The True Value of a VPN in 2023

[DVDR_Dog]

Looks like everybody and their brother is trying to sell you a VPN service again.
What is the true value vs. the claims of a VPN?

Pro:s Your public facing IP is your VPN's leased provider, not your personal ISP.
This can come in handy if you rely on P2P file distribution, namely torrents.
Here's an example, make sure to log into your VPN first if you have one. If not try it anyway.

Torrent downloads and distributions for IP 145.239.138.240

Detailed statistic for torrent downloads and distributions for IP address 145.239.138.240

iknowwhatyoudownload.com

This site logs in most of the P2P activity over public (and some not so public) torrent sites. The logs consist of the time of the record, the file name, and the IP of the receiving file torrent user. If you do have a VPN you will see how congested even the current IP you have is. All activity related to that IP exists for upto 30 days open to the public. The bad news is your MAC address is still readable. There are many ways to spoof MAC addys with existing drivers and software, might be a good idea to keep that in mind sometimes.

Cons: There are constantly updated lists available for all the IP blocks used by VPN servers. They are readily available to site owners and system admins.
VPN mania among site owners has gotten pretty crazy, even Google questions when a VPN attempts to access their search engine. Most mechant sites and all banking sites refuse contact to anyone displaying a known VPN address.

So outside of P2P transfers and a few other sites similar in nature, it's a crap shoot if you can even access a site with your VPN engaged. Forget hard coding a VPN in a router, it really makes your circuit kind of useless. In 2023 it's highly doubtful a VPN will shield you from attacks of most current methods. Then there's that pesky MAC address....

 

[ThumperTM]

iknowwhatyoudownload - Awesome site, Thank you!

 

[AFFASocial]

Hmm

 

[hacxx]

Use VPNs to increase the security of internet connection. To anonymize torrents when you download use a VPNs, you can use file hosting sites and leech the torrent and download from the site or to re-share online. Use this method with FileRice.com before they close.

 

[DVDR_Dog]

Just to add to the thread. A friend of my GF asked me to reccomend a VPN, she currently had Norton and was complaining of all the sites she couldn't reach. Let's face it folks, if I was on the server side being accessed from a known VPN server farm IP, the first thought is they are using a VPN for nefarious purposes. Keep in mind all these services are just providing a client to access a server farm. Read about it HERE. Don't kid yourself a list of those IPs are widely distributed, that's why so many sites either require further authentication (including Google) or deny you access.
There was so much hype generated to try and sell these VPNs, granted they do have a purpose. Then again you do not enjoy freedom to roam the entire Internet anonymously as you are led to believe.

Here's another tool to check what your IP looks like at it's destination: https://geo.cryptolayer.net/
Have fun

 

[Yobbo]

Looks like everybody and their brother is trying to sell you a VPN service again.
What is the true value vs. the claims of a VPN?

Pro:s Your public facing IP is your VPN's leased provider, not your personal ISP.
This can come in handy if you rely on P2P file distribution, namely torrents.
Here's an example, make sure to log into your VPN first if you have one. If not try it anyway.

Torrent downloads and distributions for IP 145.239.138.240

Detailed statistic for torrent downloads and distributions for IP address 145.239.138.240

iknowwhatyoudownload.com

This site logs in most of the P2P activity over public (and some not so public) torrent sites. The logs consist of the time of the record, the file name, and the IP of the receiving file torrent user. If you do have a VPN you will see how congested even the current IP you have is. All activity related to that IP exists for upto 30 days open to the public. The bad news is your MAC address is still readable. There are many ways to spoof MAC addys with existing drivers and software, might be a good idea to keep that in mind sometimes.

Cons: There are constantly updated lists available for all the IP blocks used by VPN servers. They are readily available to site owners and system admins.
VPN mania among site owners has gotten pretty crazy, even Google questions when a VPN attempts to access their search engine. Most mechant sites and all banking sites refuse contact to anyone displaying a known VPN address.

So outside of P2P transfers and a few other sites similar in nature, it's a crap shoot if you can even access a site with your VPN engaged. Forget hard coding a VPN in a router, it really makes your circuit kind of useless. In 2023 it's highly doubtful a VPN will shield you from attacks of most current methods. Then there's that pesky MAC address....

Excellent Description.
Thanks

 

[DVDR_Dog]

Two good examples are the geotracker sites 45.86.228.138 and 45.133.44.53.
They are part of the https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8805 project.
Anyviewer uses both sites to validate destination IPs. Drives Malwarebytes wild, it's not sure what is going on.
This doesn't invalidate the fact that VPNs mask your forward facing IP. What is does do, it flags IP blocks that don't match where the expected visitor's ISP is expected to exist. This doesn't include the IP blocks of your anticipated country of origin. Those are separate lists that I don't have access to. For example I have no idea how many VPN IP addresses are available in North America but keep in mind unless you have paid extra $$ for a personal IP address you are sharing the address that your VPN has assigned to you. That's why if you use the site I supplied earlier you may find simultaneous downloads happening to your current IP. VPN providers lease this space and the folks that lease them must make efficient use of a limited resource which in the end keeps you anonymous.
I have always questioned the value of private IPs. My last employer has an assigned block located in Chicago. All North American Internet traffic was routed that way. I am sure they had their reasons.