Nowadays, If you have been concerned about online privacy, you may already have heard of DNS Leak. Especially, VPN providers often talk about it. But, What is DNS Leak? How to Check If your DNS has been leaking or not? Also, How you can fix this security flaw? Well, This article will explain all of these things including why it is important.
Before getting into the main topic, you should know a bit more. It will help you to realize how important it is to prevent DNS leakage. Especially, If you are a very much conscious person about online privacy, these information will help you a lot.
Table of Contents
What is DNS?
The full form of DNS is the domain name server. It is like a phonebook of the internet. Computers, Servers or Services connected to the internet have their own unique IP address. Other machines use that IP address to find that device. A DNS server contains all these information like phone contacts in the phonebook. Your web browser shows you any website by interacting with a DNS server. DNS translates a domain name to IP address. It allows the browser to show you specific website contents.
When you type a web address in your browser, your computer/mobile asks your ISP’s DNS or any public DNS to identify the IP address of that website. Then, ISP return information and your computer download the website contents. It doesn’t only happen in the browser. It also happens when you watch any video through youtube app, play online games, etc. Without a DNS server, the internet is useless. You won’t be able to visit any webpages or do anything at all. So, DNS is very much important in your internet life.
What is DNS Leak?
A DNS leak is basically the security flaw that allows DNS requests to be revealed to your ISP. When you visit any webpages or do anything on the internet, ISP and the DNS server can store a lot of information. Especially, It stores information about your IP address, the visited domain IP address, etc. It may store this information forever. Basically, A DNS leak happens when all the DNS requests are sent without any encryption over your ISP’s network.
Though A large number of users don’t have any concern about DNS leakage. But, It matters to some users like me who are always concerned about their online privacy. Of course, We don’t want that someone can filter and see our online activity by analyzing DNS requests. Users should have the freedom to hide their online activities.
How to Check If your DNS is Leaking:
It is the most important thing that every user should know. You can easily understand how a DNS leakage can affect your online privacy. But, It is a good thing that you can check if your DNS is leaking. However, here are the steps to do it.
- At first, Go to this link: https://dnsleaktest.com/
- If you see your actual IP address there, it means your DNS has been leaked.
- For additional information, click on the Standard Test/Extended Test. It will reveal further information about DNS leakage.
- If you use a VPN and see a server that is not related to your VPN, It means you have a DNS leak.
There are many other websites that can help you to detect if there is a DNS leak.
Fortunately, you can prevent DNS leak to ensure better online privacy.
How to Prevent/Fix DNS Leak
You can easily protect against DNS leak. There are many ways to do it. But, I will introduce the two best ways to prevent DNS leak. Here are they-
1. Change DNS Server Setting
By default, You may have been using your ISP provided DNS. You may have not changed the DNS settings. But, you could change and use some popular DNS servers that can enhance your online privacy. For example, you can use Google DNS, Open DNS or even the secured Cloudflare DNS. These often provide better security and also better performance than your ISP’s DNS.
If you don’t know how to modify DNS settings, Read: How to Change DNS Settings
2. Use VPN
For better online privacy and many other benefits, VPN is a widely used solution. I mostly rely on a VPN service when I need to access Geo-Restricted contents or browse anonymously. There are some VPN services with DNS leak protection that you can consider using. PureVPN, NordVPN, VyprVPN are some popular choices. You can consider using them.
But, Do test for DNS leak when you are connected to the VPN network to ensure there is no DNS leak.
How DNS Leak can Affect Your Privacy
If you are not using a VPN or a secured DNS, your online activities may be naked to your ISP. But, Sometimes, A VPN especially the free VPN services can no longer protect DNS leak. The average users may assume that their online activities are hidden when they use a VPN. It’s not entirely true. Premium VPN services with DNS leak protection can only protect yourself. Other free or ordinary services are useless.
A DNS leak can affect your privacy. If it happens, you are no longer anonymous while browsing various websites. If you don’t want third-party to monitor your activities, you should make sure you are protected from any kind of DNS leak.
However, In this article, you have learned about DNS leak, how to check and fix any security breaches like DNS leak. If you want to put your own opinion here, use the comment box below.
