Check if you have a DNS leak – test your VPN connection for any possible leaks to ensure you use a reliable VPN that doesn’t leak at all.
Run a test to check for DNS requests without using a VPN. This test will show which requests are sent from your device without a VPN tunnel. Remember the DNS servers in the result of a DNS leak test.
Press the button “Start” once again after your VPN is enabled. In the result, you will see the DNS requests sent from your device when a VPN is on.
If your DNS requests without a VPN match ones when your VPN is on, you have a DNS leak. If you didn’t see the same DNS servers after you enabled a VPN, your DNS requests don’t leak.
DNS (the Domain Name System) is a technology that translates various domain names (e.g. google.com) into a certain IP sdasda. IP address. In simple words, DNS is a directory of names that match with numbers - IP addresses. The thing is, the machines don't read the domain names by default, but they read IP addresses and the connection between them is established based on IP addressed only.
DNS helps browsers, apps, and other tools to convert a specific domain name (e.g. forbes.com) into a machine readable format. Human redable domain names can't be read by machines. That is why, DNS turns different domain names into IP addresses. IP addresses, as numerical identifiers, enable devices to talk to each other with proper networking equipment. Simply put, DNS is a "phone book" of the internet, that stores all domains along with their IP addresses. Using a DNS, browsers can translate a domain name to its actual IP address and make appropriate requests.
A DNS leak test works in a simply way – it check all your DNS requests and allows you to see which DNS servers were used to find out the IP of a domain name. The best way to understand how a DNS leak test works is to try it using the following scheme:
If you found out the same DNS servers with a VPN enabled and without it – your DNS probably leaks. If there are different DNS servers, then you are good to go.
Another easy way to understand how a DNS leak test works is to check your VPN connection to another country. Let’s assume you are in the US. Run a DNS leak test and you will see that your DNS requests are coming to the US DNS servers. Then, connect to any other country – the UK, France, or Spain. Run a DNS leak test once again. If you see British, French, and Spanish DNS servers – everything is good, and there are no leaks. However, if you see the US DNS server in the list, your DNS requests probably leak.
A DNS leak is a problem with the network configuration that results in loss of privacy by sending DNS queries over insecure links instead of using the VPN connection. DNS or Domain Name Servers are like telephone books that translate domain names (e.g. yahoo.com) into IP addresses and as such are vital for Internet communication. When you connect to a VPN tunnel, it is important that all your traffic is passed through the tunnel including DNS requests. Otherwise, if the DNS ‘leaks’ out of the secure tunnel, your online activity could be exposed.
The reason why DNS leaks occur is normally due to misconfiguration of network settings on client devices. The most common DNS leaks occur on Windows Operating Systems due to the OS preferring to use DNS servers assigned by the LAN gateway rather than the DNS server assigned by VPN tunnel. This is especially common among Windows 10 PCs.
So, a DNS leak is basically a misconfiguration on your device that leads to loss of privacy. If you have a DNS leak, your DNS requests are recorded by your ISP (Internet Service Provider), so they see the websites you are visiting. A reliable VPNs have in-built DNS leak protection and shouldn't leak while some VPN providers ignore this feature and put your privacy at risk.
You could have a DNS leak because of some misconfigurations in your system. DNS leak happens when your DNS requests are going outside of a VPN tunnel. Before you visit any website, a browser or an app sends DNS requests to figure out the IP address of a resource it requests. The DNS processes this query and returns an IP address to your device. Usually, when you use a decent VPN, all DNS requests are encrypted and sent to secure VPN DNS servers. However, your PC or phone might send DNS requests outside of a VPN tunnel which results in a DNS leak. To prevent this problem, we have a built-in DNS leak protection across ZoogVPN clients. This feature makes sure all DNS requests are going through highly-encrypted VPN tunnel, so a DNS leak isn't happening.
It’s possible to prevent a DNS leak if you follow three simple rules:
1. Use a reliable VPN provider. You need to check if your VPN provider is good enough. Trusted VPN providers take your privacy seriously and care about every possible problem in advance. For example, they don’t store logs, have advanced leak protection, and reliable VPN clients with secure VPN protocols. If your VPN is not secure or you use some manual configurations, you risk having a DNS leak.
2. Be careful with changing network configurations. Generally, a DNS leak happens due to misconfiguration of network settings on client devices. That is why, you don’t need to change them, interfere them if you don’t really understand the circumstances. The best way to avoid a DNS leak is to choose a reliable VPN provider with a decent apps that have a good DNS leak protection.
3. Don’t change DNS servers in your system if you use a good VPN provider. Operating system allows you to specify which DNS servers should be used to handle DNS requests. By default, your network uses the DNS servers of your ISP (Internet Service Provider), but it’s possible to use other ones. It’s not recommended to change the DNS servers if you already use a decent VPN provider. Some VPN providers use their own encrypted DNS servers or have features that prevent DNS leak. So, you don’t need to override DNS servers in your system if you are already using a trusted VPN service.
You can use various online pages that help to test a VPN for a DNS leak. For example, you can run a DNS leak test on our page to check if your DNS requests leak. Run the test with a VPN and without it. Shortlist the DNS servers from the both results, and compare them afterwards. If you find out that DNS requests are the same - a DNS leak is found. If you see that you have a completely different list of DNS servers, you don't need to worry as no DNS leaks were found.
You can run a DNS leak right here. Just press the button, and we will show your DNS requests. After that, turn on your VPN, and run the test again. If you see a completely different list of DNS servers – you are good to go. Otherwise, your DNS might leak.
First thing first – you need to run a DNS leak test. Run a test without a VPN first. Shortlist or remember the DNS servers that appear. Then, enable your VPN, and run the test again. If the DNS servers are completely different, you don’t have a DNS leak. If you have the same DNS servers, or some of them are the same, then your DNS is leaking.
Yes, a DNS leak test is completely safe. The DNS leak test just sends DNS requests to resolve a specific domain. Then, it displays what DNS servers your device used. Furthermore, ZoogVPN DNS leaks test is safe because we use a few layers of encryption here.
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