Hi, if a hacker is able to take advantage of a browser exploit to run code which grabs machine information and sends it back to their server, would being connected to a VPN protect your IP information?
I understand in this scenario IP is probably the least of ones worries if they can also access logins or other machine contents but I’m curious about whether it’s possible to determine public IP while connected to VPN.
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If a hacker is already on your system, depending on what privileges the user has, he can do what every he wants. Yes including finding out what IP you got from your ISP before you connect to a VPN service. But your IP is basically public information. And if a hacker is on your pc you got different problems then worrying about your IP. Restart your router and youll get a new one.
Hi, if a hacker is able to take advantage of a browser exploit to run code which grabs machine information and sends it back to their server, would being connected to a VPN protect your IP information?
No. It is possible to detect your public IP even when using a VPN; you don’t need a browser exploit or hacker —it can be done very easily with WebRTC connections. Not all VPNs block WebRTC leaks, although you can disable WebRTC in your browser. However, this can cause a loss of functionality on websites that depend on WebRTC support.
On a related note, if you’re interested, check out this link on what a VPN is and is not.
https://blog.selvansoft.com/2024/06/vpn-myth-vs-reality.html
Is it possible for the threat actor to get your real IP address even though you’re connected to a VPN?
Yes.
Thank you, this is really helpful.
It’s harder though but yeah. Even Tor can be unravelled under the right circumstances.
I’ll have 2nd aselvan2’s post 
All a vpn does is encrypt the traffic between your device and the VPN breakout point, and - at a glance - make it appear that your device is somewhere it isn’t. It doesn’t protect against malware, phishing, anything like that. Malicious content on a website will get through, vpn or no vpn.
I use it mostly for obscuring traffic…to as much of an extent as that’s possible and although it’s really difficult, even Tor can be broken under certain circumstances.
I run Mozilla VPN with Bitdefender and Firefox Focus; Bitdefender catches the malware side (and has Web scanning), Mozilla VPN let’s me anonymise my Web traffic and Firefox Focus automatically removes so much junk from Web pages it makes Web browsing much faster.
I’m just curious but if you have bit defender, how come you don’t use that vpn since it comes with one? Personal preference or have you found that Mozilla’s offers something different or better?
The “free” VPN with Bitdefender is something ridiculous like 200MB* a day then it stops, so it becomes payment then. I would happily pay for it but I want to support Mozilla as they’re a bit of a minnow these days
*yeah, MB! That’s probably just half of the opening text of Star Wars.
That said, Mozilla piggybacks on Mullvad which uses Wireguard (faster than IPSec) and is a doddle to use - offers multi-hop, app exclusion and a few levels of normal dns/ad blocking and so on. So it’s actually a pretty good VPN.
Bit of a side track but I confused Bitdefender support no end. I’ve got 2 kids so wanted to use Bitdefender’s parental control ls and their VPN (so ppl can’t track my kids Internet traffic) but although they initially said it was possible it’s not, so I ditched the VPN part.