Hide Ip Address Chrome
How to hide an IP address in Google Chrome – Switcherry VPN
Hello, my name is Nicholas Kats. I am an employee of Switcherry VPN. In this article, you will learn what an IP address is and why, why it sometimes has to be hidden, and how to do it for users of the Google Chrome browser.
Google Chrome – the most popular browser in the world. Despite the fact that Chrome is considered one of the most secure browsers, it, like all other browsers, allows the leakage of critical information that makes it possible to identify the user. This information contains, among other things, your IP address, which immediately identifies the country and region where you live.
And not only the country – knowing the IP address of the user can learn a lot about it, almost everything, up to the home address, which is known to his Internet provider. And the Internet service provider records all the network activity of its customers in log files. According to the legislation of most countries, these log files must be stored on the servers of the Internet provider for at least six months and presented to the employees of government agencies on demand.
Thus, if you do not take any security measures and protect your personal data during your online activity, then all the most confidential information about you can fall into the hands of outsiders and can be used against you. The purpose of this article is to tell users of the Google Chrome browser how to remain anonymous while surfing the web and how to protect themselves from the leakage of personal data.
Read our review “How to hide your IP in Windows“.
Table of contents1 What is IP2 How to hide IP in Google Chrome browser2. 1 Anonymizers2. 2 Proxy extensions for the Google Chrome browser2. 3 Buy a proxy server and configure the operating system to work with it2. 4 VPN extensions for Google Chrome3 Why you should try the SwitcherryVPN extension for Google Chrome
What is IP
IP-address (Internet Protocol Address) – is a digital identifier assigned to each server, computer, or any other device connected to the Internet. There are two types of IP addresses: old IPv4 (version 4 IP addresses) and new IPv6 (version 6 IP addresses). IP addresses of the 4th version are a 32-bit binary number, which is usually represented as four decimal numbers separated by dots. A typical IPv4 address looks like this: 157. 240. 224. 35 or so: 91. 198. 174. 192. Due to the lack of IP addresses in version 4 (the total number of IPv4 addresses can not be more than 4. 3 billion), a new Internet addressing system was developed – IPv6. The IP address of version 6 is a 128-bit binary number represented by a series of hexadecimal numbers separated by a colon. Example IPv6-address: 2001:67c:2660:425:21b:21ff:feb5:b89c.
The IP addressing system allows computers and other devices to exchange information on the network. Just as any person receiving mail has a personal unique email address, any device connected to a network has its own unique IP address. And if the user does not take any measures to protect personal data, then the IP address of his computer or tablet can be identified as easily as by his postal address.
Read more about this here.
How to hide IP in Google Chrome browser
There are several proven methods of hiding IP address in Chrome
Many Internet users hide their IP address not only for security reasons. Spoofing a real IP address allows users to change their geolocation and thereby gain access to blocked sites and streaming services. Since prices in many online stores depend on the customer’s location, changing the geolocation also makes it possible to make purchases online at minimal prices.
There are several proven methods of hiding and spoofing an IP address in Chrome: installing various browser extensions designed to ensure anonymity and security of surfing on the network, as well as using anonymizers, proxy servers and VPN.
Anonymizers
Using anonymizers is the easiest way to hide your real IP address. The main function of anonymizers is to allow users to visit websites that are blocked in their countries for one reason or another. In most cases, anonymizers refer to web anonymizers – online services that allow their users to surf the web anonymously.
How anonymizers work
For the average user, the web anonymizer looks like a regular website. The main element of the web anonymizer is the address bar, in which the user enters the address of the target web page. The anonymizer uploads this page to its server and, after processing, sends it to the user on behalf of its server. That is, the web page that the user needs turns out to be «inside» the anonymizer’s web page. The anonymity and confidentiality of the user are ensured as follows:
IP-address server anonymizer substitutes the user’s IP address, so that the user can visit web resources that are blocked by their owners for viewing in their region;
IP-address of the visited web page is also substituted with the IP address of the anonymizer server, which makes it possible to overcome the censorship and blocking of the Internet provider.
