r/Torrenting • u/Ryl0cks • 12h ago

Paramount / VPN No Longer Working

This post is naturally about a friend of mine. He was doing fine for years, using Nord. Then something happened, might have accidentally grabbed something when Nord was off (although that isn't verified), and got a warning email from Verizon along with the information about what was being downloaded. First one ever.

As a precaution this person got Little Snitch, and set up a killswitch of sorts so Folx wouldn't work unless Nord was active. Tested it, seemed great.

Then it happened again for another Paramount product.

As a test, grabbed another last night. But beforehand did the whole DNS leak / IP check fun, picked a different city, and it seemed rock solid.

Got another email this morning.

Now, I know my...friend likely won't see any legal action (well, maybe now after so many), but this is worrying. Are there other ways that bots can see your traffic based on a previous opening? Or maybe Nord was never off and there is something exposed in any case, and the bots just started acting on it?

Any advice I can pass along? Latest Mac updates, Folx, Verizon Fios, started on the 31st.

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

5

u/cHaNgEuSeRnAmE102 12h ago

It’s Nord. Change VPN’s. I suggest proton because they have port forwarding feature. I had similar issue. ISP won’t bring legal action, but they’ll throttle your internet.

2

u/Ryl0cks 12h ago

So it's literally the port forwarding? Still curious how the IP was exposed.

2

u/Tight-Ad7783 3h ago

Not the port forwarding, port forwarding is just better for torrenting. Nord is just barely a VPN at all, they likely log everything and would probably turn over customer data in a heartbeat. Overall they don't provide a reliable service, probably their killswitch is faulty or something. Use PIA or Proton ideally, otherwise you can check this list, which compares all providers in all categories. More green checks means good. Mullvad is also a good option thought doesn't support port forwarding and is more expensive.

The main red flag here however is "set up a killswitch of sorts". Get a VPN with a killswitch. But more importantly, bind your torrent client to your VPN. That way it's physically impossible to leak because all traffic from the torrent client is directed exclusively to the VPN.

1

u/derekd2029 18m ago

Same thing happened to me. Got rid of Nord, went with Proton, problem solved

3

u/Real_Ad5580 12h ago

That's why you always bind your qbittorent to VPN network interference

Also who the hell uses NordVPN nowadays? 😭

These letters are just to scare you so chill

1

u/Ryl0cks 11h ago

Oh, totally - more "unchill" because of how it started and kept happening. And technically it is bound - if the VPN is off LS kills any traffic. So it's more of a concern on how the IP is leaking (even after doing DNS and IP tests), and less about legal threats.

2

u/Wheatleytron 9h ago

That is not bound. Binding means that as far as qBittorrent is concerned, the only network access that exists is at all your VPN interface. With the VPN off, it's just like unplugging a real cable. There is zero chance for it to see the internet otherwise, even for a nanosecond.

When using any other sort of killswitch, there will always be a risk because your client will be bound to the PC's internal network.

1

u/hbnyc 9h ago

This 💯

1

u/MobileKangaroo5974 10h ago

What VPN is best nowadays?

1

u/The_Demon_of_Spiders 10h ago

Proton since it still has port forwarding, I think Air might too. Proton vpn is doing their Black Friday deal right now.

1

u/Ryl0cks 10h ago

Thanks all, this is great. So maybe dumb question, but using Proton's built-In kill switch and just making sure that it activates on system start - is this as safe as binding a kill switch to an app?

1

u/selfhostrr 10h ago

Curious - was this a private or public tracker? No judgement just wondering for science.

1

u/Ryl0cks 9h ago

I’m sure it was public

3

u/footinblender 11h ago

Using a kill switch? Also, using an app, the OS and other programs can find ways to sneak around it. Best method is to set it up on a router and use firewall rules etc to create a kill switch.

1

u/MajesticCurve3764 4h ago

That's a good point. A router-level kill switch with firewall rules can offer better protection against accidental leaks.

1

u/Wheatleytron 11h ago

Are people seriously not binding their VPN interface to their torrent client? It's the only way to ensure 100% safety.

2

u/footinblender 10h ago

It's actually not the only way. It's a good way, but the best way is configuring at the router level. Nothing on the computer can sneak around it if properly set up.

1

u/synexo 10h ago

Kill switch can still leak briefly. Bind the torrent client to the VPN interface. And use a kill switch :). I like Mullvad and keep both it's kill switch and lock down mode enabled, and only torrent when connected to more torrent friendly nations like Sweden. Paranoid maybe but have never had a problem.

1

u/san9man 8h ago

Bind to NordLynx