VPNs provide a treasure trove of benefits, from unlocking content otherwise unavailable due to geographical restrictions to strengthening your defenses against web tracking. They do all this while encrypting your internet connection and connecting you to remote servers, hiding your real IP address. But if your VPN isn’t working properly, you may not be as protected as you think.
Using free tools to check VPN IP addresses on the web can reveal your device’s physical location, allowing website visitors to track your online activities. This can include the websites you visit, your location, the device type and more. Luckily, the majority of VPN users don’t use free lookup services, but even so, these tools are effective in revealing your device’s IP address and associated details.
How to Check a VPN IP Address
If your VPN isn’t protecting you, it can leak your IP address to the web, exposing your data to third parties and putting you at risk of identity theft. This is known as a DNS leak, and it can occur when your VPN fails to route your internet’s DNS requests through its private server, exposing your real IP address to web sites you visit.
Several widely used databases have gained popularity for identifying public VPN and proxy servers by their hostnames. But these methods can raise privacy concerns, and they don’t work too well for detecting private self-hosted VPNs. Moreover, the discovery process requires access to private network infrastructure, which can pose serious risks of abuse and compromise your privacy.