What is DNS?

DNS, or domain name system, is a system that translates domain names into numerical IP addresses used for identifying and locating devices and services on the internet. Whenever you enter a URL address into your browser, it reaches a DNS server. The server then retrieves from the database a unique IP address corresponding to the URL and sends it back.

Your device sends its queries to a DNS server, which then responds with directions to what you’re looking for. Under usual conditions, that is when no VPN is used, DNS requests are sent to your ISP’s DNS servers. Since DNS connection is normally unencrypted, ISP can see all the sites and services you connect to.

What is a DNS Leak?

VPN services offer their own DNS servers so that all DNS requests a device sends go within a VPN tunnel along with all the other traffic generated by the device. Ideally, it should work, but sometimes DNS requests may still be sent in the open to an ISP’s server. This is called a DNS leak. A VPN fails to protect DNS queries of your device, even though the rest of the device’s traffic is secured by the VPN tunnel.

What a DNS leak can reveal

DNS serves as the internet’s address book, affecting everything you do online. Your internet-connected apps, such as your browser, use it to connect you to the servers that operate the services and websites that you visit.

This makes DNS a significant threat to your privacy and anonymity. If a DNS leak occurs, unauthorized parties, such as your DNS server operator or ISP, will freely see which apps you use, websites you frequent, and services you visit.

This issue is mostly relevant for Windows users and Windows 10 users in particular. This is because Windows 10, seeking to optimize performance, sends DNS queries in parallel using all available channels, including those outside a VPN tunnel, and chooses the fastest.

How to Check if Your VPN is Protecting You

When properly configured, VPN Unlimited can protect you from DNS leaks. This DNS Leak Test allows you to check that VPN Unlimited is working as intended.

VPN Unlimited is also available as a part of the MonoDefense® security bundle.

How VPN Unlimited prevents DNS leaks

As described above, your device will typically use your ISP’s DNS servers, unless you’re using a VPN. With VPN Unlimited though, your device will only use our own DNS servers. This is much better for your privacy and anonymity :

VPN Unlimited employs a no-logging policy and doesn’t monitor your activity or connection
All your traffic is encrypted end-to-end while traversing between your device and our DNS servers
VPN Unlimited DNS servers are fast and reliable

Here’s how our VPN protects you from DNS leaks. Imagine you click a link or enter a URL in your browser to visit a webpage. This query is sent via the encrypted tunnel established by VPN Unlimited to one of our DNS servers. The last then looks up the IP address of the website and sends it to VPN Unlimited, which visits the site. Finally, VPN Unlimited returns the requested webpage to you.

This process ensures that no traffic that your device emits escapes the security of the VPN tunnel. Thus protecting you from DNS leaks - by adding additional “walls” to contain your DNS information and keep it intact.

Troubleshooting

In a rare case where you can still see your DNS leaking even with VPN Unlimited enabled (most often observed on the Windows OS), enable the Stop DNS Leak option. To do this, open the VPN Unlimited app, go to the Menu > Settings and click on Stop DNS Leak.

Should You Run DNS Leak Test if You Have a VPN

Yes. On rare occasions, something might go wrong:

Your device might send DNS traffic to a third-party DNS server
Your device might send DNS traffic outside of the VPN tunnel

If any of that happens, it may cause a DNS leak and reveal the list of apps and websites you use to unauthorized parties.

What Can Cause VPN DNS Leaks

DNS leaks in a VPN can occur for various reasons:

VPN was manually configured. Some OS’ allow you to manually configure a VPN connection. While this may have its benefits for an advanced user, this increases the risk of DNS leaks, especially depending on your operating system configuration. Using VPN Unlimited instead of configuring a VPN yourself is the best way to eliminate these risks.
Compromised WiFi router. A hacker owning a malicious router may be able to trick your device into bypassing the VPN tunnel and sending DNS traffic outside of it. Luckily, VPN Unlimited offers DNS leak protection, but for other apps and configurations, this danger is real.
Manual DNS setup. If your device or operating system is specifically told not to use VPN Unlimited’s DNS servers. For instance, if you require a particular DNS service - but for common users, this shouldn’t be the case.

Other Types of Privacy Leaks

IP check

Internet Protocol (IP) address is a unique number assigned by ISPs or private network administrators to each device connected to the internet. By functions, an IP address is somewhat similar to your physical address. It identifies the user and allows their devices to establish connections within the network.

As you can imagine, an IP address can reveal a lot of vital information about you - your ISP, physical location, postal code, etc. That’s why security-conscious netizens turn to VPN Unlimited to mask their IPs.

But alas, IP leaks can sometimes compromise you even while using a VPN, that’s why it’s so important to stay aware of them and know how to avoid them. Check if your internet connection leaks your IP address.

WebRTC Leak Test

WebRTC is a technology that allows web-browsers to have direct P2P communication within a web page, which would otherwise require installing third-party plugins. It improves browser-to-browser communication, and due to how convenient it is, WebRTC is built in most modern popular browsers. The problem is that this program doesn’t require the user’s consent, and can be abused to reveal their real IP address. What’s worse, even a launched VPN can’t protect you from that!

Luckily, there are ways to prevent WebRTC leaks. You can use this guide to learn how to prevent WebRTC leaks in your browser.

However, the most convenient option is to simply install VPN Unlimited browser extension and turn on the WebRTC Leak Prevent option in the settings.

Check if your WebRTC is leaking.