If you’ve ever been online, you’ve probably heard about IP addresses. And if you haven’t? Well, they are what make all of the websites and apps that we use every day possible. IP addresses are unique identifiers for computers, so a website always knows where to send your data. And since IP addresses are geographically tracked, anyone can use them to track a user’s location.

IP address tracking is also how cybercriminals can steal your passwords and personal information online. It’s not always easy to completely hide your IP address while you’re browsing the internet. There are a few ways that will significantly reduce its likelihood of being discovered.

1. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A Virtual Private Network is one of the best ways to protect yourself online from hackers, identity theft, and surveillance. A VPN sends your Internet data through a secure tunnel often encrypted before it exits your device. Thus hiding your location on the web or making it virtually impossible for anyone to see what you’re doing.

Sign up for Private Internet Access VPN with this affiliate link: https://privateinternetaccess.com

2. Use Tor Browser

The Tor browser is an open-source web browser to protect anonymity on the internet through Onion Routing. It encrypts your traffic as it passes through a network of virtual tunnels to the exit node. Where it finally reaches the rest of the web. A hacker needs to know what you’re doing online and how you’re accessing it to see what you’re doing. Which makes everything nearly impossible.

3. Keep Your Home IP Address Private

Most home IP addresses start with 192 or 10. They are straightforward to spot because they are the most common. So it’s important to make sure that they aren’t visible to anyone else. The best way is to use a network-level VPN service like Private Internet Access.

4. Use Anonymity Search Engines

Google and Bing search results are personalized for you based on your previous searches and location. Other information about you is collected and stored. This means that searching the same thing on two different computers will almost always give you different results because Google knows who both of those people are.

Search engines like DuckDuckGo and StartPage are private search engines because they work similarly to Tor and the Tor browser. So instead of searching through one giant database, they search through thousands of different databases simultaneously to give you anonymous search results.

5. Use HTTPS Everywhere

Nearly every website you visit online uses HTTP, a protocol that sends data over the internet unencrypted so that anyone else can see what you’re doing online. The problem with using HTTP is that it is straightforward for an attacker to see exactly what you are doing on a website, making it much easier for them to know whether or not your information is legitimate.

HTTPS encryption solves this problem because it prevents an attacker from seeing the content of a website that you are visiting. It works by sending your data over an encrypted virtual tunnel, which means that the only person who can ever see what you’re doing online is the person running the website.

6. Use Private Browsers

If you’re going to use an internet browser, it’s best to use a private one instead of your favorite Google Chrome or Firefox. This is because all browsers collect information about you whether you believe they do or not. And these cookies are often used to help advertisers display more relevant ads for your interests and other things like how often you visit certain websites.

However, private browsers like Vivaldi and Brave block advertisements and other privacy-invasive trackers by default, which means that your data is less likely to be collected without your knowledge.

7. Use Private Email Services

Email is very similar to search engines when it comes to privacy. Every time that you send an email, it’s likely being collected by the government and advertisers. So if you want to send a private email, there are many free and paid for alternatives available online that offer strong encryption and anonymity features that prevent your emails from being easily read or intercepted.

8. Keep Your Location Hidden

Your location is one of the easiest ways for an attacker to know exactly what you are doing on the internet. It’s effortless to find out what your IP address is, so it’s important to keep that private. There are a few different ways to do this, but the best way is by using free and paid services like Flynx or Cloak.

The only way you can truly hide your IP address is by running your own proxy server, which means that you would have to configure your own computer or router to route all of the traffic through it instead of going through an internet service provider (ISP). If you’re not comfortable doing that, there are many other options available to you.

9. Use End-to-End Encrypted Messaging

Messages are a very inconvenient way to communicate securely online. They are straightforward to intercept and read, which is a problem because anyone with the right tools can do it. However, there are many end-to-end encrypted messaging services available on the web, but they don’t necessarily work in the same way or offer the same features as each other.

That’s why it’s important to do your research and stick with something that you know is safe. The most popular of these services include WhatsApp, Signal, Wickr Me, Threema, and Telegram. And depending on your needs, they can be excellent alternatives to traditional forms of messaging.

10. Use Anonymity Services

Anonymity services aim to protect your privacy by preventing anyone from identifying who you are online. They do this by providing you with a unique IP address that does not correspond to your real identity. However, it’s important not to confuse anonymity services with anonymity networks, which provide you with the ability to completely hide your IP address and not just change it temporarily.

There are many different ways to use an anonymity service, but the most popular is through the Tor Browser (Tor Project). This is an open-source browser that has designed to protect your anonymity online. For example, if you’re looking for a secure email service, it’s possible to use the Tor network in combination with a webmail platform like ProtonMail.

Anonymity services are good if you want to avoid surveillance from large corporations like Google and Facebook without changing your online habits. Using them is simple and easy, but they do have some limitations. For example, they are really slow compared to other forms of anonymizing technology. They’re also harder to use because the only way that they work is through specialized browsers that you must download separately.

Sign up for Private Internet Access VPN with this affiliate link: https://privateinternetaccess.com