Using a VPN might not protect you as well as you think

Even the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) – which people use in the hope of avoiding mass surveillance – leak information about the user, says a study. VPNs are getting increasingly popular for individuals wanting to circumvent censorship, avoid mass surveillance or access geographically limited services like Netflix and BBC iPlayer. Used by around 20 percent of European Internet users, they encrypt users’ Internet communications, making it more difficult for people to monitor their activities. “There are a variety of reasons why someone might want to hide their identity online and it’s worrying that they might be vulnerable despite using a service that is specifically designed to protect them,” said study co-author Gareth Tyson from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). However, the new study of 14 popular VPN providers found that 11 of them leaked information about the user because of a vulnerability known as ‘IPv6 leakage’. The leaked information ranged from the websites a user is accessing to the actual content of user communications, for example comments being posted on forums.