As the world becomes increasingly connected, IP addresses become a valuable commodity. There are many ways to steal or block an IP address, but which is the best? We take a look at seven of the best free and paid methods available in 2022.
The “free online counselling chat 24/7” is a list of the best free and paid methods to block your IP address. These are 7 of the best methods that you can use in 2022.
Regular website visitors need to be aware of what an IP address is. Here’s a quick explanation of what an IP address is in case you’re new to the site or just haven’t given much thought to how the internet works.
An IP address is given to any device that connects to the internet and is used to identify the device. With the help of this distinctive address, other internet-connected devices may determine which device issued a request for information and where the response ought to go.
This closely resembles how your residential or business address functions in the real world.
An IP address may also be used to pinpoint a device’s location as each nation is given a distinct set of IP addresses for usage by connected devices within its boundaries.
This makes it possible for internet-enabled applications, websites, and services to find and monitor your whereabouts. Based on the device’s IP address, the websites, services, or applications may decide whether to provide access to their content.
This implies that you may avoid any monitoring of your online activity and perhaps acquire access to geo-blocked material that is often unavailable in your region of the globe if you can prevent a website, app, or service from recognizing your true IP address.
In this essay, I’ll describe how to block your IP address, the many blocking techniques available, and the benefits and drawbacks of each blocking strategy.
Let’s first examine the two categories of IP addresses that are used on the internet.
Types of IP Address
IP Addresses in IPv4
A connected device is given a specific 32-bit IPv4 address, which enables other devices on the internet or on a local network to recognize it.
An IPv4 address is given in the format x.x.x.x, where x may represent any integer between 0 and 255. For instance, my Mac is presently given the IPv4 address 192.168.0.167 on my home network. Only my Mac uses this address, which is unique on my home network.
My ISP’s modem’s IP address, on the other hand, is the one that is shown publicly. That IP address is also an IPv4 address, and no, it is none of your concern what it is.
There are 4,294,967,296 possible address combinations in the IPv4 addressing model.
Although it would seem like everyone would have access to one of the roughly 4.3 billion IP addresses, the growth of connected devices (such as computers, smartphones, Internet of Things devices, cars, and countless other gadgets) has swiftly used up all of the IP numbers that were formerly accessible. present IPv6.
IP addresses for IPv6
IPv6 was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in response to the above-mentioned depletion of IP Addresses in IPv4.
With 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses (or around 3.41038), IPv6 is a 128-bit addressing method.
Eight sets of four hexadecimal digits, separated by colons, make up an IPv6 address. For example, 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334.
What Is a Blocker for IP Addresses?
An IP address blocker is a program or service that masks your actual IP address behind a new IP address given by a proxy, preventing others from discovering and tracking it online.
The most common method of blocking IP addresses is the use of a proxy, which may be a VPN, an HTTPS proxy, the Tor network, or another kind of proxy.
I’ll look at 7 different sorts of proxies in this portion of the essay that you may use to hide your true IP address.
1. A VPN
Your internet connection is routed via one of the many VPN servers spread out throughout the world by a virtual private network (VPN). As a result, the true IP address of your device is hidden, and the VPN’s IP address is used instead to identify your device on the internet.
Many VPNs share dynamic IP addresses, which means that your device shares an IP address with other devices connected to the VPN server. This adds to your anonymity by making it impossible to link your device directly to any of your online activity.
A VPN improves online security in addition to masking your true IP address by encrypting your internet connection to prevent surveillance and tracking of your online actions by outside parties.
Additionally, it enables you to access geo-blocked material, such streaming websites, that may otherwise be inaccessible to you in your area of the globe by giving your device a new IP address.
The best VPN I’ve used is NordVPN, which has hundreds of servers spread across several countries. The service provider specializes in offering quick, secure connections to the majority of the world’s population, thorough customer assistance, and native app compatibility for the majority of widely used device platforms. Read my review of NordVPN for more details.
Although there are free VPNs accessible, they are not recommended in my opinion because of privacy, performance, and convenience issues.
Second, SOCKS proxies
While SOCKS proxies are similar to VPNs in that they provide encrypted security, not all versions of the protocol do, which means that your online activity may still be seen before it reaches the proxy server. This implies that your ISP, the government, or hackers may keep an eye on your internet activities.
Although SOCKS5 does allow encryption, it is not necessary. Your connection will be slower but more secure if you activate encryption.
A SOCKS proxy may not necessarily block your IP address for every online activities when you use one. Instead, the SOCKS proxy must be set up for each individual program. It must be set up in the settings of any accompanying applications.
Some VPN service providers, like NordVPN, provide SOCKS proxies.
There are free and commercial versions of SOCKS proxies, however I highly advise against using the free ones.
3. HTTP & HTTPS Proxies
For browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Safari, HTTP and HTTPS proxies are often available as plugins or browser extensions. When using a web browser, these proxies will mask your IP address, but all other computer use will continue to be made over your direct ISP connection.
Your IP address will be concealed from websites you visit in the browser through an HTTP proxy. Your whole browsing history is exposed to monitoring since the connection is not secured.
