Receiving ISP Notices while using qBittorent with VPN

VPN
1

I started getting notices from my ISP while using a configuration that has not gotten me any notifications for months previously. I am using Hotspot Shield Premium VPN with qBittorent and since these notices started I enabled the kill switch on the VPN. However, this did not stop the notices.

I then went into qBittorent and forced it to use the Hotspot Shield network interface so that all torrent traffic would be directed through the VPN no matter what. However, I still received a notice. The VPN connection did not drop during the last torrent I downloaded.

I think there might be two things potentially going on.

  1. I recently switched from using a server in Toronto to Los Angeles which roughly corresponds to when the notices started.
  2. I have also read that Hotspot Shield logs a lot of user info so I am wondering if they are just forwarding my traffic to some legal entity.

Let me know if there are any configuration settings that I might have missed or if I just need to switch VPNs/servers.

Edit: I have confirmed that qBittorent has successfully binded to my VPN Network Interface. After I switched it over originally I did not test it before downloading my next file. I will now torrent something and see if I still get a notice as I do not know what else I can change to tighten this down further.

2

Sounds like the VPN isn’t very P

3

Bind qBittorrent to your VPN. This stops all torrent traffic if your VPN drops it’s connection or you forgot to connect. It’s more reliable than a Kill Switch.

In qBittorrent, go to Settings > Advanced > Network interface and select your VPN interface.

If you don’t know which is your VPN, disconnect it and see which interface disappears.

Read this.

Recommended VPN’s

4

check you’ve disabled upnp on your router, as sometimes a client can open ports on it and expose your actual IP too

5

Is your VPN obligated to share logs because for some reason you’ve selected countries with significant copyright laws?

Does Netherlands still have generous freedoms with respect to internet use?

6

Simple your vpns leaking data. Some vpns disconect and reconnect. This then leams data of your real ip if qbit isnt bound to your vpn. You also have issues with DHT and other ways bypassing the vpn and using any interface that has a connection. Not just as simple as comnecting a vpn and leaving it. Got to lock ot all down tight.

7

Check how good your doing there

8

How do I bind Qbit to PIA VPN - Newbie here - teach me to fish please

9

I’m just switching to qbit from utorrent and I just use forced encryption and ONLY download from private sites that are encrypted. Only time I ever got a notice was using an open torrent site like kickass etc…

10

curious, did you change your DNS number? (so all your traffic aint going thru there main office dns number automatically given to you when setting up your pc)

… i assume you did but maybe you forgot or it got reset somehow

11

if most of the data is being transferred to the same ip address , then your ISP can guess you are using a vpn…you can try a different vpn protocol like wireguard that is hard to detect or give a try to a different vpn

12

Hey! Thanks for the suggestion. I did this before my last test and still received a notice which is why I am not sure what is going on.

13

Commenting to save for later

14

Thanks for the suggestion! I disabled upnp and will see if that makes a difference!

15

i think upnp is for devices to discover other devices on LAN which is useful for like playing a multiplayer game in local network using your router

16

I selected the vpn network interface within qBittorent before my last test, do you have any other suggestions that might stop this from happening?

17

In the test I just ran I had this going and only my VPN’s DNS was detected so I will see if I get another notice or not.

18

I would follow the steps outlined here.

19

They can definitely guess but it’s not strong enough evidence to be actionable. Also wireguard is one of the easier to detect protocols

20

yeah but it can also have side effects. This scenario exactly happened to me, where the actual public IP was accepting inbound connections as the torrent client managed to set port forwarding on the router. Have a look from time to time to iknowwhatyoudownload dot com