Popular anonymizers
As mentioned above, using the web anonymizer is very simple – just enter the address of the site you need in the address bar, which is located in the most prominent place. The best, advanced anonymizers additionally allow you to select geolocation and configure the connection: allow or deny JavaScript, record and transfer cookies, encrypt data, etc. Popular anonymizers New IP Now, Hide My Ass, 4 Ever Proxy at the same time, they are among the best, Zend Proxy and 11 proxy – examples of the simplest web anonymizers.
New IP Now
A popular anonymizer that allows the user to change the geolocation and choose a new IP.
To visit the site you need, select the appropriate geolocation and IP from the list, enter the site address in the Connect To field, and tap Enter.
Hide My Ass
Advanced web anonymizer that allows you to select a new geolocation and set up a connection.
Select the desired geolocation from the drop-down list, enter the address of the site you plan to visit in the upper field, and tap Enter.
4 Ever Proxy
One of the most advanced web anonymizers. In addition to the server that spoofs the user’s IP address, you can also choose an intermediate web server. A secure «tunnel» connection is created between the two servers, which maximizes the security and confidentiality of the connection.
Select a new geolocation, the location of the intermediate web server, enter the address of the web page in the upper field, and click the Go button or tap Enter.
Zend Proxy
The simplest web-proxy that does not allow the user to select geolocation.
The only useful element of the page is the address bar in the center. Enter the address of the site you need in it, click on the Go button or tap Enter.
11 proxy
Very simple HTTP web anonymizer without advertising.
Is it safe to use anonymizers
Only anonymizers that use the secure HTTPS protocol can be considered relatively secure, since they encrypt traffic, protecting the user from surveillance by supervisory authorities and hacker attacks. Many old web anonymizers, for example Anonymouse, still use the insecure HTTP protocol. It is not recommended to use such anonymizers! You can also not trust the new, newly created web anonymizers, since it may well be that they were created by hackers to intercept passwords and other sensitive user data.
Anyway we strongly recommend that you do not use web anonymizers to transmit critical information, such as usernames and passwords of e-mail and social networks, bank card data, bitcoin wallets, etc. Use web anonymizers only for normal surfing on the network!
The main disadvantage of web anonymizers is the ease of blocking them. In fact, a web anonymizer by definition looks like a normal website and can therefore be blocked by an Internet service provider very easily. For example, in China, Iran, and Russia, the vast majority of popular anonymizers are blacklisted and blocked by local regulatory authorities. Therefore, for residents of these and similar countries, almost all web anonymizers are inaccessible and useless.
Features of web anonymizers
not all web anonymizers have the ability to choose geolocation. A simple anonymizer automatically redirects all user requests to the nearest unloaded server;
the ability to unblock streaming services in practice is difficult due to the fact that it is not always possible to choose a new geolocation, as was mentioned in the previous paragraph, and if such a possibility exists, the choice of available IP addresses is always very limited and, most likely, blocked. Also, due to the fact that web anonymizers significantly reduce the speed of the Internet, they can not be used to watch streaming videos;
downloading from torrent trackers is extremely difficult and unsafe, since all web anonymizers significantly reduce the data transfer speed and do not protect against tracking. Web anonymizers are created exclusively for surfing the web!
web anonymizers are available for all devices that have any modern browser installed, including Google Chrome.
Proxy extensions for the Google Chrome browser
Another way to protect your anonymity and hide your IP address for Google Chrome browser users is to install the Proxy extension. By default, the Google Chrome browser uses the system settings for using a proxy server. Proxy extensions for Chrome make it possible to use a proxy server only for this browser. That is, the system settings are not affected, other browsers running simultaneously with Google Chrome will still access the Internet directly, without using a proxy server.
How Proxy extensions work
After installing, configuring, and enabling the Proxy extension, all browser traffic will go through the intermediate proxy server specified by the user in the settings. At the same time, the «native» IP address of the user is replaced by the IP address of the proxy server. If the connection between the browser and the proxy server is encrypted (when using an HTTPS proxy), the Internet service provider will not be able to censor and block access to prohibited sites.
Popular Proxy Extensions
Proxy SwitchyOmega
Proxy SwitchyOmega – this extension allows you to manipulate dozens of proxy servers by setting the conditions for their use in the parameters. The user specifies the protocol, IP address, port number, and proxy servers. Also, in the settings, you can specify which proxy servers to use when visiting certain sites, make lists of exceptions, etc.
