How to Hide Your IP Address

In this guide, you will look at what an IP is and how it works, what information it exposes about you, and how to hide it from the eyes of attackers and companies. More specifically, you will explore the best ways to hide an IP address.

How to hide your IP address

As you may already know, every device that connects to the Internet must have a unique IP address. This public identifier makes it easier for sites to track online consumer behavior and for hackers to monitor your online activity. As you can imagine, exposing your real IP opens the door to privacy and security issues. That is why you need to know how to hide your IP address.

What is an IP Address?

An IP address, short for Internet Protocol address, is a numerical label assigned to each device that communicates over the Internet protocol and is connected to a computer network. You can think of it as similar to a street address for a house but for devices on a network. It is a unique identifier that allows devices to communicate with each other and send data packets over the Internet or a local network.

There are two versions of IP addresses in use today:

  • IPv4: Four sets of numbers separated by periods (e.g., 192.153.4.59), where each section goes up to 255.
  • IPv6: Strings in x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x format, where each x is the hexadecimal value of the eight 16-bit pieces of the address. This was created to accommodate the increasing number of devices connecting to the Web.

IP addresses can also be divided into public and private.

A public IP address is the address that an ISP (Internet Service Provider) assigns to a router. On the other hand, a private IP address is the number that the router assigns to a specific device in a local network. While private IPs are used internally within the private network, public IPs are used externally to communicate with other devices connected to the Internet.

The two main purposes of an IP are network interface identification and location addressing. In particular, a public IP address can expose information about the ISP in use and help geolocate a device. Even though an IP address is not enough to accurately identify the exact location of a user, it can reveal the geographic area the device connected to the Web from. For example, the public IP address is how online sites know where you are and can advertise experiences near you.

Every single device that connects to the Internet has an IP address, including computers, smartphones, printers, and others. While the IP address is not sufficient to discover a person’s identity, it can be used to track an individual when combined with other information.

Reasons To Hide Your IP Address

As mentioned above, exposing one’s public IP can lead to privacy concerns. Isn’t there a way to connect to the Internet without exposing your IP? Of course, there is, and that is precisely the purpose of hiding the IP address.

Since every device that connects to the Internet must have a valid IP, you cannot just erase your IP address. At the same time, you can use the IP of a device that is not yours.

Let’s now look at the top five reasons to hide your IP address.

To avoid exposing your identity and physical location

Starting with your public IP and using other public information on your social media, an attacker might be able to find out your approximate location or even understand your physical address and identity.

Hiding your IP makes it harder for sites, advertisers, or malicious actors to understand who you really are. It will also be more difficult for companies to track your online activities. The end result is anonymity, which means surfing the Internet without leaving fingerprints.

To bypass geographical restrictions

Some countries block access to foreign sites or whose servers are located in specific areas. Similarly, streaming services change their catalog based on the country users connects from.

Hiding your IP address is an effective way to circumvent geographical restrictions imposed by sites, networks, countries, or ISPs. Some techniques for masking IPs allow you to get replacement IPs in specific locations, providing access to any geo-restricted content.

To avoid IP bans

Many websites actively monitor incoming requests to protect themselves from potential attacks and unwanted activity. For example, when an entity makes an excessive number of requests in a short time span, their IP address is banned. This is an effective way to block bot traffic.

In addition, every online activity you undertake contributes to the reputation of your IP address. This can become a problem when performing activities such as web scraping. By not revealing your real IP address, you can avoid repercussions.

To keep your online searches private

The major search engines keep track of every single search query you make. The same goes for sites visited, links clicked, time spent on a particular web page, and more. Hiding your IP prevents search engines from linking your searches to you. That is especially useful for safeguarding the privacy of high-risk professions, such as law enforcement or investigative journalism.

To mitigate cyberattacks

Cybercriminals often target identifiable IP addresses as entry points for launching various forms of attacks. These include DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attacks, hacking attempts, malware distribution, and phishing attempts. By concealing your IP address, you make it significantly more challenging for malicious actors to directly target your device or network.

5 Different Approaches To Hiding Your IP Address

Discover the top five ways to hide your IP address, ranked from most effective to least recommended.

1. Route Your Traffic Through a Proxy Server

A proxy server acts as an intermediary between your device and the Internet. If you route traffic through a proxy server, here is what happens:

  • Your device sends your requests to the proxy server instead of the destination server.
  • The proxy server forwards the requests to the destination server.
  • The destination server sends the responses to the proxy server.
  • The proxy server sends the responses back to your device.

During this process, your public IP is exposed only in the short route from your device to the proxy server. Other actors will see the proxy server’s IP and not yours, since the proxy routes traffic on your behalf.

This is the best way to hide your IP. The reason is that the best proxy providers control vast networks of servers, with millions of proxy IPs available. This geographic distribution allows users to select a proxy server in most regions and areas of the world. What is special about proxies is that they can work in the browser, at the operating system level, but also with programming languages and HTTP clients.

Note that several types of proxies are available, such as HTTP proxies, SOCKS proxies, datacenter proxies, residential proxies, mobile proxies, and more. Each of them addresses different needs and applications.

