IP Leaks VS DNS Leaks: The concept of unblocking geo-specific contents is possible only by masking Internet Protocol addresses (IP). Hence, if there is an IP leak, then the entire live streaming services that happen overseas would suffer. Such leaks are common when we use an unsecured internet service. Furthermore, anybody could easily track our sensitive information that too in few minutes. Dynamic Name System (DNS) is the process of allocating machine understandable IP address to the corresponding web URLs. However, during this process, there are a lot of chances that the DNS leaks are possible even without our knowledge. Hence, to be free from such leaks, it is advisable to go for secured VPN services. A secure VPN safeguards our privacy and allows hassle-free access across the globe. Additionally, in this article, I am going to brief you all about IP Leaks VS DNS Leaks.
Related: A Comprehensive Guide to IP Leaks
DNS Leak Explained
DNS is the process of translating the humanly understandable web addresses to machine-readable numerical codes. Hence, a simple carelessness in handling the data might result in a hacked situation. For example, let us consider the URL ‘www.google.com.’ It is the human understandable and easy to remember web address. Whereas the corresponding IP address is ‘172.217.17.68’. However, only machines can understand and interpret what this numeric code means. Additionally, it really means a lot to those digital computing devices to carry out further series of operations.
How DNS Leaks Occur?
During this conversion DNS, leaks happen mainly because of the storage or logging of data by the Internet Service Provider (ISP). Not all the ISPs have up to date security measures in place because of the associated cost. Indeed people are looking for cheaper services unaware of the future information thefts. Only forward thinking people pay attention to these details and would go for secured tunnels for data transmission like VPNs. Also, the increasing awareness of data security and the wide usage of VPN for a variety of purposes has slashed down its cost drastically. It’s really good to get such services at affordable prices.
IP Leaks Explained
IPv4 stands for Internet Protocol version 4 and it is one of the standards that describes and defines IP addresses. It uses a 32-bit space for IP addresses and it means that any internet service provider can hold up to 2^32 IP addresses. With the increase in the website’s count and the internet usage percentage, this 32-bit space is not enough to support the current needs. Though it is running out of its space issues, we cannot completely neglect or take away its deployments which have happened several years back.
IP Leaks Issues
Another issue with the usage of IPv4 is the IPv4 Leaks that mainly occurs at the Operating System (OS) level. It happens most popularly with the Windows and where it sends the IP address to the ISP as per the default settings, even when we use a VPN. This means that even when are connected to a secure VPN, your IP address gets leaked. This does not happen when our data passes through the VPN tunnel but even before passing through it, at the OS level. We can always use the website ipleak.net to check whether we face IPv4 leak problems.
What is WebRTC and how it leaks your IP?
Furthermore, if we talk apart from IP Leaks VS DNS Leaks there is something we cannot miss; WebRTC leaks. WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is a standard that allows Voice calling, Video Chatting, and P2P file sharing via the browser that we use. Browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc support this feature and they leak the IP addresses irrespective of the use of proxy or a VPN. This is commonly referred to as a WebRTC bug as it occurs because of having implemented the WebRTC feature in the browser. Some other browsers such as Internet Explorer, Safari, etc does not support the feature and therefore they are free from such bugs.
Checking for VPN Leaks
Additionally, if you have doubts about your VPN connection causing either DNS or IP leaks, or you just want to make sure your connection is in a good shape, there’s a way you can check and confirm whether or not this is the case:
- Start by heading to a site that can confirm what your IP address is, like Whatismyip.network.
- Go on and type in your actual IP address, the one provided by your ISP.
- Having done that, search for a reliable VPN provider, sign up for it, then sign in.
- Identify a remote server from another country, and connect to it.
- Head back to the “What Is My IP Address” page and confirm your IP address again like you had done previously.
- If there’s no problem, meaning no IP or DNS leaks, you should see a new address, since you’d just subscribed to a VPN service.
- Now, search for a WebRTC test page, and take note of the IP address that shows up.
- Again, if you get to see your VPN’s address, then you’re alright.
IP Leaks vs DNS Leaks Stay Protected From Any Type of Leaks
Consequently, if you have found out that you are facing any type of leaks; like IP leaks vs DNS leaks. Then don’t worry there is something you can do about it.
Here are the methods you can stay protected from any type of leaks.
Get VPNCheckPro
If you’re a Windows user, you can use this software to protect your connection from DNS leaks and other online threats.
Get a VPN with DNS Leak protection, Internet Kill Switch
This is a facility or option that most leading VPN providers enable it as a default option in their Client software. But we can always disable it when it is not required. It ensures that all internet traffic passes through the encrypted VPN tunnel and not even a single request is diverted to the default ISP. Therefore, even when the OS fails to direct internet traffic to the VPN, the job is done by the VPN Client software. So, there is no chance for such an IPv4 leak when we use a VPN client with this option enabled. Most VPN providers have this option built in their VPN client itself and all we need to do is to enable the option. This is perhaps the easier ways to deploy the kill switch with the VPN network. So, here get the VPN with a kill switch feature.
Configuring VPN on your router
This is more effective since any device getting to the Internet through your router stays protected.
Disable the WebRTC feature
A simple solution to resolve this issue is just disabling the WebRTC feature in the browser settings. It means that we can no more enjoy the real-time communication services. Such as voice calling, etc but we are free from WebRTC leaks.
Using Browser Plug-ins
We can also use specialized browser plug-ins to deactivate the feature. Some of them are uBlock, Statutory, Disable WebRTC, NoScript, etc. These plug-ins automatically block WebRTC features provided by the browser that e use.
Firewall Rules
We can also frame the firewall rules. It can be done in such a manner that the access to internet cancels itself at the moment when there is a VPN connection failure. The only thing is we need to frame it by ourselves as per the needs. Here is a great flexibility that we can define what a VPN connection failure by ourselves. Anyhow, it does not suit common internet users who have no technical knowledge.
IP Leaks VS DNS Leaks- Final Words
Finally, we should either go for a VPN that offers such leaks protection and Internet Kill Switch or at least a third party solution to fix the issue. However, a VPN is one of the effective and simpler ways to the achieve leak protection.
