VPNRanks.com Research Finds: 5 Out of 17 VPN Services Leaked IP Address While Using P2P Services

SINGAPORE, April 13, 2018 (Newswire.com) - The VPN industry has grown at a rapid pace, and several providers are claiming to be the best in securing users privacy. However, not every provider is safe and secure. A primary function of a VPN is to hide user’s actual location (IP address) and encrypt their data.

To find out which services are safe for use and preserve user’s privacy, VPNRanks.com conducted a study by testing VPNs for IP leakage while using P2P services. 17 VPN services were part of the research, which included freemium and premium services.

Providers tested: Astrill VPN, Betternet, CyberGhost, ExpressVPN, Hide.me VPN, IPVanish, Ivacy, NordVPN, PrivateInternetAccess (PIA), PureVPN, ProtonVPN, PrivateVPN, TunnelBear, Windscribe, VyprVPN, SetupVPN, and ZenMate.

The results from the study revealed interesting facts about different providers. Five VPNs faltered during testing, leaking IP address during the process. These included Astrill VPN, ExpressVPN, Hide.me VPN, PrivateVPN, and SetupVPN.

According to VPNRanks.com researchers, Astrill VPN leaked their IP address instead of showing an IP of US server. On the other hand, ExpressVPN showed a location of an entirely different country. The study shows that during testing, a Hong Kong server was connected, but the provider showed the location to be of USA, indicating potential IP leakage.

Hide.me VPN displayed unstable connections, disconnecting several times. If VPN connections are not stable, there are chances of IP leakage. PrivateVPN also highlighted a similar problem and unstable connection deemed it to be leaking IP address. Lastly, SetupVPN did not anonymize IP address during testing and leaked the actual location of the researchers.

There are several Best VPNs recommended by VPNRanks.com, but this study gives valuable insight to new and existing VPN users. According to their Senior Editor, Aazim Akhtar, "It was a surprise for us that many VPNs, which we thought would fail the test, passed with flying colors, especially the free services. At the same time, we did not think ExpressVPN would fail our IP leak test. However, such studies have opened a new frontier for our readers, as we want them to select the best VPN service. You can expect more researches from VPNRanks.com in the future."

Source: VPNRanks