Falcon Proxy
Falcon Proxy – popular Proxy extension for Google Chrome browser.
Proxy Helper
Proxy Helper – the simplest proxy server manager for the Google Chrome browser.
Best Proxy Switcher
Best Proxy Switcher – this extension offers you to use free proxy servers or buy access to paid VPN servers. Unfortunately, most free proxy servers are not anonymous, do not encrypt traffic, and significantly reduce the speed of the Internet.
Is it safe to use Proxy extensions
Proxy extensions themselves are not malicious programs, but the use of proxy servers does not always guarantee security and anonymity. Proxy servers hide the user’s IP address, but they can transmit critical information about the user that can be used to identify the user. Also, the Internet service provider, using modern technology of deep packet analysis (DPI), can determine what type of content the user is viewing, what files he downloads, whether he uses a torrent, etc.
Proxy Extension Features
Proxy extensions for Google Chrome provide the user with the ability to choose geolocation (the appropriate location of proxy servers is selected);
free open proxy servers are blocked by the administration of streaming services. But even users of paid proxy servers can not always overcome the blocking of streaming services, since the entire range of available IP addresses of companies that provide proxy server rental services is usually known to the owners of video services, and is blacklisted;
to download from torrent trackers, you need to install an additional extension – the Torrent client for Google Chrome. Only paid proxy servers allow you to freely download files from torrents, but your Internet service provider, using deep packet analysis technology, can determine that you are using a torrent and block your Internet access.
Proxy extensions can be installed on any device that has the Google Chrome browser installed.
Buy a proxy server and configure the operating system to work with it
Installing the Proxy browser extension protects traffic originating only from this browser. But you can make sure that all the computer traffic goes through the selected proxy server. To do this, in the network settings of the operating system, you must specify that you want to use a proxy server and enter its parameters – IP address and port number.
How it works
Just like the Proxy extension for the browser, but it protects not just one browser, but the entire computer. From a consumer point of view, proxy servers are divided into commercial, for the use of which you have to pay and free (open) proxies.
Paid proxy servers. Now there are a huge number of companies in the world that provide proxy server rental services. In some of them, you can purchase a specific proxy server with a specified geolocation and a static IP address, while others offer to install software that allows customers to independently select the location and IP address of the proxy server and change these parameters «on the fly» for IP address rotation.
Open proxy servers. The main disadvantage of free proxies is their unstable operation and short lifetime. The «life» of free proxy servers is usually quite short. On the Internet, you can find many sites that publish regularly updated lists of «live» free proxy servers. Use open proxy servers with great caution, as they do not guarantee security. In addition, some free proxy servers are created by hackers specifically to intercept confidential information.
Is the method safe
Everything that was said above about the security of the Proxy extension for the browser also applies to proxy servers. Paid, highly anonymous HTTPS proxy servers provided for rent by reliable companies can be considered relatively secure. Using open free proxies is always associated with the risk of personal data theft.
VPN extensions for Google Chrome
VPN extensions allow you to choose geolocation, replace the user’s IP address, and securely encrypt traffic. Using VPN extensions is the best way to protect yourself from tracking and circumvent censorship and geo-blocking.
In fact, the VPN extension for Google Chrome is an ordinary VPN client that works «inside» the browser. Immediately after the VPN client starts, it creates a secure connection to the VPN server – a so-called «tunnel». All browser traffic passes through this «tunnel». The user’s IP address is substituted with the IP address of the VPN server, the data is encrypted and protected from tracking. In this case, the system settings are not affected, other browsers work on the network directly, under the user’s own IP.
Popular VPN Extensions for Google Chrome
Very important! You can install multiple VPN extensions for your Chrome browser at once, but while one extension is running, all other extensions must be disabled. Otherwise, the extensions will conflict with each other.
DotVPN
DotVPN – one of the most popular extensions for the Chrome browser. The choice of geolocation is limited to 30 countries. Only the paid version of the extension works.
– a VPN extension for the romanian company’s Chrome browser. Geolocation is limited to 20 countries. It works only after registration and payment for access.
