You might know of IP spoofing as a tactic that cybercriminals use to commit malicious crimes without being detected. While this is a real threat for many businesses, IP spoofing can also refer to the changing of one’s IP address to a different location.

Let’s look into what IP spoofing is as a cyber-attack and how you can lawfully spoof your IP address with a free VPN in order to gain access to more online content.

A cyber-stealth crime

IP spoofing is the act of sending Internet Protocol (IP) packets with a falsified source IP address in order to impersonate another computer system. IP spoofing enables criminals to carry out destructive acts without being detected. This might involve stealing data, infecting a device with malware, or causing a server to fail.

IP spoofing increases privacy by hiding the source’s identity. This can be advantageous to cybercriminals for a few main reasons:

• Attackers can conceal their identities from authorities and others by using spoof IP addresses.
• Because the affected devices and networks aren’t always aware that they’ve been compromised, they don’t send out alarms.
• Because falsified IP addresses appear to be from reputable sources, they can avoid detection by firewalls and other security measures that would otherwise blacklist them as malicious sources.

The biggest DDoS attack ever recorded

GitHub’s DDoS attack in 2018 is one of the most often referenced examples of an IP spoofing attack. GitHub is a code hosting platform that was targeted by a DDoS attack in February 2018. The attackers impersonated GitHub’s IP address in a massive coordinated attack that knocked the service offline for about 20 minutes. GitHub restored control by rerouting traffic through an intermediary partner and cleansing data to prevent unauthorized parties from accessing the platform.

Assaults like this enable attackers to slow down or crash a website or network with high volumes of internet traffic while remaining anonymous. In our continuously growing digital world, cyber threats such as this can have dire consequences for businesses that have unpatched vulnerabilities in their networks.

IP spoofing for blocked content

Many websites limit their services based on their location. The most prominent streaming websites, such as Netflix and HBO Max, limit or adjust the content available to you based on your location. This is mainly due to differences in international streaming rights.

As IP addresses are determined geographically, websites you visit can readily detect your location based on your IP address. Geo-restricted websites will deny access to any request received by a device outside of the region of service. This is why, for example, you can’t access the US Netflix library while traveling outside of the country.

IP spoofing for blocked content is also known as “geo-spoofing” – this is because you are hiding, or spoofing, your true location and making it seem as though your device is elsewhere in the world.

Government censorship

Due to government restrictions, you may also have problems viewing prohibited content based on your location. China is one of the most well-known instances. You won’t be able to do a simple Google search or make a Facebook post in China unless you spoof your IP address.

Several countries limit access to specific types of content, whether you are aware of it or not. If you are visiting a nation that prohibits free expression or enables censorship in any manner, IP spoofing is the only way to ensure that you can freely access everything online.

Other advantages of IP spoofing

One reason to IP-spoof your device is to preserve your privacy. Your IP address reveals your exact location on any website you visit, making it simple for you to be tracked by many different entities.  When you mask your IP address with a VPN, your connection becomes more secure. Search engines and marketers may find it more difficult to track your activity and target you with customized search results and adverts.

To avoid government surveillance, you should also consider IP spoofing with a VPN. The internet usage of a country’s residents is not simply tracked by more totalitarian regimes; online browsing activity is observed globally. If your online privacy is important to you, you should avoid browsing the internet without data encryption.

How do I change my online location?

The simplest approach to geo-spoof is to use a VPN to modify your IP address. Most VPN services make it extremely simple to change your location at any time.

VPNs work by changing your IP address to that of a server in another place. When you connect to a VPN server and access a website, the website sees the VPN server’s IP address and location rather than your actual physical location.

With the correct VPN, you may connect to servers in dozens of countries. By simply changing servers in the program, you can switch between VPN locations.