Is Your VPN Made Vulnerable by WebRTC?

In the quest for better communications, it’s easy to stay so focused on the ease of use that we overlook the need for security. IT managers tend to have this as a top priority on an ongoing basis, but the average communicator may be focused solely on making the connection. In this effort, Digitfreak warns that all should tread lightly.

Before anyone had ever heard the WebRTC concept, companies and individuals were relying on the Virtual Private Network (VPN) to secure online identity and privacy. The platform can mask or change the IP address used, making it attractive for those who were concerned about the exchange of information online. It can also provide an excellent medium for accessing geo-blocked contents and to determine whether or not your ISP is throttling your connection.

One thing that VPN service providers tend to leave out of the conversation with their customers, however, is that they don’t provide protection from the WebRTC IP leak unless the user manually takes actions to protect against it. If you aren’t familiar with this flaw, it was revealed earlier this year that real IP addresses of various VPN users are easily seen through a WebRTC feature. As a result, data brokers, advertisers and governments can use the connection to see into your VPN and find out where your connection is actually originating.

To put it simply – any user browsing with Google Chrome version 23+, Mozilla (News - Alert) Firefox version 22+ or any other browser based on these two platforms are by default vulnerable to the WebRTC leak. What’s worse – your VPN provider can’t do anything to fix it. To reduce your risk, you have to block WebRTC manually and it’s likely your VPN didn’t warn you about the importance of this move. At present, there aren’t reports that companies are actually taking advantage of this flaw, but in the age of Big Data, why wouldn’t they start?

The reality is we’re in an age where many of us will trade some of our privacy for access to better deals, more personalized offers and even seamless connectivity with the companies with which we do business and want to communicate. Too often, however, we take these risks without fully understanding what we’re giving up in the process.

The bottom line is this vulnerability is getting a lot of attention. If you want to continue the use of your VPN, it may be best to start taking a closer look at your options.