Hi,
I was testing the effectiveness of a VPN provider. I went to one of the standard 'what's my ip address' type sites.
With the VPN disabled they list my ip address here in Dublin and my ISP correctly
With the VPN enabled they list my ip address as being in Holland and the VPN's ISP
A lot of these sites only check for DNS leaks and IPv4 address though. When I tried one that specifically checks IPv6 it lists my address as being in Dublin and correctly identifies my personal ISP whether or not I have the VPN enabled.
So to me it looks like the VPN is completely ineffective; its purpose is to keep my location and IP address private but all any website has to do is check the IPv6 address rather than IPv4 and I am easily identifiable, no protection whatsoever.
I sent an email describing the problem to the VPN provider and their initial response was to direct me to a site that only checks DNS leaks (which only checks IPv4 addresses) and it seems their attitude is that if there's no DNS leak then there's no problem with the VPN, it's as if they don't understand, or want to acknowledge the concept of an IPv6 leak.
Now, I'm no expert in this area so I'd like to get some other opinions, are IPv6 leaks a problem ? I mean I assumed that the way a VPN worked was that it intercepted all network traffic from my machine then forwarded them to the website I am trying to access with the sender address changed to the VPN provider's address. It looks to me like they are only doing this for IPv4 packets but when IPv6 traffic is sent they just forward it without modifying the sender address so any website I'm accessing can easily see who I am.
Have I misunderstood ? Or are IPv6 leaks a problem ?
Thanks,
I was testing the effectiveness of a VPN provider. I went to one of the standard 'what's my ip address' type sites.
With the VPN disabled they list my ip address here in Dublin and my ISP correctly
With the VPN enabled they list my ip address as being in Holland and the VPN's ISP
A lot of these sites only check for DNS leaks and IPv4 address though. When I tried one that specifically checks IPv6 it lists my address as being in Dublin and correctly identifies my personal ISP whether or not I have the VPN enabled.
So to me it looks like the VPN is completely ineffective; its purpose is to keep my location and IP address private but all any website has to do is check the IPv6 address rather than IPv4 and I am easily identifiable, no protection whatsoever.
I sent an email describing the problem to the VPN provider and their initial response was to direct me to a site that only checks DNS leaks (which only checks IPv4 addresses) and it seems their attitude is that if there's no DNS leak then there's no problem with the VPN, it's as if they don't understand, or want to acknowledge the concept of an IPv6 leak.
Now, I'm no expert in this area so I'd like to get some other opinions, are IPv6 leaks a problem ? I mean I assumed that the way a VPN worked was that it intercepted all network traffic from my machine then forwarded them to the website I am trying to access with the sender address changed to the VPN provider's address. It looks to me like they are only doing this for IPv4 packets but when IPv6 traffic is sent they just forward it without modifying the sender address so any website I'm accessing can easily see who I am.
Have I misunderstood ? Or are IPv6 leaks a problem ?
Thanks,
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