Computers & Electronics

How your VPN (PIA and others) may leak your IP

  • Last Updated:
  • Jul 1st, 2015 12:23 pm
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28 replies
Deal Fanatic
Feb 16, 2006
5100 posts
2099 upvotes
Vancouver
wow. Chrome and FireFox were leaking.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Nov 24, 2012
5893 posts
2138 upvotes
Space
Never liked the idea of passing all my data through an anonymous server or source, isn't that what VPN users are practically doing?
Deal Guru
Apr 8, 2013
10205 posts
752 upvotes
We are all being spied on.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/2 ... 63090.html

[QUOTE]Canada's electronic spy agency has been intercepting and analyzing data on up to 15 million file downloads daily as part of a global surveillance program, according to a report published on Wednesday
[/QUOTE]

And this was 3 years ago. I cant imagine what they are up to now.
Deal Fanatic
Sep 4, 2009
6575 posts
720 upvotes
All that was leaked was my internal ip address, but not my ISP given ip address. But the internal ip address given to my home router by the local ISP router was shown. Internet Explorer doesn't have this vulnerability.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Dec 19, 2001
31347 posts
2021 upvotes
Fernando Poo
Chrome is leaking...WebRTC Block doesn't work!!
Banned
Feb 18, 2015
263 posts
46 upvotes
Toronto
Thread hijack, why isn't my prepaid credit card and/or paypal working to update my Netflix?
Deal Addict
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Jul 27, 2009
2392 posts
461 upvotes
If you want to watch PBS, Bravo, Hulu ect. Use Hola addons. No need for VPN.
Deal Addict
Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
1051 upvotes
A small town north o…
hagbard wrote: Chrome is leaking...WebRTC Block doesn't work!!
Disable Javascript.
Deal Expert
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Dec 19, 2001
31347 posts
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Fernando Poo
makaturing wrote: Disable Javascript.
I don't have java on my system. BTW, having installed SafeScript as recommended by Lifehackers, its amazing how much information harvesting RFDs does. If you turn everything off on this site, btw, it doesn't load in your profile at the top (eg: you won't get mail).
Deal Addict
Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
1051 upvotes
A small town north o…
hagbard wrote: I don't have java on my system.
Java and Javascript are two completely different things. Chrome comes with Javascript enabled by default. The SafeScript you installed works by controlling Javascript.

Chrome -> Settings -> Show advanced settings -> Privacy -> Content settings -> Javascript
Deal Addict
Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
1051 upvotes
A small town north o…
Firefox users can install the QuickJava add-on, which allows you to toggle Javascript (and a bunch of other things) from your toolbar.
Deal Addict
Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
1051 upvotes
A small town north o…
Here is the relevant passage from the Lifehacker article:

****
The flaw was documented by developer Daniel Roesler over at GitHub. Roesler explains how the process works:

Firefox and Chrome have implemented WebRTC that allow requests to STUN servers be made that will return the local and public IP addresses for the user. These request results are available to javascript, so you can now obtain a users local and public IP addresses in javascript.


****

It is Javascript that leaks your IP. You don't have to install anything, you just have to know how to turn Javascript off.

In Firefox you can disable it globally by going to about:config and toggling "javascript enabled" from true to false. They deliberately took this out of the Options, where it used to be, which is one of the reasons I don't use Firefox any more. For Chrome see my post above.

You can't surf the web effectively without Javascript because almost every web site uses it. That's why browsers have it enabled by default. But the security hazards of Javascript are very well known, and you should always disable it before going somewhere you don't want your IP (and lots of other stuff) revealed.
Deal Expert
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Dec 19, 2001
31347 posts
2021 upvotes
Fernando Poo
Don't want to be turning this on and off. The problem I now have is if I apply ScriptSafe on one computer, it applies it to the other. Getting tired of Google and all their nonsense.
Deal Expert
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Jun 12, 2003
15134 posts
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Markham
Too much hassle to micromanage javascript, far too many sites make use of it
ShadowVlican
Deal Addict
Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
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A small town north o…
ShadowVlican wrote: Too much hassle to micromanage javascript, far too many sites make use of it
Of course. You just toggle it when you're on your VPN and you want that extra level of assurance your IP won't be leaked. Most of the time the VPN is good enough.
Deal Addict
Apr 23, 2014
1141 posts
216 upvotes
\i find it ironic that the vpn \i use , okayfreedom, the icon they use is the 'all seeing eye'. i was surprised to find that webrtc leaks the ip in my FF.\since then, i have disabled it and now it seems to have been the only leak. i am leaving javascript alone for the time being. i am so surprised to have discovered this leak in |FF, espescially when they have so recently done so much promoting to educate their users about privacy.
Deal Addict
Jul 23, 2013
3038 posts
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A small town north o…
hagbard wrote: Getting tired of Google and all their nonsense.
Ha ha! People used to call Microsoft the "Evil Empire", but I think Google is giving them a damn good tussle for the title.

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