Anonymous Ip Vpn
How do I Hide My IP Address? – Avast
What is an IP address, anyway?
An IP address is a series of numbers that identifies your device or network on the internet. Activity on the internet is a series of two-way communications between clients — software, such as a web browser, that requests data — and servers, which reply to clients with responses. Every client has an IP address that tells servers who is making the request.
So, it’s easy to understand what an IP address is and also why they’re important. IP addresses let search engines like Google know where to send the results of a search, help websites know who’s visiting their site, and make sure you receive the emails that are addressed to you.
In other words, IP addresses undergird how the internet works in general. Thankfully, it’s very easy to find your IP address if you need this information.
Three ways to hide your IP
Now, let’s take a look at three tools you can use to hide your IP address. Each offers its own blend of privacy, security, and practicality.
1. Use a VPN
A VPN is an intermediary server that encrypts your connection to the internet — and it also hides your IP address. A VPN encrypts all your traffic, not only in your browser but also in other apps, and then passes traffic onward to its destination. They’re a popular privacy solution, and as such, there’s a strong incentive for VPN providers to design tools that are as easy to use as they are secure.
Here’s how to hide your IP address with a VPN: Simply download a VPN such as Avast SecureLine VPN, log in, and turn it on to protect both your IP address and your internet traffic.
How does a VPN hide your IP address?
When you’re using a VPN, your IP address is hidden because your traffic takes a detour through the VPN server. When your traffic — sites visited, online apps used, uploads, downloads, etc. — reaches its destination, it does so under a “virtual” IP address assigned by the VPN.
There’s only one party who’ll be able to see your actual IP address: your VPN provider. That’s why you should choose a trusted VPN provider that isn’t going to keep logs on your activity.
Avast SecureLine VPN is a safe, secure, and convenient way to mask your IP address. It’ll hide your online activity from your internet service provider (ISP), employer, school, and anyone else on your network, including a snooping cybercriminal. And we never keep any logs on sites you visit, apps you use, or content you view.
2. Use Tor
Comprising thousands of volunteer-run server nodes, Tor is a free network that conceals your identity online via multiple layers of encryption. When you access Tor, typically by using the free Tor Browser, your traffic is relayed and encrypted through a series of three relay nodes, each of which decrypts one layer of encryption to learn the identity of the next node. When your traffic leaves the final node, it’s fully decrypted and sent to its destination.
The relay system hides your IP address, but not without cost: because Tor’s encryption system is so thorough, it takes a long time for your traffic to complete its journey. You’ll be sacrificing browsing speed for Tor’s anonymity. This is a worthwhile tradeoff when it really counts, such as for whistleblowers and political dissidents. But if you’re simply seeking to hide your IP address, when comparing Tor and a VPN, you’ll find a VPN to be a far more convenient and faster solution.
How does Tor hide your IP address?
When you use Tor, each relay node along your traffic’s pathway through the Tor network knows only the IP address of the node immediately before and after it. Even if an attacker manages to intercept your traffic while it travels from the final node to your destination server, it’d be very difficult at that point to parse your original IP address.
3. Use a proxy
A proxy server handles your internet traffic on your behalf. A proxy sits in front of a client or network of clients, forwarding requests while also receiving and delivering responses from servers. You may need to manually adjust your device’s proxy settings if you want to use a proxy.
Unlike a VPN, most proxies won’t encrypt your traffic, and they also won’t hide your IP address from anyone who can intercept your traffic on its way from your device to the proxy. Proxy servers, especially free web-based proxies, tend to be less reliable than VPNs. That’s why proxies are best used as a quick, temporary solution as opposed to a long-term privacy plan.
How does a proxy hide your IP address?
Some proxy servers can mask your IP address with a fake one. You’ll appear as though you’re based in the same country as your proxy server. If you’re using a proxy to hide your IP, be aware that not all proxies offer equal protection.
Transparent proxies conceal neither your IP address nor your use of a proxy.
Anonymous proxies hide your IP address but not your use of a proxy.
High anonymity (or elite) proxies hide both your IP address as well as your use of a proxy.
Some sites or content platforms may block traffic from known proxies, so you’ll have to be careful if you’re trying to use a proxy to access media.
Why should I hide my IP address?
Your IP address identifies you online, and in today’s data-driven world, your online activity is very valuable. It’s important to hide your IP address so that you can regain control over your privacy while you’re online. Among other sensitive info, your IP can reveal your shopping and buying habits as well as your physical location. So why hide your IP? You’ve got plenty to gain, and not much to lose.
