Using VPN for BitTorrent: How it works

HOW CAN I SURF ANONYMOUSLY AND SAFELY?

August 30, 2024 at 1:20 p.m.

Using BitTorrent poses numerous security risks that a simple VPN service can close. You can find out more about this in the following article.

BitTorrent has a varied history. Nevertheless, the network is still on everyone’s lips today when it comes to fast file distributions. Providers of Linux distributions and large software packages in particular benefit from BitTorrent by saving bandwidth and the associated costs. Using a VPN makes it even safer.

You benefit from fast download speeds. It is therefore no wonder that Raspberry Pi OS or Ubuntu Linux, for example, are available via torrent download. The torrent network itself is extremely practical, but there is also a lot of illegal content here. Due to the reputation that BitTorrent has developed over the last 20 years as a pirate network, many law firms are also active here.

BitTorrent has two problems

As practical as BitTorrent is for all kinds of content, the network can be problematic for you: On the one hand, BitTorrent is designed in such a way that top download speeds are only achieved if you share parts of the file you have already downloaded directly with the network. On the other hand, IP addresses are openly communicated during file sharing.

None of this would be a problem if there weren’t a third hurdle: fake files. Anyone who uses torrent searches such as Solid Torrents, BTDigg or classic torrent sites can never be sure whether the file offered contains the desired content. Unwanted content not only annoys users, but also makes the entire process illegal.

This is problematic because a seemingly harmless or legal download can suddenly become something highly illegal. In conjunction with the open IP address, the file sharer is then even committing a criminal offense – often without even realizing it. Severe warnings or even criminal charges including house searches can be the result.

Always use BitTorrent with VPN

This is precisely why it is essential to use a VPN when using BitTorrent – even if the downloads are apparently legal. VPN means “Virtual Private Network” and with a VPN service you can disguise your own private network and surf the Internet anonymously and securely via third-party servers.

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Commercial VPN providers such as ExpressVPN, NordVPN or CyberGhost are relevant for BitTorrent: They use VPN technology to route all communication from the computer through their own server infrastructure and thus reliably anonymize the IP address.

Why is IP address masking so important in BitTorrent?

This concealment is of great importance because the IP address of a BitTorrent user without a VPN poses a risk for the reasons mentioned above. This IP address is assigned by the Internet provider as soon as a computer or router goes online. The problem with this is that the IP address can be traced at any time. Based on the address, trackers can see directly which country and even which region you are in.

Your IP address can also be traced back to a single connection or PC because the Internet providers naturally store who used which IP address and when. So if the IP address is missing or is different to the one you actually use, investigators and attackers have no way of tracking you down. You are anonymous and can use the torrent network safely.

Torrent VPN: Free offers unsuitable

However, using a commercial VPN does not necessarily mean that your torrent traffic is protected. For example, the VPN service ProtonVPN does not offer torrent anonymization in its free plan; this is only enabled with one of the paid packages.

Torrenting simply does not work with the free account. Other providers with free offers are also affected by this problem. Since BitTorrent generates a significant amount of data traffic, using it involves significant costs for the provider – so it’s no wonder that free or trial offers do not protect BitTorrent traffic.

And that’s not all: some VPN servers cannot handle high data rates, even if a full VPN plan is booked, which should actually make anonymous torrent downloads possible. Other providers prohibit torrenting over their networks. Other providers also like to use throttling, but this usually only affects users with very fast Internet connections.

The ideal VPN for BitTorrent

Nevertheless, it is of course important to take a close look at the BitTorrent suitability of the VPN service when choosing it. Five points are particularly relevant here:

• Does the VPN provider support BitTorrent?
• Is privacy also protected?
• Is the VPN fast enough for torrenting applications?
• Is there a no-log policy?
• Which devices are supported for VPN?

If you are looking for a VPN for BitTorrent, you should therefore take a close look at the specifications of the service. For technical reasons, once the VPN is switched on, all of the computer’s data traffic runs through the VPN service. If the provider blocks torrents, there will be no way to download files via the BitTorrent network. There is no workaround for this, other than choosing a different VPN service. The good news: All major VPN services allow torrenting in their paid plans and also protect privacy by anonymizing the IP address.

In addition, a no-log policy always applies here, meaning that the provider does not keep track of which data has been downloaded by which customer. Nevertheless, the feature list on the website should be checked carefully for any problems with torrenting. Many users do not specifically include torrenting in their feature lists, but rather cryptically mention “P2P” here, if at all. In principle, however, all major providers are capable of doing this.

Speed ​​is everything

Of course, the joy of torrenting via VPN depends on the speed of the downloads. These can vary greatly depending on the provider and server, regardless of the quality of the torrent seed. In our short test, a NordVPN connection with a server in Israel delivered full speed when downloading an Ubuntu torrent, while another NordVPN server remained almost silent.

If in doubt, simply switch to a different server. The UPnP port forwarding of the torrent tool – such as µtorrent or Transmission – can also be a further stumbling block: this prevented us from establishing a reliable torrent connection with several VPN providers and must therefore be disabled in the client. By the way: many providers have special P2P or torrenting servers in the network that optimize speed.

OpenVPN for all devices

So does it make no difference which VPN is used for BitTorrent? Not necessarily: If you want to use your NAS, a small media server or a mini computer like the Raspberry Pi as a 24/7 torrent download platform, you must of course make sure that the VPN can be used in this device or on the router. The latter option is not available for many routers, however: the widely used FritzBox routers from AVM are not able to use a VPN service.

Therefore, the device itself must have a VPN. If there is client software – for example for Linux – a lot of things are already made easier, for example if the download computer is configured as a Linux machine. However, the VPN should also support OpenVPN as a connection type, i.e. the connection without dedicated client software. Only then can the VPN service be used with any operating system. The NAS systems from Synology or QNAP, for example, absolutely require an OpenVPN connection in order to be able to use VPN.

Bittorrent and VPN

Using BitTorrent on a local PC or Mac via VPN is not a big problem: The VPN software only needs to be installed on the computer. After registration and activation, the VPN is ready to use. From now on, all of the computer’s Internet traffic runs through the VPN provider’s servers and all programs – including BitTorrent – use the anonymous VPN connection. However, as a BitTorrent user, you should first ensure a few things before you get started:

Conclusion: Using BitTorrent anonymously is no problem with VPN

Overall, using BitTorrent via VPN is generally possible without any problems. Most well-known solutions allow the use of corresponding services, but before choosing a VPN provider you should find out whether not only BitTorrent over VPN but also OpenVPN is supported.

With large providers such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN or ZenMate, torrenting is generally not a problem if the right settings are selected. Another small tip: the more well-known the provider, the more money is at stake – and the higher quality the server infrastructure. In this respect, large providers are generally better suited to torrenting than small ones.

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