VPNs: The Durex of Internet SecurityĪll the ISP / employer sees is the VPN server’s entry IP address. Pretty creepy if you ask me! Let’s see what one can see with a VPN in place. ECH (Encrypted Client Hello) looks to mitigate this problem. While DoH (DNS-over-HTTPS) takes it a step forward by encapsulating DNS requests in HTTPS packets, one’s ISP / employer is still able to observe the SNI (Server Name Indication) header, potentially figuring out the destination of the packets. Your ISP / employer can get a really good idea of what you’re surfing and what apps are on your device.
Exactly which resource I was looking atīetter, but not ideal - seeing as how the domain name may either be a dead giveaway (No mystery what I might be doing on ) or, as I found out, cause confusion due to missing context.In this case, my ISP / employer will see that I’m making requests to receive data from the IP address 188.185.88.30, which belongs to CERN The destination of the packets (where I’m requesting data from).
When I visit a website using HTTPS, say, my ISP / employer can see: HTTPS has become the norm now, and sites not using HTTPS are expressly marked “not secure” by most browsers these days. Fret not, though, since there has been a concerted effort to phase HTTP out. This is worst possible case and is about as exposed as one can get online.
What the contents of the above resource are. What resource / page I accessed on the website (in this case, /hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html/). The “host” (or what website I was browsing). Exactly what server I connected to (in this case, the server’s IP address was 188.184.21.108). When I visit the world’s first website,, my ISP / employer can see: What happens when one decides not to use protection? Perhaps people who do this are just dabbling with exhibitionism? (I swear, I'll stop). Let’s try and see for ourselves with WireShark, a packet analysis tool. This incident got me thinking - what can a network administrator (be it at school, or public places like a coffee shop) see when I’m on their network? Looks like HTTPS has been a fly in the ointment in an otherwise perfect unwind session at work! For once, I had hoped my employers would see the entire URL (with the actual resource, not just the domain name). I fail to see what’s scandalous about indulging in some calculus whilst at work, but oh sure, HR chooses to see I visited “ ”, and gets all premature on me (I'm sorry, I won't do that again). What on Earth were they on about? I merely checked my socials, video called a friend, and watched an educational Math video. “Kailash, we’re all for our lovely employees unwinding after work, but there are certain things that are unacceptable at any workplace - even one as laid back as ours!” they said. Allow me, dear readers, to take you through a tale that has it all - confusion, scandal, humor, (almost) termination of employment, and a lesson on internet privacy.Īfter a particularly hectic day at work at a previous job, I found myself with some time to kill and with a fast internet connection at my disposal I couldn’t contain my excitement and had a ball of a time to myself! I was quite puzzled, however, when I was called in by the HR Director the next day.
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