

IPVanish identified during DNS leak tests.They still can't tell what your data consists of - just that you're using a VPN and possibly which protocol as well. Think of it as identifying a pattern in the encryption that distinguishes it from the everyday encryption used by websites or HTTPS. When using DPI to analyze for VPN traffic, the company or government body typically looks for signatures specific to protocols like OpenVPN. If you're using a VPN in an area with known Internet censorship issues, websites may simply not work. See the Great Firewall of China or Russia's Sovereign Internet project for the most extreme examples. Without getting too technical, DPI is basically putting network data under a (metaphorical) microscope and analyzing its origin, destination, content, and other valuable info.ĭPI is only really used by enterprises, ISPs, and governments to detect and prevent cyberattacks, optimize servers, or analyze and control user behavior. Otherwise, just use a different device without built-in GPS capabilities. Aside from being careful about which apps you use and what websites you visit, you can also use a VPN that spoofs GPS data, like Surfshark. Alternatively, they bury the option to disable GPS tracking deep in the app's settings to dissuade users from turning it off.įortunately, it's pretty easy to avoid this issue. Of course, in some cases, websites or apps don't even ask for consent when tracking your GPS data. Allowing online services to use your location data for any reason pretty much voids the location-hiding capabilities of a VPN. #4 Websites Can Detect VPN Use Through GPS Data So blocking IPs solely based on these criteria would lead to many false positives. How so? Well, businesses like airports, hotels, universities, and others may have a shared IP address among hundreds or even thousands of users. Of course, that won't always lead to that IP address being blacklisted. A thousand different accounts all using the same IP will seem suspicious to any network admin. Websites may also know you're using a VPN if they detect too many requests coming from the same IP address. All because some VPN providers started using residential IPs to hide their presence. Just this August, Netflix mistakenly blocked the residential IP addresses of users who weren't even using a VPN. Yes, even if they weren't previously associated with any VPNs in a detection service's database. Oftentimes, IPs that are owned by the same host or datacenter are also blocked. As such, they can easily be collected by companies like MaxMind and other VPN detection services and sold off to websites for blacklisting purposes.

Of course, these VPN IP addresses are publicly available. VPNs hide your true IP address and replace it with a different one based on the server you connect. #1 The VPN Server's IP Address Is Blacklisted Naturally, we've also included some reliable ways to counteract these detection methods and hide the fact that you're using a VPN. Here are five different ways websites can detect your VPN usage. Ever get the Netflix proxy error and wonder, "how do websites even know I'm using a VPN?" Well, wonder no further.
