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Author Topic: Does my VPN provider know my IP address?  (Read 5966 times)

Offline newvpnuser

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Does my VPN provider know my IP address?
« on: January 26, 2013, 01:45:22 AM »
Is it ok for a VPN provider to ask a new costumer to send a log file in order to solve a login problem? I sent him my log files because he said that would be the best way to see why i am disconnecting all the time.

On the other hand, my IP address is also logged in that file and visible to him. Is this a problem? I actually think it is.

Thanks in advance

Offline Administrator

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Re: Does my VPN provider know my IP address?
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2013, 01:47:23 AM »
The VPN provider would already know your IP anyway. While a VPN ends up hiding your IP from others (because they connect with the endpoint of the VPN), the VPN itself has to actually connect to your IP and knows your IP regardless of if you give them a log. The log just lets them see what errors you are experiencing.

If you are really not comfortable sharing your IP then you can edit the log file and remove your IP before sending it to your vpn provider. I bet your IP address is really not important when debugging simple problems.

Offline newvpnuser

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Re: Does my VPN provider know my IP address?
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2013, 01:55:42 AM »
Yeah that is now clear for me but does a VPN provider also know about the dedicated IP you get from them? I realize they somehow need to know your original IP but do they have to know your new dedicated IP as well?

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Re: Does my VPN provider know my IP address?
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2013, 01:56:04 AM »
Your new (VPN Endpoint) IP address is actually their IP address. They are providing a tunnel, so they know both the entry and exit points as the provider. If you don't want a third party to know both the entry and exit points, you would need to use something with Onion Routing such as ToR. IP addresses are the normal means of routing on the IP based Internet. A VPN simply maps one IP to another via a tunnel. It also generally involves encrypting the traffic between the end points, but doesn't always have to.