- Surfshark takes IP spoofing to the next level with new Multi IP feature
- The VPN also recently upgraded its IP rotation feature
- Multi IP and Rotating IP cannot be used simultaneously
Are you a high-security VPN user who is really fed up with third parties profiling you? Surfshark might have you covered.
The cybersecurity company is taking its VPN’s IP spoofing capabilities to the next level with Multi IP, its new feature that allows users to assign a different IP address to each website, app or service during the same session.
This move contrasts with traditional VPNs, which tend to route user connections through a single IP address. Instead, Surfshark’s Multi IP provides multiple IP addresses for different websites, partitioning your online behavior and preventing spies from correlating user data activities, thereby brilliantly minimizing the chances of being modeled by third parties.
As it refines its IP spoofing techniques to stay ahead of the best VPNs on the market, Surfshark has also improved its IP rotation functionality.
The service now automatically alternates the user’s IP address every five minutes, regardless of location, preventing data collectors from knowing users’ digital location for potential phishing and data theft targeting.
How does Surfshark Multi IP work?
How does this Multi IP mojo work? Karolis Kaciulis, Surfshark’s chief systems engineer, tells TechRadar that it’s Surfshark’s infrastructure, Nexus, that makes the magic happen.
The multi-routing technology is the same that drives Surfshark’s FastTrack route optimization feature and Everlink persistence feature, and allows the VPN server to reach all other Nexus servers rather than through a single VPN tunnel. Since most websites maintain a single IP address, Multi IP can choose a new route for each connection.
“The feature leverages the interconnectivity provided by Nexus and attempts to use all available Nexus connections as paths for users,” explains Kaciulis.
“The distribution of these paths is achieved using equal cost multi-pathing, or ECMP, which allows traffic to be distributed equally across all available paths.”
Since different parts of your traffic come from different IP addresses, the system makes it much more difficult for spies and large entities to track activity or tie actions to a single identity.
Platforms offering multiple services, such as Google’s Search and Maps, or Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, cannot reliably correlate the behavior of their applications.
“This weakens cross-site and cross-app correlation, preventing advertisers and data brokers from easily linking visits or actions, significantly limiting profile building and the reach of targeted ads,” says Kacioulis.
Although the Multi IP and Rotating IP options cannot be used simultaneously, they work on the same principle: IP changes are made on the server side without interrupting the virtual private network (VPN) connection, so there is no data leak in user traffic.
Not for everyone
Multi IP is for users who want the highest level of online privacy and are willing to compromise on a few potential compromises.
For example, although the flexible configuration of Multi-IP allows users to choose whether different IP addresses remain in the same city, the same country, or worldwide, selecting the Global IP option in Multi IP may affect the daily Internet browsing experience.
That’s because frequent IP address changes can cause some websites or apps to load or not work properly, Kacioulis says.
“As many platforms have strict geo-restrictions, if you own different domains on the same website from multiple IP addresses, the platform may flag you as a suspicious actor,” says Kacioulis.
Some platforms also use separate infrastructure for each region, meaning that if the website you are using has multiple IP addresses around the world, your session may not be transmitted globally.
So if automatic logouts from your favorite websites are driving you crazy, Multi IP might disenchant you. That said, if your Instagram clicks are turning into Facebook ads that you just can’t stand, welcome to your new world.
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