Hide your IP to browse anonymously
Advertisers and marketers can track you across the internet and analyze your browsing habits with the goal of marketing to you more effectively. Unfortunately, even hiding your IP address won’t stop them, because tracking cookies also deliver this information — which is why you should regularly take the time to delete cookies from your browser.
To take private internet browsing to the next level, consider a dedicated private browser like Avast Secure Browser. It includes a range of advanced anti-tracking features to let you use the internet without leaving any clues behind that companies and individuals can use to follow your activity.
Hide your IP to shield your location
Hide your IP address behind another IP in a different part of the world and no one will know where you really are. This includes websites and services that host geo-restricted content. For example, if you’re traveling abroad and want to access movies or TV shows that are available only for your home country, you can use a VPN or proxy to unblock that website with a false IP address in the correct location.
Many IP addresses are linked to a real-world address, or at least to a general location. If you’re frequently using false IP addresses to change your online location, no one will be able to figure out where you actually are.
Can my IP address ever truly be hidden?
While it’s not possible to hide your IP address from everyone, you can achieve an effective level of privacy sufficient for everyday needs. With a VPN, the only entity that can link your online activity to your IP address is your VPN provider itself. This is why it’s so important to choose a VPN provider with a reliable reputation for security, and one that doesn’t keep logs of user activity.
Your ISP can see the type, timing, and amount of traffic you’re sending to the VPN server, but they won’t know the specifics. The same goes for Tor. Many proxies don’t encrypt your traffic, and so your ISP will be able to access your activity if it wants to while you’re using a proxy. And, as mentioned earlier, all the websites and services you use while connected to a VPN will see only the VPN’s IP address, not yours.
The primary purpose for hiding your IP address is to protect your online activity and location from third-party observers: websites, advertisers who use ad tracking techniques, and cybercriminals. When your safety and privacy is at risk, it’s important to be proactive.
What is IP masking?
IP masking is the technique of concealing your IP address by adopting a false one. This is how hiding your IP address works — they’re two ways to refer to the same thing. If you’re interested in learning how to mask your IP address, you can apply the same techniques described in this article. After all, the only way to hide your IP address and still use the internet is to mask it behind another one.
Your traffic is always going to need an IP address online, since that’s how websites and services know who’s making the requests and where to send the replies. Clients use IP addresses to reach servers, and servers use IP addresses to send requested data back to the correct client.
That request-and-response system is part of the TCP/IP model, which governs how devices on the internet communicate with one each another. IP addresses are classified in a variety of ways: IPv4 vs. IPv6, public vs. local, and static vs. dynamic IP addresses. Read more about IP addresses here.
Hide your IP the easy way with a VPN
Avast SecureLine VPN lets you hide your IP address by choosing from any one of our blazing-fast servers located in dozens of countries all over the world. With your online activity securely encrypted and our no-logging policy, you’ll be able to easily access blocked content, disrupt tracking techniques, and browse the internet freely, with complete confidence in your online privacy.
Does a VPN Make You Anonymous? – Tech Advisor
We explain how a VPN works, how it helps to protect your identity online but doesn’t make you anonymous.
A VPN can give you extra privacy online, but does it really make you anonymous?
By
| 02 Dec 2020
There are plenty of VPN services which claim that they make you anonymous online, but is this really true? Until you understand how a VPN works, you might well think no-one can identify you as you browse websites and use online services.
But this isn’t the case at all: your behaviour online can reveal who you are and no VPN provider should be claiming to make you anonymous.
Allow us to explain why.
How does a VPN give you privacy?
Let’s be clear from the start: a VPN offers better privacy. Privacy isn’t interchangeable with anonymity and VPNs don’t make you anonymous.
When you press the Connect button in your VPN app, an encrypted connection is established between the device you’re using and a VPN server in the location you choose.
Being encrypted, no-one can see what you’re up to: the websites you’re looking at, the messages you’re sending, the files you’re downloading.
This applies for the encrypted portion of the connection which is illustrated in the image below: it’s encrypted only to the VPN server. So the VPN service can see exactly which sites you’re visiting, who you’re talking to, when and for how long.
The connection between the VPN server and website (or web service) isn’t encrypted but your identity is protected because the server changes your IP address. For better protection use a VPN service that offers a ‘double VPN’ where your connection is routed via two servers and your IP address is changed twice.
