How to hide IP address
THREE PROVEN METHODS TO HIDE YOUR IP ADDRESS
Introduction
In today’s world, anonymity is taken for granted when utilizing the Internet. A person’s gadget has a public IP address when they browse the internet. An IP address can reveal information about their location, such as their country of origin, state, area, and even city.
Your IP address can also be used to trace your online activity. This could include information such as which websites you visited while surfing the web, which advertisements you clicked on, and so on. You might not want such information to be easily accessible to anybody in the world. If this is the case, you should probably conceal your IP address.
You might wonder why, if you’re not doing anything illegal, you should strive to mask your true IP address while browsing the Internet. Many individuals equate IP address concealment with hacking or other illegal online activities. However, there is a slew of very reasonable reasons why you might want to conceal your IP address.
Your IP address serves as your online identification, identifying your device, network, location, and activities. It’s understandable that you’d want to keep that information to yourself. Hiding your IP address is a necessary first step in regaining control over your own privacy, which is something that every Internet user should desire.
Why Should You Hide Your IP Address?
As previously said, there are a variety of legitimate reasons to conceal your IP address. Consider the following scenario:
- You could be using public WiFi or free WiFi networks to access the Internet, such as at a library, restaurant, or Internet café. If you are, your internet activities could be monitored by someone else on the same network.
- There’s always the possibility of an insecure connection; perhaps you don’t want to risk having your personal information revealed, so you’d rather surf anonymously.
- You may not want companies or online advertisers to track your browsing habits.
- If you’re in a school or work for a company that restricts or filters web material for WiFi users, hiding your IP address can help you get around these inconvenient restrictions.
- You may wish to gain access to content that is only available to residents of specific areas or countries.
- Simply put, you might not enjoy the concept of having your every move followed and scrutinized.
As you can see, there are a variety of reasons why you might want to conceal your IP address. They have nothing to do with unlawful conduct and everything to do with safeguarding your personal information.
Methods for Concealing Your IP Address
Here are the three most effective methods for concealing your IP address. Each has advantages and disadvantages in terms of security, cost, speed, and privacy.
1. Use VPN
A VPN, or virtual private network, acts as a go-between for your network and your device. It secures your connection and, as a result, your Internet traffic. It’s also useful for masking your IP address because it replaces your real IP address with a “virtual” IP address provided by the VPN. Nobody, except your VPN provider, will be able to see your public IP address when you connect to the Internet, whether through a browser or an app.
Because a VPN server cannot conceal your IP address from the provider, it is critical that you select a reputable VPN service that does not track your activities. Choosing a low-quality VPN service, in a sense, defeats the entire purpose of a VPN.
2. Use a Proxy
A proxy server is similar to a VPN in that it can mask your IP address and change its location. Proxies, on the other hand, aren’t as effective as VPNs at masking your IP address. They mask your IP address by replacing it with a bogus IP address before your web traffic reaches its destination.
However, proxies do not encrypt your traffic in the same way that VPNs do, and they also do not hide your IP address while it is on its way to the proxy server. Furthermore, most proxies make no attempt to conceal the fact that you are using a proxy. When you can’t use a VPN and need a quick added layer of privacy, a proxy is the best option. Consider them a step down from a VPN.
3. Use Tor
Tor is a free network that uses three layers of encryption to conceal your online identity. Tor was created to ensure that users have complete anonymity online, and it does so by preventing ad tracking and ensuring that users do not leave any online fingerprints behind when using their Tor browser.
Tor works by decrypting your connection more and more on each level, culminating in a fully decrypted and anonymous note when it reaches its final destination. Even if a hacker intercepts your traffic, parsing your original IP address would be nearly impossible.Three Proven Methods to Hide Your IP Address
Tor, on the other hand, sacrifices speed for privacy. The multiple layers of encryption used by Tor cause connection delays. This may be worthwhile for those who require complete privacy, but if you’re just a regular Internet user shopping on Amazon or watching Netflix, a VPN will suffice.
Alternatives to Concealing Your IP Address
Hide your IP address as the first step toward online security. However, it is far from the only way to keep your online identity anonymous or protected. Consider taking these steps if you don’t want to hide your IP address entirely, or if you do and want to be even more private online.
1. Make as many of your profiles as private as possible, particularly on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social media sites. Maintain the confidentiality of your personal information.
2. Get a Google Voice number so that if you absolutely must provide a phone number, you can do so while still receiving calls and text messages without disclosing your real number.
3. Using an alias online can be beneficial. However, there is a risk of exposing yourself if you connect with friends on social media under an alias. Your real name will almost certainly be used by one of your friends in a comment or when posting something to your wall. Your profile may be hidden from the general public. If your friend’s profile isn’t public and the post was shared on their wall, someone with the means to figure out who you are is one step closer.
Your privacy or anonymity is only as strong as your weakest link. The only true way to remain anonymous online is to avoid connecting to the internet entirely.
No matter how hard you attempt to hide your footprints online, you’ll never be fully anonymous. Even masking your IP address only goes so far; every server or computer connected to the internet has a log file, and you won’t be able to deduce your IP address from those log files unless you’re the server owner.
Facebook is one such example. Whether or whether you’re logged in, Facebook can see your IP address. This does not, however, imply that your computer will be tracked and monitored. There’s no reason to think you’ll be singled out among Facebook’s billions of users.
If you’re a frequent social media user, masking your IP address won’t help you hide your identity online nearly as much. Search for your name, email address, or username—any username you’ve used to post to a forum or other site—on Google.
You’ll rapidly realize that everything is out there, and it’s all information that you’ve willingly shared. Other information, such as your age or gender, may be available as well, courtesy of a third-party site. However, if you’re concerned about your online privacy, avoiding social media can be a good place to start.
In Conclusion
It’s crucial to note that, while these methods may disguise your IP address and allow you to surf the web with more privacy, there is no way to connect to the Internet totally anonymously. Any IP address that your Internet service provider assigns to you is still recordable.
Furthermore, if you do not regularly mask your tracks, you may send an email while not connected to your VPN, allowing the recipient to trace the email back to you.
