In today’s time, online privacy has gone far beyond what it used to be. Now, what you do online; isn’t only your concern, but many other parties are interested in knowing how you spend your time online. There’s the government for and their many secret surveillance programs. Advertising agencies also love collecting user data and trends.
Subsequently, we have cyber-criminals waiting for you to log onto your bank account or shop online. Everyone is curious about whatever you’re up to! If you’re not too careful about your security, there’s a mechanism they can use to find out more information about what you’re up to online.
Read more: Detect VPN IP, DNS Leaks: How To Check If VPN Is Leaking IP Address And How To Fix It
DNS Explained
Short for the Domain Name System, DNS is a basic mechanism that plays a vital part in how the Internet works. It fundamentally translates the many IPs that point to different servers (websites) from a long string of numbers, to a URL that humans would more easily remember. Consequently, when you type in a domain name like facebook.com, your computer applies DNS to switch that into the server’s actual IP address and connects you to the Facebook website.
The only concern regarding privacy that comes as a result of using this system is that DNS servers tend to keep a log of all the IP addresses (website visitors) that pass by their site, as well as the pages within the site that they looked through. This might not sit well with users who would prefer to keep their online activities private. You wouldn’t want anyone knowing about details such as your medical history, bank account balances, or your own individual research.
To ensure that you maintain your own space of privacy, it would be ideal to turn to a VPN.
What Is DNS Leak?
Most of the VPN services tend to host their own DNS servers. Even so, a situation may occur where instead of your data being routed through your VPN’s servers, it gets returned back to that of your ISP. This often happens when your VPN disconnects, and it is what is referred to as a DNS leak. This can be an extreme pain especially if you subscribed to a particular VPN service hoping to have your security online assured at all times.
To stop DNS leaks, you need to subscribe to a provider that renders secure end-to-end tunnels for your data to pass through. You need a service that has a custom developed solution to take care of this problem.
Benefits Of a VPN
Apart from DNS protection, using a VPN also has a bunch of other benefits:
- The fact that a VPN helps you hide your location is one of them. With this done, you’re able to visit a whole list of geo-restrictive websites without having to worry about being denied access due to your location.
- Once you’re connected to a remote server, your IP address changes from that which reflects your location, to the one that indicates the location of the server.
- Using a VPN also helps you hide your traffic from your ISP. This helps prevent eavesdropping by your ISP and ensures that your activities online stay well protected.
Best VPN for DNS Leak Protection
Here’s our shortlist of the best VPN for DNS leak protection below;
1. NordVPN
2. ExpressVPN
3. Surfshark
4. CyberGhost
5. Private Internet Access
Conclusion
The VPN services we have recommended you; are capable of ensuring your security online, as they all have service-specific solutions geared towards preventing any form of DNS leaks. Have you tried any of the DNS Leak-free VPNs we have suggested? Let us know in the comment section below.