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We have all been using VPN’s to protect ourselves online. Whether it’s to hide your identity when downloading BitTorrents or you are simply a cautious person, Virtual Private Networks have been pretty useful to us. But in all this you have been wondering does my VPN work or its just there to make me feel safe? Fortunately, there is now a very precise way to find out.
VPN’s offer security by masking your IP address with one that is from another address, so people can’t trace back anything you do on the internet back to you. Millions of people share files using BitTorrent every day and in so doing they expose their IP addresses to everyone. Many people nowadays are cautious enough to sign up with VPN providers and get themselves protection. During the setup, however, many other people forget to check if the VPN or torrent proxy service is working, which might not be the case.
So how do you check if your security (VPN and torrent proxies) is working correctly? Normally it’s easy to check your IP address because of the many IP-checking services available; checking for the one that is broadcasted through your torrent client is much more complex. A few services offer a torrent IP check tool, but they are limited to responses from HTTP trackers. Fortunately, a new service has been found.
A free service called, Doileak, runs IP-address checks testing for general leaks, but also clearer torrent checks. When you load a test torrent, the service reports back the IP-address your torrent client is utilizing to connect to other networks. On top of the HTTP tracker it uses, it also possesses a UDP version, which is vital since UDP trackers are most likely to leak information. Doileak also reports the numerous DNS requests your torrent client is using, which can be a weak link for some users.
If your residential IP-address or the Internet provider’s DNS doesn’t show up in the sections, then everything is functioning well. Virtual Private Network users should have the same web and torrent IP-address, but for proxy users the two IP’s are different. Doileak founder, Tobias, also warned that not all services that claim to be VPN’s are as useful and efficient as we think.
Therefore, he encourages people to check their setups. Tobias says, “BitTorrent support initially wasn’t on my to-do list, but after some research it became apparent that a lot of torrent users believe they are anonymous while they are broadcasting their real IP-address.”
