VPNs are a great way to keep your online activities private. They can reroute your internet traffic through servers in different locations, making it appear as if you’re connecting from that location, and encryption scrambles your data so that it looks like gibberish to anyone who might try to read it. However, this doesn’t mean that a VPN will completely hide your activity from your ISP or the websites you visit, and there are tools out there that can detect VPN usage.
Some people use VPNs for legitimate reasons, such as bypassing regional restrictions on streaming services or avoiding man-in-the-middle attacks on public Wi-Fi. Others, unfortunately, use them for more nefarious purposes. This is why it’s important for businesses to be able to detect when their customers are using VPNs, so they can take the appropriate measures to protect themselves.
How is VPN detection done?
VPN detection involves examining the internet traffic sent from your device to see if it contains information that is suspicious or known to be associated with VPNs. The easiest way for this to be done is through checking the IP address of the VPN server your device is connected to. This information can be compared to databases of IP addresses that are known to be associated with VPNs, which makes it easy for some entities to block VPN users.
Alternatively, some VPNs can also spoof their connection data to make it look more trustworthy. This is accomplished by using a technique called Dynamic DNS, which creates a unique name for each VPN server that you connect to. This name is then added to the domain that is used to identify your devices. The DNS system can then match this information with the dynamic IP address that is assigned to your device by your ISP.
Another common method of VPN detection is through a technique known as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). This is when a network or service examines each packet of information that is transferred over it to look for any suspicious or unknown elements. Depending on how complex the DPI is, this can sometimes be used to identify VPN users.
While VPNs can be used to avoid being detected by these methods, it is still possible for them to be found. This is because VPNs can sometimes cause a slight slowdown in internet speed due to the fact that they are rerouting your connection through their servers. This can be noticeable to some users.
However, many VPNs offer obfuscated servers, which can mask your connection data so that it doesn’t show up as typical VPN traffic. Additionally, some VPNs can also allow you to change your port forwarding settings within the app, which can help you avoid blocks by redirecting your VPN traffic to a port that isn’t commonly monitored, such as 443 (used for HTTPS). This will make it more difficult for any entity to spot your use of a VPN.