Hi Am I right to assume that when my computer connects to a website via my VPN, the IP address that the website sees should originate from the VPN, and should be a different IP address from the one that the VPN assigns to my computer? The reason I ask this is because when I use Mullvad and go to a website, the website reports my IP address as being the same as the one between my computer and Mullvad. And this was confirmed when I went to the website doileak.com . Thanks in advance for any info.
Yes, the Mullvad VPN is connected. And I've just repeated the test I did on doileak.com . After the test, the Request IP shown by doileak is the same IP as is shown in the Status box on my Mullvad program after I connected to Mullvad's VPN. I think these two IPs should be different. I've now had a reply from Mullvad Support and am discussing it further with them.
OK, but that's not what I got from what you said initially. Check your public IP with no VPN connected. Then check with Mullvad connected. Those two IPs will be different, if Mullvad is connected. Some leak-test sites also report what DNS server(s) you're using. And if DNS isn't configured properly, you may end up using the same DNS server(s) with and without the VPN. But that's a distinct issue. Another issue is the VPN server IP that you connect to vs the exit IP that websites see. If those are the same, there's increased risk of IP leakage if you forward ports through the VPN. So many VPNs now configure different entry and exit IPs. Some people also consider that a privacy advantage, but at best it's marginal. And there are other ways to block the port-forwarding attacks. I don't recall what Mullvad does about that.
You definitely have something misconfigured. Mullvad is a very good VPN provider. Consistently in the top 5-7 list of providers by experienced users here. Please don't discount Mirimir's comments above regarding DNS. If you are on a windows system its equally as important as the IP issue you are discussing here. Are you running the Mullvad client or manually connecting on your own?
Thanks for your comments, mirimir and Palancar. To answer your points, I've always run the Mullvad client instead of connecting manually to Mullvad, and I always use the latest version (62). And I'm using Linux Mint 17.1 . I checked my public IP with the VPN connected, and with the VPN disconnected (using the Mullvad client's settings status panel). And these two IPs were different according to doileak. I'm connected to the Mullvad VPN now and doileak shows the same IP and Mullvad server as the Mullvad client's status shows. And this result is while I'm connected to a different Mullvad VPN server than yesterday when I posted this topic. Re. the DNS situation, on the Mullvad client Settings box I ticked the box to "Stop DNS leaks". And the message after the test on doileak says: "Your DNS configuration seems to be ok. All your DNS request(s) came from the same network as your HTTP request (or from anonymous DNS servers)." So is it a concern that my entry IP to the Mullvad VPN, and the VPN exit IP to a public website, are the same? Or is my setup misconfigured? I've not had a further reply from Mullvad Support yet. Thanks.
Yes that seems probable although the client Settings box doesn't say anything except for the actual IP address.
I am not very familiar with the Mullvad client. While you are waiting for their support to return communication to you go ahead and inspect what is happening out in the real world. There are tons of links to send you to but try these two: https://dnsleaktest.com https://ipleak.net These are two simple commonly used places to go. The first will examine and explore for any and all dns it can detect when doing the extended test. In my case it sees one dns (my vpn provider only) as an example. The second provides you with several key components to examine regarding your online safety. You should NOT ever see your ISP dns on either test. If you do you have a problem to fix. (ps - I hate Windows for its poor handling of dns)
On their guide page they say: https://www.mullvad.net/guides/mullvad-client-settings/ So it seems it's indeed your exit IP address.
was just looking at a comparison of VPN's again and Mullvad shows some pretty good stuff. you can even pay with cash. Looks like $ 5.34 a month. don't have a PayPal account. Don't know anything about bitcoin. They say not to use credit card because that leave s atrial of you using a VPN. Mullvad gives you a free 3 hours of use to try it out. Takes more then that to just set it up?
Like most custom VPN clients, Mullvad installs in just a few minutes. I did dozens of them for testing. They're generally very simple, unless you dig for more options.
