some networks can track MAC addresses too I believe. Correct me if i'm wrong.
Then there's browser user agent, with all the variations of OSes, browsers, versions, etc that finger print ends up being quite unique.
I really think the browser makers need to get together and come up with a standard so that less info is shown.
A very common method, and a basis for others, is zombie cookies. governments love 'em
http://samy.pl/evercookie/
That's an old proof of concept type thing as I recall, but it's surely evolved since and companies have their own proprietary forms of them which are surely far more advanced. It's how governments have tracked TOR users in the past.Works in crappy Chrome to set the uid, but my other browsers with their privacy/security addons it would not even set the uid.
Very interesting link, thanks. It detects stuff from me that others have not, even without js. Gonna look more into it.Well if you're just using the latest stable version of a browser that's pretty much guaranteed to be the least unique. There are ways to override the user agent in most browsers but in doing so you could wind up giving yourself an even more unique fingerprint since as you've also said it's a combination of many things.
There are even ways which servers can determine if you're connecting to it through a VPN[1].
[1] http://witch.valdikss.org.ru
ZippyDan, you might want to remove your Skype. I can use a Skype resolver and grab your IP and I see your mug.
Then there's browser user agent, with all the variations of OSes, browsers, versions, etc that finger print ends up being quite unique. I really think the browser makers need to get together and come up with a standard so that less info is shown. They would have to all collectively do it, if one person does it, then they just made an even more unique finger print for themselves. IP address range can also be used in combination with other info.
If you see an entry from same IP range and same browser user agent, chances are half decent it's the same person.
Then there's all the stuff Facebook and Google do, I won't pretend to understand it but they are pretty good at being able to ID individuals quite accurately even between different computers. I've search for stuff at home, and get to work and see ads on Facebook for what I searched for at home. I think they use non human audible audio to communicate with your phone, so if your phone is near your computer it basically tracks what you do online too. Just a guess.
I would think that browser fingerprinting would take updates into account by assuming version numbers would increase.But since Chrome auto-updates, it doesn't seem to me that that fingerprint would remain unique for long?
Very interesting link, thanks. It detects stuff from me that others have not, even without js. Gonna look more into it.]
I would think that browser fingerprinting would take updates into account by assuming version numbers would increase.
The newer fingerprinting methods work through webgl (like html5 canvas), audiocontext APIs.
There are even ways which servers can determine if you're connecting to it through a VPN[1].
[1] http://witch.valdikss.org.ru
Actually that's another thing, how can VPN even be detected? As far as the remote computer is concerned it should just be seeing a regular connection coming from the VPN server, but as a plain old normal unencrypted connection. But seems that's not the case. When I'm at work I often VPN into my home network as I may access stuff there or what not, and I was looking at this security site and it said it could detect openvpn. Seems kind of alarming that browsers are sending out way more info than they should.
I actually tried this in plain Chrome as well and still couldn't detect OpenVPN. So I'm thinking the creators of my VPN did something to prevent that leak. Not sure. I do know they are pretty up and up on this stuff when I wrote to them asking if they had port forwarding on because if so that right there will leak your real IP.
I actually tried this in plain Chrome as well and still couldn't detect OpenVPN. So I'm thinking the creators of my VPN did something to prevent that leak. Not sure. I do know they are pretty up and up on this stuff when I wrote to them asking if they had port forwarding on because if so that right there will leak your real IP.
I don't think its a problem with the browser. The security website probably looked your ip against a list of known openvpn nodes. Thats the same way websites detect tor users.
You use chrome? For someone who seems to be careful about privacy, why not use a chromium browser - epic, slimjet, vivaldi, opera? All 4 have a decent privacy policy I think, especially epic.
I don't think its a problem with the browser. The security website probably looked your ip against a list of known openvpn nodes. Thats the same way websites detect tor users.
But how would it know my network is a VPN node? It's not like it's public or something. In fact the Open VPN is on a non default IP range and only accessible from my work IP. So even if they do a port scan it would not detect it. Seems to me the browser, or some other part of the communication must be sending out some kind of data indicating there is a VPN server. That is kinda alarming, it's information on my network that I rather not get out, because, what else is leaking?
I think TheRyuu described it in post #21.
Because of this unique MSS values, we can determine not only if the user is connected via OpenVPN , but also used connection protocol (IPv4, IPv6), transport protocol (UDP, TCP), cipher, MAC and compression as they affect MSS.
If you dont want to be identified, you can disable mssfix, just set it to zero on both server and client. With mssfix 0 your MSS would be 1460 which corresponds to MTU 1500 for IPv4 connection, and youll get fragmentation which leads to lower connection speed and higher latency. It may be better to disable OpenVPN mssfix and use more generic MSS values, like 1400 or 1380 (should be modulo 2 or better 10) as this values are often used for cellular connections.
ＷＩＴＣＨ？ also detects Tor Browser users because Tor exit nodes are usually running on Linux or FreeBSD and Tor Browser has Windows User-Agent on all platforms.