Adding more to it, protecting digital identity and privacy has become even more evident in this digital age, where almost all your online footprints can be tracked. Many companies cash on collected user data and use it for their benefit, cyberattackers are always on the lookout to steal information, and there are so many other concerns that netizens face. Therefore, there’s a greater need for techniques that can prevent or minimize such concerns. One such technique is hiding your IP address. It’s done with the help of different ways that we will cover in this article. Before that, let’s find out what an IP address is and why hiding it could be beneficial.
What’s an IP Address?
An Internet Protocol (IP) address is a unique identifier for every device connecting to the internet. It is a string of numbers separated by decimals or colons, for example, 192.45.20.1 or 2001:db8:01:1234:0:567:8:1. Simply put, an IP address is like your house address, containing location data that other devices on the internet can find to establish communication. IP addresses help identify two main things – location and network/host interface. IP addresses are of two types:
IPv4: It’s a 32-bit number containing two or three digits separated by decimals. Each number can range from 0-255, and the overall range is 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255. Example of IPv4: 192.45.20.1.IPv6: It’s a 128-bit number containing hexadecimal numbers separated by colons and combines both digits and letters. It was created to meet the demands of growing internet devices worldwide. Example: 2001:db8:01:1234:0:567:8:1.
Whether it’s your smartphone, laptop, tablet, router, or any other smart device, all have a unique IP address if they connect to the internet to facilitate communication between devices and share information. So, if you want to know your computer’s IP address, here is a tool for you – My IP. But what if you don’t want others to find your IP address? Is there a mechanism to hide your IP address? Yes, there is. We’ll talk about it in the subsequent section, but let’s first figure out why people hide their IP addresses.
Why hide your IP address?
There are many reasons people hide their IP addresses, whether it’s protecting their identity, downloading some information without getting discovered, or anything else. But people hide it because of the very nature of IP addresses that reveal some sensitive information about a user. For example, if your IP address is 192.45.20.1, it contains two major parts. The first three groups of digits – 192.45.20 – is the network identity, telling which network your IP belongs to. And the second part – 1 – is the host identity revealing your location. Therefore, someone with malicious intent can locate your device and steal information, which you would never want. So, here are various reasons for which you can hide your IP and enjoy some advantages.
To keep your location private.
As explained above, hiding your IP address will mask your device’s location for others on the internet. It will maintain your privacy while safeguarding you from malicious attacks like identity theft.
To surpass geographic restrictions.
Have you ever faced restrictions while accessing a site? It may be due to your geographical location since some websites prohibit users from a specific country or region. But if you still need to access some content that you can’t due to geo-restriction, try hiding your IP address. It can trick servers into assuming that you are accessing a site from a permitted country. Thus, you can bypass the geo-restriction and access the site.
Avoid tracking
Your online footprints are easily trackable. Companies track users to research their consumers and behaviors, study competition, and more to improve their marketing strategies. However, many firms collect and sell user data for their benefit, while attackers use your information for cybercrimes. In addition, your ISP can also track your activities, and it’s legal for them. All of these create security and privacy issues for users. So, you can hide your IP address to maintain privacy and security while stopping others from tracking your activities.
To keep internet searches private.
You can hide your IP address to prevent others from looking at your internet search history. It will also restrict search engines like Google from tracking your search queries, visited sites, linked clicks, time spent on a web page, and so on.
To stream content
If you can’t access a streaming site, you can hide your original IP address and use a service like VPN to stream any content you want. It will help you stream content like videos on Netflix, games, music, etc., freely without restrictions. But here’s the bigger question, how to hide your IP address? There are different ways to do it; let’s discuss some of them.
Using 1.1.1.1 by Cloudflare
1.1.1.1 is a free application that helps you browse the internet safely. It is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS devices and uses an optimized and modern protocol along with WARP to replace the connection between your internet and device. Even if your internet is encrypted, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) can see each app and site you use. Sometimes, providers also use the information to target ads in your system or sell the data, but the good news is 1.1.1.1 with WARP will save you from all these. In addition, 1.1.1.1 protects against snooping by encrypting the traffic that leaves your device. It does not sell your data either. WARP also offers 30% faster surfing by combining Cloudflare’s private Internet backbone with millions of route measurements to deliver better internet.