Pros:

  • Automatic IP rotation across numerous addresses from real devices.
  • Access to geo-restricted content thanks to server distribution across multiple locations.
  • Seamless integration with various programming languages, operating systems, browsers, and other technologies.
  • Diverse proxy offerings tailored to support a wide array of scenarios and applications.
  • Enhanced browsing speed, as proxy servers cache frequently accessed content.

Cons:

  • Requires premium services, as free proxies are unreliable and may log and sell your navigation data.

2. Use a VPN Service

A VPN, which stands for Virtual Private Network, establishes a secure and encrypted channel between your device and a remote server managed by the VPN service. Typically, the VPN provider distributes a desktop and/or mobile application that you need to install on your device. Once activated and configured, this application takes care of routing Internet traffic through the selected VPN server.

After choosing a server in the desired country, the VPN application establishes a secure connection to it. Next, it begins routing your web traffic through that server. The VPN server then communicates with the actual destination of the requests and forwards back the responses through the secure channel. As is the case with proxies, this process hides your IP address.

Due to its encrypted nature, VPN technology ensures a secure connection even when connecting to a public network. That is because data is transmitted as if you were on a private network.

Pros:

  • Protection over public networks via data encryption.
  • More popular than ever because of aggressive marketing campaigns by VPN providers.
  • Ability to bypass geo-restrictions with VPN servers in numerous countries.
  • Seamless integration at the operating system level on both desktop and mobile.

Cons:

  • Free VPNs are not to be trusted, and you need to pay for a premium VPN service.
  • Reduced internet speeds due to encryption and routing processes.
  • Hard to be programmatically integrated into scripts.

3. Take Advantage of Anonimous Surfing via Tor

Tor works as a decentralized, community-driven, secure network. Its goal is to enhance online privacy by routing Internet traffic through a network of volunteer-operated servers known as nodes. These nodes encrypt and relay traffic at each step, obscuring the user’s original IP address.

That routing technique encapsulates data in multiple layers of encryption and is known as onion routing. The simplest method to browse the Web via Tor is through the Tor Browser. Despite its effectiveness in hiding your IP, the Tor network is noted for its unreliability. The main problems are that:

  • Onion routing adds a lot of overhead.
  • The servers are run by volunteers and can be shut down at any time.
  • Tor’s end nodes (i.e., the exit IPs) are publicly known, which means that sites can easily block them.

Pros:

  • High anonymity.
  • Privacy protection.
  • Free and open source.

Cons:

  • Reduction in Internet speed due to routing through multiple nodes.
  • Lack of control over the exit node’s location.
  • Reliability issues due to the intricate routing system.
  • Exit node IPs are known and may be subject to bans.
  • Ethical concerns as the Tor is usually associated with illicit activities.

4. Unplug Your Router for a New IP

ISPs provide users with dynamic IP addresses, which change periodically. Restarting the router may be an easy method to get a new IP address from the ISP. However, that is not assured since you may get back the same IP as before. This is because the number of available IPs is not infinite. Also, regardless of the IP you get, your physical location will always be exposed.

Pros:

  • A new IP address for free.
  • Restarting your router is a simple process that does not require technical expertise.

Cons:

  • Lack of control over the IP address you will receive.
  • Limited number of IPs available.
  • Temporary interruption of internet connectivity during router restart.
  • Requires manual intervention.
  • Ineffective in shielding against geolocation.

5. Connect to a Free/Public Wi-Fi Network

When you connect to a public Wi-Fi network, your home IP address is obscured by the network’s IP. That is because your Internet traffic will appear as coming from the public network and not from your home connection.

While this is an effective way to hide your IP, public Wi-Fi networks pose significant security risks. They expose you to malicious activities, such as data theft, malware injection, identity fraud, and more. Consequently, you should try to avoid them as much as possible.

Pros:

  • Free method.

Cons:

  • Security vulnerabilities because of their public nature.
  • Slow connection speeds due to network congestion.
  • Potentially subject to traffic sniffing by hackers.
  • Limited privacy as browsing activity may be logged.
  • Some networks are set up as traps by hackers to steal data.
  • No control over the IP you will get.
  • Limited availability of free/public Wi-Fi networks from your home.
    Final Thoughts

In this article, you learned what an IP address is, what information it can reveal about your identity and physical location, and why you should hide it for security and privacy reasons. In particular, you explored the five main approaches to masking your IP. Thanks to what you have learned here, you know how to hide your IP address to surf the Web anonymously.

FAQs

With your IP address, someone can: – Determine your approximate location. – Devise and launch targeted cyberattacks. – Track your online activity and advertise products or services specific to your area. – Conduct unauthorized surveillance. – Block or restrict access to certain websites or content, as streaming services do.
No, you cannot hide your IP address from your ISP. This is because your ISP provides you with Internet service and, as a result, an IP address. Without this public IP address, you could not connect to the Internet. Keep in mind that not even proxies and VPNs mask your IP from ISPs. They simply replace your existing IP address with another one so that other computers and servers on the Internet cannot see yours. However, your real IP address is still there and will be used to communicate with the proxy or VPN server.
Yes, all the methods for hiding your IP presented in this article also work on smartphones and any other device that supports proxy or VPN integration. In particular, most proxies and VPN providers come with mobile applications that you can install on your iOS or Android phone.