Some torrent clients ignore proxy settings (route traffic insecurely) Slightly slower than proxy (encryption overhead) Comparative advantages of VPN & ProxyĮncrypts/Routes traffic for your entire device We’ll cover the basic differences below, but for a closer look, read: VPN vs. They can both help you hide your IP address from torrent peers, but they differ in ease-of-use and features (like encryption).

The two best privacy tools for uTorrent are a VPN or Proxy. You’ll learn how to set this up yourself later on in this guide. That’s why smart file-sharers route their traffic through a VPN or proxy server, which will replace your IP-address with the one belonging to the remote server, shielding your identity. Like these peers, you have no choice but to display your IP address (it’s how p2p peers connect to each other to share files).īut it doesn’t have to be your real IP-address! What you look like on uTorrentĮvery major torrent client has a peers tab, which will show you the IP address, file status (and often the location) of each peers you’re sharing a file with.Īnd these IP addresses are a unique identifier that (unless you’re using a VPN) can be traced directly to your internet/mobile/broadband account.Ībove is a screenshot of the swarm for the pirate bay documentary film “TBP AFK.” The last few digits of the IP addresses from the swarm have been deliberately blurred by me (even though it is a public domain torrent) to preserve their anonymity. Warning: If you visit IKWYD, it will display the files they’ve tracked to your IP address.Īnd of course, your internet provider (ISP) can see your torrent activity by using Deep Packet Inspection (unless you take steps to encrypt your utorrent traffic). There are even websites like I know what you download that monitor thousands of copy-infringing torrent swarms worldwide and publish the IP addresses of peers. Just as you can see all peers in a torrent swarm, anyone in a computer can monitor peers sharing a file, and see their unique IP address. You may not realize, but all torrent activity worldwide is easily traceable (and not only by your internet provider).

How to use a VPN with uTorrent/BitTorrentĪnonymous torrents: Why it matters Torrent activity is public and easily traceable.

tools you can use to improve torrent privacy.

how torrents are monitored (p2p privacy leaks).

Why you should care about anonymity and privacy while torrenting.

This guide will show you how to encrypt your uTorrent downloads using a VPN and how to hide your real IP address from peers, making it extremely difficult for a someone to monitor your file-sharing activity. It also suffers from the inherent privacy vulnerabilities in all major torrent software.

UTorrent (and the BitTorrent-branded clone) is the most popular torrent client in the world.

Utorrent download bar turns red