Cyber-threats are getting worse day after day. Once you are online, there is hardly any information of yours that skilled hackers can’t get their hands on. IP Address is an easy piece of information for Hackers to extract. Websites use your IP Address to identify the user behind the request. One should always take measures to hide IP addresses in order to protect online privacy. But how can we do so? How to hide your IP Address to protect our online privacy?
There aren’t many techniques to hide your IP Address. But we have accumulated four best techniques through which you can easily hide your IP to protect your online privacy.
What is an IP Address?
An IP Address (Internet Protocol) is an Identification number assigned to a device connected to a network. Different IP Addresses are assigned to different geographical locations. Hence, two different devices at the same place may have the same IP address. Your ISP and Websites you visit identify you on through your IP Address
4 Different techniques to Hide the IP address:
These are the four different techniques through which you can hide your IP address to protect your online privacy and data. Let’s dig deeper into these techniques and learn about the Pros and Cons of using these methods to hide the IP address:
1. Hide IP Address with a VPN:
VPNs (Virtual Private Network) are a popular tool to protect the users from various cyber-threats including Identity theft. VPNs have gained a lot of popularity in recent times in light of exceeding number of cybercrimes. Increasing number of users are relying on VPNs to protect their online privacy and data.
VPNs do a lot more than just hiding the IP Address. VPNs work on different protocols (Performance Guidelines) to protect the user’s data. But the heart of all the VPN protocols lies in securely encrypting user’s data (including IP address), masking the user’s IP address and securely transmitting the data over the internet. I will not get into the explanation of how VPN works
VPNs can be paid as well as free to use methods to hide IP addresses depending upon the VPN you use (We suggest using paid VPN services for utmost protection). There are a plethora of VPN options available in the market.
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Systweak VPN (Recommended Paid VPN)
Systweak VPN is among the most popular VPNs available in the market. Systweak VPN uses second to none protection methods to safeguard user privacy and data. Let’s look at some of its features:
Download Now Systweak VPN
IP Address Masking:
To safeguard user’s online privacy and data, Systweak VPN hides IP addresses and masks it with the IP address of the different servers around the world. Hence, when a website tries to determine the user who is trying to access the information, it gets the IP address of the Systweak VPN server located in a different country.
Large Number of Servers:
Systweak VPN offers more than 4500 servers in over 50 countries. Large number of servers help ensure that every time you connect to the internet, you get connected with a different server. It makes it impossible for any hacker to track back to your real IP Address.
With the above given features and more, you can rest assured that your online privacy is 100% protected with Systweak VPN.
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Hotspot Shield VPN (Recommended Free VPN):
Hotspot VPN is a wonderful option to hide IP Address for Free. Although it doesn’t offer a large number of servers like Systweak VPN, it definitely can help you hide your IP Address from hackers.
Hotspot only proffers one server which can be a compromise on your online security. But it is still better than using no software to hide IP addresses at all. Hotspot Shield Free VPN allows 500MB/day data usage.
Download: Hotspot Shield
2. Hide IP Address using Proxy:
Proxies (Proxy Servers) are widely used as a method to hide IP address. They serve as a gateway between your device and the internet. While connected to a proxy server, the websites you visit can access your Private IP address but the IP address of the Proxy server (Similar to a VPN) to hide your IP Address.
Proxy servers, however, aren’t secure enough to completely protect you from different cyber-threats. They are rather aimed at bypassing the security of Firewalls at your workplace or at school.
How hard it would be for a hacker to crack the security totally depends on the Proxy you choose. There are several paid and free proxies available in the market to help you hide your IP Address.
Also Read: How To Find Your IP Address
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RSocks (Recommended Paid Proxy)
RSocks is a paid proxy that helps you hide your IP address. The plans are a bit expensive and RSocks charge as per the data requirement of the user. RSocks offers over 3 million different servers available for users to use to hide IP Address.
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Hidester (Recommended Free Proxy)
Hidester Proxy isn’t a software nor a tool. It is a simple website that helps redirect your data through servers in the USA or Europe. Users can simply head over to the website and enter the URL of the website they want to visit. It is a simple and easy to use method to hide the IP address for free.
However, Hidester also offers browser extensions if you decide to use it regularly, you can simply use the extension. It provides decent security and can help you bypass geographical blocks on different websites.
3. Hide IP Address using TOR (Free)
TOR is a popular and widely used method to hide IP addresses for Free. It also offers considerable protection to your online privacy. TOR (The Onion Router) is a worldwide network initially made for the US Army. TOR is a group of different individual nodes spread around the world. An internet request is transmitted through a new random sequence of these nodes every time you connect to the internet. The website only gets the IP address of the last node through which the data has passed.
The most feasible means of using the TOR system is a TOR Browser. TOR Browser encrypts the data and sends it through a random sequence of nodes to make it impossible for anyone to track back to the original IP address of the user. It is an effective and cost-efficient technique to Hide IP addresses and protect online privacy. TOR Browser can be used on Windows, Android, Linux, and MacOS devices to hide IP addresses for free.
Download: TOR Browser
4. Hide IP Address Using NAT Firewall (Free)
Most Wireless routers these days come with inbuilt NAT Firewall. NAT Firewall functions by hiding your IP address and reflecting the IP Address of the routers is different from your Private IP Address. Therefore, when you use a wireless router with NAT Firewall built-in, it hides the IP Address (private) and the website you visit only gets the Public IP Address. Different devices connected with same router share the same Public IP Address while their private IP Address is hidden. This is an effective method to hide IP addresses for free.
All you have to do is choose a router that has NAT Firewall in-built. Most Wi-Fi routers come with NAT Firewall equipped. However, NAT Firewall isn’t a fool proof method of hiding IP address. It has flaws and shortcomings of its own and that can be misused by hackers.
| Security | |
|---|---|
| 1. Paid VPN | Excellent |
| 2. Free VPN | Average |
| 3. Paid Proxy | Good |
| 4. Free Proxy | Low |
| 5. TOR Browser | Good |
| 6. NAT Firewall | Low |
So, this was the list of 4 Free and Paid methods to Hide IP addresses to safeguard your online privacy and data. We hope we were able to expose to you the various possible ways to protect and Hide IP Address. Do let us know about any query you have.
Next Read:
Preventive Measures To Protect Your Computer From Malware
Firefox Private Network VPN – Protect Your Privacy
Akanksha
Very cool tricks. Thanks for sharing.