Can you tell if someone is using a VPN? – VPN Success
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Using a VPN provides a level of online protection to make sure what’s private stays private. However, some people feel that if websites know a VPN is being used, it can make it difficult to use the VPN effectively.
Can you tell if someone is using a VPN? You can tell if someone is using a VPN because all their connections will be with one IP address of the VPN server they are connected to. They will also have a dedicated VPN server IP address that is different from their real IP address and this can be checked against known VPN addresses.
By being able to see the traffic from someone who is connected to the VPN, it is easy to see that they are connected to the VPN as all their traffic goes to one IP address, and that is the address of the VPN server they are connecting to. If they are not using a VPN, reviewing the traffic from their devices will lead to many different IP addresses destinations for the different websites visited.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will not be able to know which websites are visited if a VPN is used. The ISP services used will not be used to know the IP address of the websites to be connected i.e. the ISP’s DNS service will not be used either, as the VPN will provide its own DNS service. Without any detailed DNS log data to review, your ISP will only see DNS log entries for the VPN server and nothing for the websites visited.
In some cases, the IP address assigned to a VPN user can be compared to known VPN IP addresses, and this may also give up on the fact that a VPN is being used. This is one of the ways that services like Hulu and Netflix try to monitor people trying to circumvent their regional restrictions with a VPN. Once these services act as the IP address used by the VPN, connections are either blocked as with Hulu or the service becomes restricted as with Netflix.
WIFI
Connections made on Wi-Fi can be checked to see if a VPN is being used, as long as anyone checking the connections has proper access to a Wi-Fi access point or router. By looking at the traffic and seeing the encrypted connections going to the same IP address, you will indicate the potential use of the VPN.
The same goes for public Wi-Fi networks like those in coffee shops, malls, and just about everywhere these days. Anyone with access to a public Wi-Fi access point can easily tell if VPN connections are being made just by looking at the IP addresses that are being visited. If these IP addresses are just one IP address, it will become clear that a VPN is being used.
Can sites tell if you’re using a VPN?
Websites can’t tell if you’re using a VPN directly, but because they can tell which IP address is being used, they can use the IP address to determine if it’s being used by VPN providers, if it’s shared across multiple users and if it’s used differently On the behavior of ordinary customers.
In some cases, the IP address assigned to a VPN user can be compared to known VPN IP addresses, and this may also give up on the fact that a VPN is being used. This is one of the ways that services like Hulu and Netflix try to monitor people trying to circumvent their regional restrictions with a VPN.
Once these services act as the IP address used by the VPN, connections are either blocked as with Hulu or the service becomes restricted as with Netflix. If the IP address keeps appearing multiple times over a 24 hour period, this may indicate that many people are using the IP address, because it will not fall into the normal client behavior pattern.
My use of Netflix is normal with many other clients and I don’t watch Netflix for hours on end, especially not 24 hours where I need to work, sleep and live my life. But if clients from different time zones connect to the same VPN servers, then the IP address of the VPN server will be used to connect to Netflix again and again within a 24 hour period.
This could be alerting Netflix to the fact that the IP address is being held for extended periods of time that are unusual with the normal use of the client. Some VPNs regularly rotate their IP addresses which makes it difficult to know if the IP address is from a VPN or not.
Connecting to a website and then turning on the VPN connection may give up on the fact of using the VPN, especially if the location or region changes. So, if you are a customer in Atlanta and you open a website in your web browser, the site can determine your location and use browser fingerprinting techniques to be able to create a unique way to track you.
If you suddenly turn on a VPN and connect through a VPN server in Seattle, the website will know your new IP address and can depend on the evolution of the website, work on that within a few seconds. You change the location, which indicates that you are using a VPN. The browser fingerprint they set up to identify you doesn’t match the previous location, which is another anomaly they can use to identify VPN usage.
I tend to do two things first before connecting via VPN. I am using private browsing in my web browser (Incognito in Chrome, Private Browsing in Mozilla Firefox). Then I connect to the VPN service and once the connection is on, only then I connect to the website.
With this approach, I won’t leave any browser fingerprints to be able to determine my region or location (not the exact location but my home city or town) and my IP address is not associated with any browser fingerprints, making it difficult for a website to determine who I really am.
Can you prevent a website from knowing you’re using a VPN?
Yes, if you are using a VPN that rotates their IP addresses regularly, the website may find it difficult to know if you are using a VPN or not. If the VPN uses the same IP addresses all the time, the website may be able to tell if the IP addresses are from the VPN based on usage patterns.
VPNs that regularly rotate assigned IP addresses to their clients instead of sticking to the same IP addresses all the time will make it more difficult for websites to find out if a VPN is being used. As mentioned earlier, if a website continues to receive connections from the same set of IP addresses over a long period, that website may alert an unusual, unusual pattern with regular customers.
Tracking cookies can also lead to the abandonment of VPN use, as you may be able to reveal your real location based on your past browsing habits and if the location derived from the tracking cookies is different from the one derived from the IP address, this may be the last indication of usage VPN.
I tend to do two things first before connecting via VPN. I use private browsing in my web browser (Incognito in Chrome, Private Browsing in Mozilla Firefox) and this stops any tracking cookies leaving something behind when I exit the web browser. Then I connect to the VPN service and once the connection is on, only then I connect to the website.
With this approach, I won’t leave any browser fingerprints to be able to determine my region or location (not the exact location but my home city or town) and my IP address is not associated with any browser fingerprints, making it difficult for a website to determine who I really am.
I’m connecting to the VPN in the same location, if I can’t do that because I need to access something region restricted, I might consider connecting to a different region but trying to stay within a few hours of my timezone. This is my way of making sure that any change in my normal browsing behavior doesn’t alert me to the website possibly using a VPN. This is something I am currently testing for effectiveness.
conclusion
Websites and Internet services are getting smarter at recognizing when VPNs are used, and as a result may take steps to either block access or reduce “user experience,” thus limiting what customers can do on their websites.
This does not mean that these sites and services will always be able to work if using a VPN, as VPN providers themselves also work hard to stay one step ahead, making it more difficult to block their services.
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