Tunnello VPN
Tunnello VPN – this extension has a seven-day trial period, after which you must pay for access.
Hotspot Shield Free VPN Proxy
Hotspot Shield Free VPN Proxy – a popular VPN extension for the Chrome browser. In the free version, you can only connect to US VPN servers. To get the ability to choose geolocation, you need to buy premium access.
Switcherry VPN
Switcherry VPN is an extension for the Google Chrome browser of our company. It appeared in the Google Chrome store quite recently, but has already managed to gain great popularity among users due to the high connection speed and stable operation. The main thing that distinguishes our extension from the products of competitors is a large selection of countries, the full operation of the free version of the program and the low price of premium access.
Currently, a VPN is considered the safest way to change the IP address and protect personal data on the network. The VPN extension for Google Chrome will help users bypass censorship and geo-blocking, ensuring complete anonymity and privacy.
Opportunities
all full-featured VPN extensions have a choice of location;
all VPN extensions are able to unblock streaming services, but 100% success is not guaranteed;
secure download from torrent trackers is guaranteed, but the download speed may decrease slightly;
VPN extensions for Google Chrome are available for all devices and operating systems that have the Chrome browser installed.
Why you should try the SwitcherryVPN extension for Google Chrome
We have made our extension for Google Chrome as user-friendly as possible. Distinctive features of the SwitcherryVPN extension for Google Chrome:
easy to install and configure;
intuitive interface;
stable operation;
changing the current geolocation with a couple of clicks;
a large selection of geolocations – more than 70 countries are available for registered users! Our app will help you easily unblock Netflix and other streaming services, bypass censorship and geo-blocking;
the highest possible data transfer speed, which is not available to our competitors, allows you to easily download files from torrents and watch 4k video streaming;
the basic version of the extension is completely free, premium access (more professional settings) for a small fee.
Installing the SwitcherryVPN extension for Google Chrome and other products of our company will ensure your privacy, protect you from surveillance, protect you from hacker attacks, and raise your network security to the highest level.
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.
Three Ways to Hide Your IP Address – AVG
What is an IP address?
An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a string of characters that uniquely identifies your device on the web. Without this identifier, website servers wouldn’t know where to send the data that’s rendered as a website in your internet browser.
Just like your postcode, your IP address was created by a central authority — the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Once created, the IANA assigns each IP address to one of five Regional Internet Registries (RIR), which hands them out in turn to internet service providers in their region.
At the moment, there are two versions of IP addresses called IP version 4 (IPv4) and IP version 6 (IPv6). Why do things need to be so complicated? Well, IPv4 addresses are just 32 bits long, which means there can only ever be around 4. 3 billion IPv4 addresses.
By September 2015, with just about everything connected to the internet, four out of five RIRs had completely run out of IPv4 addresses! At 128 bits, IPv6 addresses are the answer: 340 282 366 920 938 463 463 374 607 431 768 211 456 addresses means we won’t be running out any time soon.
Why hide your IP address?
Just as Amazon needs your address to send you a package, servers around the world need your IP address to send you data. That means your IP address needs to be public — any website you visit must be able to access it.
You can test this out for yourself by searching “what’s my IP” on Google. But who cares if someone knows this random string of characters? Try searching “where am I” instead and you’ll begin to understand the problem.
All around the world there are free and paid subscription geolocation databases that match IP addresses to a specific location. Accuracy can range from country level all the way down to within a few houses. That’s no problem if it’s just a website trying to serve you the right language, but governments and companies with questionable motives also have access to this location data.
See for yourself how easy it is. If you have an internet connection there are a number of public sites that can reveal you IP address location like HMA! IP Info or Much worse, your IP address is scattered around the web like a signature. Almost every site you visit will log your IP address, along with the pages you requested and the information you sent and received.
If a tyrannical government, litigious record company or pesky advertiser matches your IP address to your actual identity, which is all too easy, it’s open season on your online activity.
So if you care about internet privacy and anonymity, blocking your IP address is the very first thing you should do.
The best ways to hide your IP
Use a proxy server
A proxy server works by sitting between you and your final destination on the web, passing data back and forth as needed. When you connect through a proxy, you’re effectively rerouting your traffic through another computer before landing at your intended website.
