So it is always better to use a paid one such as ExpressVPN or Surfshark. Both are the two of the best VPN companies providing services for so long with their discount codes, such as ExpressVPN coupon and Surfshark vouchers. As there are many countries where there are restrictions on VPNs, VPN obscuring techniques are used there to pass through or overcome VPN Blocks. Their countries are mainly the UAE, Iran and China.
Is It Possible To Track A VPN?
Now let’s understand how VPN can get traced with IPSs.
There are mainly three ways to detect a VPN connection, detection techniques varies from basic to advance. You can read code to check if phone is hacked or not will help you to clear your doubt.
Following are there ways how VPN traffic can get tracked:
- Firstly from the VPN user’s IP Address
- Secondly through Port Number and
- Lastly, by using Deep Packet Inspection
i. IP Address
Tracking IP address is the simplest way to track a VPN user as it is visible to the IPSs and websites and just by doing an IP address lookup it is easy to identify the VPN provider of that IP address. There are also third parties who track this IP, collect information and keep an updated record of IP addresses.
ii. Port Number
Certain types of VPN protocol is used for making VPN connections. Unique and specific port numbers are used by these protocols. Once the Port Number is known identifying the VPN connection is very simple.
iii. Deep Packet Inspection
This is an advance method of detection of internet traffic. IPSs and Governments use this method. DPI is way advance and due to the present of some technical specifications it can go through each packet structure using algorithms it is beyond IP and Port Number. As DPI can detect any VPN, VPN developers using more advance ways to safeguard the VPNs as well and make it way harder to identify by making it pretend to look like an ordinary one.
What are the others ways to track VPN?
VPN is popularly use to make it hard for governments, website owner, ISPs to connect dots and identify your Internet activity as with VPN links are missing. Yet it still doesn’t protect you completely as there are various ways that allows websites to trace you while you are surfing the internet.
5 Ways To Trace You Even When You’re Using A VPN:
- DNS leaks
- VPN logs
- Browser Fingerprinting
- Website tracking cookies
- Money Trails
▪ DNS Leaks
VPNs that are technically not strong enough can leak DNS. If you are using a VPN and it leak DNS your activities becomes visible and you no longer stay protected.
▪ VPN Logs
Many VPNs keep records of activities that their users do on the internet using their server and that is popularly known as VPN logs. VPN logs is the easiest way of tracking someone’s activity hence VPNs that collect logs must be avoided.
▪ Browser Fingerprinting
When you visit a website, browser fingerprinting is an easy and most effective way to track you with the help of the information your browser share about itself. These collected data helps digital fingerprinting to form a unique identity and the chances being tracked by this method becomes very high.
▪ Website Tracking Cookies
Cookies are used by many websites for tracking purpose and once you agree to accept cookies they are downloaded on your devices and can track your activities even on different websites.
▪ Money Trails
VPNs are Free but not all as some VPNs are paid and when user pay for them online it leaves a permanent payment history on your VPN account and saying that you’re a VPN user becomes even easier but of course, your activities is not disclosed by money trails but it still shows that you paid for the VPN.
How To Increase And Safe Guard Your Online Privacy?
A VPN has been designed to safe guard your privacy and give you access to content which normal browsing can’t and it is one of the best out there. But the only problem of using VPN is it cannot give you protection from every possible way of tracking, along with VPN there are many things that you simultaneously need to use and keep in mind when you are browsing online and you want to stay protected. For example: using a No Log VPN is the first step towards protecting your privacy. You should also use incognito window and a different browser, you can also use Tor Browser, this based on Firefox and can even give you access to Dark Web contents, for making online payments anonymously always use Cryptocurrency. You can as well use DuckDuckGo it’s a search engine and can be used in place of Google and it doesn’t keep any log. Lastly, using Tails OS helps a lot, download it on your computer and it deletes all the browsing data and history every time you restart your computer. With these techniques you can enjoy a safe browsing experience and can protect your privacy effectively.
VPN is really a very helpful tool to safeguard your privacy online and government or any other third parties generally do not take interest in normal VPN softwares users unless they detect or sense some serious activities taking place from your VPN but VPN in itself is not enough it cannot guarantee your anonymity to increase your privacy you need to combine it with other different techniques that are mentioned above and can enjoy the freedom of browsing.