Can my ISP see if I am using a VPN?

Using a VPN is a great way to increase your privacy while you are online.

The websites you visit will not be able to identify you with the which means you can appear online as if you were in a different country.

However, you may be wondering if your ISP can see or not that you are using a VPN and if so, does that matter to you?

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Can my ISP see if I am using a VPN?

The answer to the first part is simple: Yes, your provider could see that you are using a VPN if he wants to.

This is because of how a VPN works: When you surf the Internet without a VPN, you connect directly from your computer to your ISP system, which in turn connects to the site you want to visit.

When you connect via VPN, your provider connects you first to the VPN server and then to a website. This way each site "sees" that you are using the IP address of the VPN server. Note, however, that without the incognito feature, they could easily locate you.

What does my ISP see?

VPNs differ from proxies in that they encrypt your connection through what's called a secure tunnel. This encrypts the from your computer to the VPN's server, usually using an advanced encryption method like AES-256, which, in theory, can only be broken by someone in a few million years.

So the website you visit only sees your fake IP address (the VPN's IP address), but it also works the other way around. When an ISP looks at your connection and asks to know where it's going, all it gets is some random and useless . It can see that you are making a connection, it can even understand the IP address you are connecting to but nothing beyond that (ie the places you visit).

Of course, the return of random data is a warning sign that a VPN is being used. An ISP can easily understand which connections lead to a VPN: simply by looking at those that send a lot of encrypted data back.

Do ISPs check if you are using a VPN?

This leads to the second part of the question, if ISPs care about whether you use a VPN. The answer is probably that it depends on your geographical location.

For the most part, we can assume that ISPs generally don't care. Whether you connect to a VPN server or a website is probably the same for them. After all, there are many who use VPN to remotely connect to work. The VPN you use to protect your privacy looks about the same.

There is, however, one major exception to this rule:

Dictatorships like in China, Iran and a other countries consider VPNs illegal. In these , most ISPs will either be state-owned, or state-controlled, which means there's a chance someone could control the connections.

What about ISPs that sell data?

Of course there are ISPs who aren't too happy about customers using VPNs. It's about που εδρεύουν σε χώρες όπου είναι νόμιμο να παρακολουθούν και να πωλούν δεδομένα χρηστών, όπως στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες. Παρόλο που δεν υπάρχουν για αυτό, μπορούμε να φανταστούμε ότι οι πάροχοι υπηρεσιών Internet δεν θα είναι πολύ ευχαριστημένοι με τους χρήστες των VPN, καθώς αυτό σημαίνει ότι υπάρχουν πολύ λιγότερες πληροφορίες για πώληση.

However, since VPN use is legal in the US and there is no way to enforce it which determines how users use their Internet connection.

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Written by Anastasis Vasileiadis

Translations are like women. When they are beautiful they are not faithful and when they are faithful they are not beautiful.

2 Comments

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    • This is not the case in the coastal cities and tourist destinations of Turkey. Because they are full of tourists and that is why the connections are free and there is no censorship anywhere. I stayed in Turkey for a year and I had no issues with any connection, everything was open. The coastal side is highly European. Now what happens inside, I do not know, but this does not concern any stranger. If it was a dictatorship, 30.000.000 tourists would not go !! That is why it would be good to pay attention to what you say.

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