As a result, the proxy will mask your IP address with its own, so those tricky website server logs will never know you’ve been there. And if anyone thinks to check the logged IP address against a geolocation database, all they’ll see is the location of the proxy server, which might be on the other side of the world to your own device.
However, there’s a catch. Most proxies don’t encrypt your data when connecting to a regular HTTP website. It’s more difficult, but powerful actors like governments can still figure out who you are. And when they do, everything you’ve been up to is visible.
For most people though, there’s a bigger issue: proxies are slow. Very slow. You can bypass basic geo-restrictions, but that’s close to useless if you spend more time gazing at a spinning wheel than catching up on your favorite YouTube content.
If that’s no problem, you can use a proxy by visiting a trustworthy web proxy site or by configuring a proxy server in your browser settings.
Use a VPN
A virtual private network, or VPN, works much like a proxy server — it’s the middleman between your device and a final web server. Once again, your IP address is masked by the IP of the VPN server you’re connected to.
But unlike a proxy, any decent VPN will also encrypt your traffic before it even leaves your computer. If someone does work out your real IP address, it won’t help them much — the sites you visited and what you did there will be hidden in a long string of meaningless characters.
Even better, when switched on, VPN services will anonymize all network activity from your device — not just your browser activity. So whether you’re gaming, torrenting, or using an email or photos app, your IP address is hidden and the data exchanged is encrypted. You can also hide your IP adress on mobile devices with a VPN service for Android or iPhone.
Though it is possible to configure some software with a proxy, it is usually a nightmare to setup and one misstep could leave you unprotected. For ease-of-use and top-level security, it’s difficult to beat a VPN.
Use Tor
One final option to block your IP address from prying eyes is Tor. Tor stands for “The Onion Router”, and with good reason. When you connect to the web using Tor, your traffic is wrapped up in an encrypted bundle and routed through several servers on its journey, with layers of encryption added at each stage like the layers of an onion.
Each server can only decrypt enough to know where to send your request next. And no single point on your journey knows where the request came from — even the first stop can’t be sure it is the first stop! It’s like a drunken man stumbling all around town, with no idea where he came from by the end of his journey.
All in all, it’s an incredibly secure system, which is why it’s favored by journalists and activists whose online activity could destroy lives.
Tor may seem safe, but every alphabet soup agency has active nodes hoping to read the exit of your encryption
But even Tor isn’t perfect: by the time your traffic hits the exit node — the last step before landing at your destination server — any encryption added by Tor is removed. If it wasn’t, there’d be no way for the final website server to understand the request. Though your IP address will be hidden by bouncing around the network, any unencrypted material in your request can be read.
As a result, law enforcement agencies like the NSA and FBI, and even more troubling agencies abroad, have been accused of setting up dozens of Tor exit nodes. As a tool so often used to commit cybercrime, you can bet Tor is a major target for intelligence services.
More importantly, though Tor can be unbeatable secure, it’s just not necessary for the average web user. It may even give a false sense of security to those without an understanding of the underlying technology.
If your online activism is putting your life at risk, we recommend using Tor. Otherwise, a VPN is probably all you need to hide your IP.
Frequently Asked Questions about hide ip address chrome
How can I hide my IP address for free?
Three ways to hide your IPUse a VPN. A VPN is an intermediary server that encrypts your connection to the internet — and it also hides your IP address. … Use Tor. Comprising thousands of volunteer-run server nodes, Tor is a free network that conceals your identity online via multiple layers of encryption. … Use a proxy.Apr 8, 2020
Can you hide your IP address?
Use a VPN. A virtual private network, or VPN, works much like a proxy server — it’s the middleman between your device and a final web server. Once again, your IP address is masked by the IP of the VPN server you’re connected to. … You can also hide your IP adress on mobile devices with a VPN service for Android or iPhone …Aug 26, 2021
Is it illegal to hide your IP address?
Is it illegal to hide my IP address? No, it’s not illegal to hide your IP address – or to use a VPN to do so. Even in countries like China, where VPNs are strictly regulated, it’s not technically against the law to use one.Sep 21, 2021