An HTTPS proxy employs SSL encryption to encrypt your browser activities and conceal your true IP address. Along with their programs, VPN companies often supply these kinds of proxies. The HTTPS proxy simply encrypts your in-browser activity, while programs encrypt all of your computer’s internet activities.
Many VPN companies, including well-known ones like NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and others, provide browser plugins and extensions.
Be advised that even if you are using an HTTPS proxy, you may still be leaking DNS, WebRTC, and other sorts of internet traffic outside of the proxy. Your exact IP address and geographic location may be ascertained using this information. You must utilize a VPN application if you want complete security.
4. Secure Shell (SSH) Proxy
SSH proxies, which are also known as SSH tunnels, are less popular than the first three proxies I’ve discussed above, but you can manually set one up on most operating systems.
Using the SSH protocol, an SSH proxy directs your internet connection via a proxy server. Although SSH employs robust encryption to secure your connection, it significantly slows down operations and may impair the functionality of certain applications and websites.
Even though configuring an SSH proxy is quite easy and can be done using an SSH client like PuTTY, it is beyond the purview of this article. Visit the Berkeley website for instructions on how to configure an SSH proxy.
Tor Browser 5.
The Tor Project developed the Tor Browser (also known as “The Onion Router”) with the goal of offering “private access to an unfiltered web.”
The anonymous Tor network, which consists of a collection of randomized nodes and functions effectively as a collection of proxy servers, is how the Tor Browser routes its traffic. At least three separate nodes are used to encrypt your connection as it travels across the anonymous Tor network. A layer of encryption is removed by each node until it reaches a “exit node.”
Only the exit node’s IP address is visible to websites. The source, destination, or content of Tor-based internet traffic cannot be detected or monitored by any node in the chain.
The Tor Browser has shortcomings even if it is a useful tool for blocking IP addresses.
Tor will significantly slow down your internet surfing since it requires numerous rounds of encryption and requires you to pass through several nodes in order to get to your destination. This indicates that it is often only suitable for basic web surfing. Streaming and other browser activities won’t work as they should.
Although political activists and journalists in repressive nations use the Tor Browser to conceal their internet activities, it is also regrettably a well-liked tool among the criminal underworld.
Since your ISP can see when you use the Tor Browser, this might lead to greater government and ISP monitoring.
6. Turn IPv4 or IPv6 off
To use the internet, you must have either IPv4 or IPv6 enabled. This implies that you may deactivate only one, but not both.
By turning off IPv6 on your device, you may probably securely block your IPv6 address as the majority of websites, services, and applications utilize IPv4. While IPv4 may be disabled and IPv6 left active, don’t count on the internet to function flawlessly.
Your router could have IPv6 turned off by default. Depending on the router type and manufacturer, there are many ways to verify the IPv6 settings. To examine and modify your router’s IPv6 settings, contact the manufacturer of your router. Disabling IPv6 on specific devices is not necessary if your router has IPv6 turned off.
Follow these steps to stop Windows 10 from using IPv6:
- Switch to the Control Panel.
- Change the “View by” setting to “Large icons” in the top-right corner.
- “Network and Sharing Center” should be clicked.
- In the left panel, click “Change adapter settings”.
- Select “Properties” by performing a right-click on the currently active network adapter.
- Activate the “Networking” tab.
- Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) is not selected.
- Select “Ok” from the menu.
- All of the windows you opened in the preceding stages should be closed.
Depending on the version you are using of Mac OS X and macOS, there may be several ways to disable IPv6. Visit the Apple Support page for further details.
7. Use a NAT firewall to conceal the private IP address of your device.
Whether you realize it or not, you probably already have a NAT firewall in place. Most WiFi routers often come with a NAT firewall.
A NAT firewall improves network security by concealing the internal organization of your residential or commercial network from outsiders.
A NAT firewall only permits internet traffic to go through its gateway if a local network device that is linked to it requests it. Unwanted data packets are destroyed, preventing connection with potentially harmful internet-connected devices like hackers who could attempt to seize control of networked equipment.
The NAT firewall understands the traffic should be ignored and not transmitted to the network device if it detects incoming traffic that was not requested by an IP address on the internal network.
Only the router’s public IP address is visible to other internet-connected devices; none of the private IP addresses on the internal network are. This shields your PCs, game consoles, smart TVs, cellphones, tablets, and other connected devices from outside threats.
Internet-connected computers and servers can only view the router’s public IP address; they cannot see the private IP addresses of particular devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, smart TVs, Internet of Things gadgets, and gaming consoles.
The majority of contemporary residential and business routers come included with a NAT Firewall option. Depending on the make and type of the router you use, you may need to manually activate the firewall component of the function.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many techniques to prevent the rest of the internet from discovering your IP address. Although some are simpler and more effective than others, all of the techniques we’ve looked at will work.
A VPN is my go-to internet security tool, and I use it to hide my IP address. A VPN protects your online activity from prying eyes by encrypting your connection in addition to temporarily assigning a new IP address to your connected device (hiding your actual IP address). Additionally, that new IP address gives you access to a variety of internet resources that you may otherwise never see.
The “best free password manager ios” is a list of 7 different methods for blocking IP addresses. The article also includes the best paid and free apps to use as well.
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