An IP address is a unique code which can be traced back to a particular location and along with other information such as your device identifier (such as ‘iPhone 12’). But when you use a VPN, you get a new IP address which masks your real one. Along with using a different DNS, which is like the internet address book that translates a website’s name to its IP address, a VPN helps prevent that website and anyone who would try to figure out who you are from doing so.
This is why VPN services claim to make you anonymous.
So why am I not anonymous while using a VPN?
If you sign into a website, you immediately reveal your identity. That may be only an email address, but if you have your name, address, gender, date of birth and payment information stored on your account, this is a clear picture of exactly who you are.
Plus, it’s not impossible for those with the appropriate knowledge and tools to work out who you are based on things like your digital footprint – the trail of bits of information you leave behind as you use the internet. Sure, a VPN and encryption make it difficult, but the point is that it’s not impossible.
You should also know that even if your connection is encrypted, or your email or messages, the metadata isn’t. Take Signal as an example. This is the go-to app if you want to communicate securely, but even though the messages are encrypted, the metadata can reveal who you’re talking to, even if not what you’re saying.
The bottom line is that VPNs don’t offer anonymity. They do give you extra privacy and security and you certainly should use one – ideally all the time. Use a trustworthy one, too. Here are some of the VPN services we recommend you pick.
But if you want true privacy you’ll have to work a lot harder.
Related articles for further reading
How to hide your IP address
What is a VPN and why you need one
How to use a VPN
How to speed up a VPN
Best VPN services (plus free options)
Best UK VPN
Author: Jim Martin, Editor
Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services, antivirus and web hosting. He also covers electric bikes, dash cams and smart home tech.
Can You Be Tracked if You Use a VPN in 2021 – Surfshark
2021, August 25 · 12 min read
In short: can a VPN be tracked?
It’s really difficult to track a VPN because your IP (Internet Protocol) address is changed and your online activity is encrypted. Some internet service providers (ISPs) or websites may know that you’re using a VPN, but they can’t see your actual online activity.
Why do millions of people around the world use VPNs? Reasons vary, but many agree that it helps them feel at ease on the internet. It’s becoming increasingly challenging to have privacy online, and a VPN does a great job of protecting its users from digital spying, tracking, data collection, invasive advertising, and cybercriminals.
But is a VPN an all-round solution to the invasion of online privacy? It’s natural to raise these questions. That’s why I’m here to answer them.
What do we talk about when we talk about tracking?
It’s important to first understand what tracking is in this context. There are three aspects to it:
Can someone see that you’re using a VPN?
What information is available to them?
Can they see what you’re doing online?
Let’s explore it.
In what ways can you be tracked online?
Malware. Accidentally installing malware on your device can result in severe issues like stolen personal information or even fraud.
IP address. Unless you use a VPN, a proxy, a Tor browser, or any other privacy protection tool, your real IP address is visible to websites you visit.
Cookies. Advertisers can track you across the internet based on cookies, whether you use a VPN or not. However, popular browsers like Google Chrome allow you to block cookies if you’d rather not have your internet habits saved and stored on the internet.
Digital fingerprinting. More intrusive than cookie-based tracking, fingerprinting uses your computer settings, software, web browser preferences, and other similar things to make a digital portrait of you.
DNS leak. DNS leaks can happen when a VPN or a DNS is not set up correctly and when your device gets hacked. These leaks can compromise your privacy by exposing your activity online. To avoid DNS leaks, use a VPN that provides you with their own DNS addresses.
Doxxing. Doxxing is a malicious practice that people use to expose someone’s private information, like their home address or workplace.
As you can see, an IP address isn’t the only identifier on the internet. Thus, a VPN isn’t the only solution to online threats. Apart from anti-virus programs, we should also be cautious about suspicious links and emails.
Phishing is as old as the internet. And no one is really safe from it because modern phishing tactics can be seamless. We can all feel a bit spaced out sometimes and not notice warning signs when they’re there. It goes without saying, though, that not losing common sense on the internet is crucial.
Apart from that, there are also tools that help filter out email scams, like CleanWeb by Surfshark.
Who can (potentially) see that you’re using a VPN?
Not every person online will see that you’re connected to a VPN. But some can. Who has access to this information, and how can they see it?
Let’s answer the who:
Your ISP (Internet Service Provider);
websites or apps (e. g., Netflix);
hackers.
Let’s answer the how:
Since your ISP provides you internet service, they can see the connections you make through their servers. It doesn’t mean that there are bold letters proclaiming that you’re using a VPN, but based on IP addresses and encrypted traffic, they could theoretically connect the dots.