Using a Privacy-Focused browser like Tor
Defend yourself from surveillance and tracking with the help of Tor. By downloading the Tor browser, you are securing your path, and this browser also isolates every website you visit so that no third-party ads and trackers can follow you. The moment you complete browsing a site, all the cookies will clear automatically, and so will your browsing history. In addition, Tor will not allow anyone to see your connection with the websites you visit except Tor. Tor aims to display that all the users look the same so that it will be difficult for anyone to take information regarding your fingerprint that you may use in your device or browser. Your traffic is encrypted and relayed three times when it passes through the Tor network. Furthermore, it offers Tor relays, i.e., thousands of volunteer-run servers to secure your browsing. Tor browser also allows you to access the sites that your home network blocks. So, start experiencing private browsing with the Tor browser and prevent yourself from censorship.
Using a VPN
Here are two VPNs that can help you mask your IP address:
HMA VPN
Don’t just see a fraction of the internet world; use a VPN such as HMA VPN to explore more. HMA VPN is the world’s largest VPN network which is perfect for P2P and streaming. It works in 290+ countries and provides powerful tools and features. Now, you can access blocked sites across the globe using HMA VPN. You will get a 20 Gbps server speed and 189 servers that are optimized for streaming with zero data limits. HMA also helps you maintain your online life secure and private from your ISP, hackers, and government. Additionally, HMA is easy to understand, and its simple UI ensures that you will get that privacy you search for in just a few clicks. Furthermore, you can install HMA VPN on macOS, iOS, Linux, Windows, and Android devices. Set HMA up on the router so that you can cover the whole house. HMA VPN also offers never-ending features like a no-log policy, blazing fast servers, OpenVPN protocol, lightning connect, IP shuffle, kill switch, no-log DNS, leak shield, speed test, and many more. Pick the package that works best for you and get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
NordVPN
Get private and secure access to the internet with NordVPN which provides an encrypted and secure tunnel for the online traffic to flow so that no one can see inside the tunnel to get the internet data. If you are using public Wi-Fi, you can use it peacefully, as NordVPN works everywhere. This VPN keeps the browsing history private and encrypts the internet connection so that you can access your work files or personal information securely. You will also experience security and online privacy on every platform, whether Linux, Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS, and get encrypted proxy extensions for Firefox and Chrome. NordVPN is different from other VPN providers as it focuses on stable and fast connections everywhere along with zero bandwidth limits. In addition, you can secure a maximum of six devices simultaneously and choose from 5200 NordVPN servers across 60 countries. Enjoy the features like uninterrupted streaming, strict no-logs policy, privacy on the go, obfuscated servers, multi-factor authentication, non-stop data protection, split tunneling option, dedicated IP, double protection, mask the IP, block malware and ads, and a lot more. Choose your plan at a starting price of $3.30/month for a two-year plan.
Using a Premium Proxy
Another way to hide your IP address and enjoy security and privacy is by using a premium proxy like the two mentioned below.
Proxy-Seller
Buy private HTTP and Socks5 proxies for various purposes like scrapers for SEO, internet surfing, online games, social networks, and more from Proxy-Seller. It provides an internet channel speed of 1Gb/s and selects proxies from more than 400 networks and 800 different subnets. Proxy-Seller works with all programs and sites and guarantees 99% uptime. Also, you can buy the proxy of countries like the USA, Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Russia, Germany, France, Canada, and a lot more to access some of the sites banned in your country. Moreover, HTTP and Socks5 proxies maintain a high anonymity level while browsing. You can replace it with any other proxy if you find any difficulty during the use. Choose from IPv4 and IPv6, select the rental period and country, and define the quantity to buy a proxy starting at $0.75/proxy.
Limeproxies
Limeproxies provides improved and new proxy solutions for large-scale projects. It offers 40 million IPs, zero captchas, city-level targeting, and 99.99% uptime. It allows no other person to share your IPs and lets you add 25 IPs to be authenticated for proxy usage. All the headers will get disabled so that you can go to any browser and come back anonymously. Limeproxies also has 300+ subnets from nationwide locations, including 8 US locations and more than 30 countries. Additionally, you will experience high performance even with multi-threaded software. Limeproxies allows you to change proxy IP as required anytime as per your demand. Furthermore, you can manage everything easily with the automated control panel. As long as you have the proxy, no one can use that specific proxy. Many businesses use Limeproxies to protect their brand and perform market research, SEO monitoring, sales intelligence, product intelligence, and email. Get services like IP refresh, connections, bandwidth, network, etc., in the plans starting from $9.98/month. You can also take a free 14-day trial with every plan without using any credit card.
Conclusion
Whether you want to hide your IP address to browse content, maintain security and privacy, avoid tracking and geo-restriction, or anything else, you can do it using some of the ways we discussed above.