Some apps and websites don’t give access to their service if you’re using a VPN. They can detect it by blacklisting IP addresses that many different people around the world use to connect. This kind of IP looks suspicious to a service provider; thus, it gets blocked.
Hackers can see that you’re using a VPN if they try to get to your data through an unsecured network (e. g., a public Wi-Fi without a password), or if you connect to a fake open Wi-Fi created by shady persons.
It’s important to note that your ISP or an online service seeing that you use a VPN isn’t bad news. That’s because it doesn’t mean that they can see what you’re sharing. When you connect to the internet through a VPN, your IP address appears that of a VPN, so your real IP address cannot be tracked.
Mask your VPN traffic with obfuscated servers
A VPN hides your online traffic, while an obfuscated server hides your VPN usage. It’s like an invisibility cloak — sometimes called a stealth VPN.
Where can you “get” those obfuscated servers? Well, some premium VPN providers (Surfshark included) use them. At Surfshark this functionality is called Camouflage Mode.
Obfuscation is great for bypassing various VPN blocks, like Hulu or Netflix, as well as the Great Firewall of China.
Is a free VPN a viable option for privacy?
In the last few years, VPN popularity skyrocketed. That’s why there are seemingly hundreds of VPN apps promising privacy and security online. Everyone wants a piece of a VPN market pie.
It’s essential to be extra careful when choosing your VPN provider. While a free VPN might seem like an okay choice, you should know that secure VPN technology requires a lot of investment and resources.
How do they make money if users don’t pay for the service? Usually, it means that your data is being sold to advertisers and marketing companies. Sometimes these free apps are so invasive that they get more out of you than just your online habits, purchases, and visited sites. Some can have access to your full name, phone number, or even home address.
If you’re concerned about being tracked with a VPN, I suggest not going for free options.
Can the government track you through a VPN?
Here’s the thing: federal authorities don’t waste their time on casual VPN users. There needs to be a legal foundation for them to take an interest in someone’s VPN activity.
When federal agents suspect someone of a crime, they go to an ISP to ask for connection logs. After detecting VPN connections, they might try approaching a VPN provider. If a VPN keeps no logs of users’ data, they will have nothing to offer even if they wanted to.
However, there aren’t many cases of authorities approaching VPN providers because they have multiple other methods of tracking a potential criminal down. We also have an extensive guide on “Can police track a VPN” that you might want to check out as well.
Can you be tracked if you connect to a VPN server in the same country?
Connecting to a VPN server in the same country is just as secure as connecting to a server in a foreign country. The only downside is that you won’t bypass geographical restrictions since your ISP sees you in the same location.
If a VPN disconnects, can you be tracked passively?
When a VPN disconnects, your data is no longer encrypted, and your real IP address is exposed. Your ISP has access to the activity of your IP address (e. g., the websites you visit), so you’re a much easier target for tracking when you disconnect from a VPN.
A solution to this problem is a so-called Kill Switch feature that some VPN providers offer. I’ll talk more about that in the next section.
Can a VPN be hacked?
While anything can be potentially hacked, a good VPN is safe from hacking due to all the security measures necessary for it to work. The same can’t be said for all VPNs – the free ones are especially shady and can be the actual vector for stealing your data or installing malware on your device.
So can you be tracked if you use a VPN?
The answer is that it’s difficult, but not impossible. If someone really wants to track you online, they will probably find a way to do that, whether you use a VPN or not.
However, a VPN keeps your browsing activity safe. Even those who can see that you use a VPN (i. e., your ISP, websites you visit, or even hackers) can’t access your data, real location, or any sensitive information. Make sure to choose a VPN with transparent privacy and no-logs policies, like Surfshark.
Are you ready to surf the web with peace of mind?
Written by
Ieva Bulatovaitė
Bringing you closer to the cybersecurity world one word at a time
Frequently Asked Questions about anonymous ip vpn
Can I be anonymous with VPN?
Privacy isn’t interchangeable with anonymity and VPNs don’t make you anonymous. When you press the Connect button in your VPN app, an encrypted connection is established between the device you’re using and a VPN server in the location you choose. … This is why VPN services claim to make you anonymous.Dec 2, 2020
Can IP be traced with VPN?
When you connect to the internet through a VPN, your IP address appears that of a VPN, so your real IP address cannot be tracked.Aug 25, 2020
Can you hide your IP address with VPN?
A VPN can hide your online identity by masking your IP address. It encrypts your location and the data you send and receive, helping protect your personal identifiable information (PII). … Using a VPN network can increase your protection when you go online, from hackers and cyber thieves.
