Total newb question about Open VPN hiding my IP

VPN
1

Did the whole OpenVPN setup and it seems to work well as I can access the TryHackMe machines and I have an internal virtual IP address.

But out of curiosity, I searched “what is my IP” on google and it’s the same IP regardless if OpenVPN is on or off. Should I be worried? Does this VPN setup somehow only apply to TryHackMe pages?

2

That will because the THM OpenVPN config only touches traffic on the TryHackMe network. All standard traffic will not be touched hence your real IP will show when you Google what is your IP.

3

Does this VPN setup somehow only apply to TryHackMe pages?

Yes. This is refered to as a “split tunnel” VPN. THM machines all fall in a specific IP range, any packets destined for that IP range will go over the VPN. Any packets not destined for the IP range will go over you’re regular internet.

4

Its just a private network. Not work as a proxy

5

I think that wheb you’re connected to THM via VPN, your traffic is only routed via the vpn when you try to access a machine on their network !
Your traffic doesn’t go through the VPN when accessing the rest of the web.

6

Only THM traffic will be routed via THM VPN. Otherwise ALL of your traffic would be going to THM.

7

Your tunnel goes from your address to tryhackme. The information inside is secure and encrypted. You are not making a request from a proxy server hence why your ip is still the same. If you for example used express vpn your communication would be sent to a proxy server and the proxy server would make the request then recieve and forward all responses to you.

Tldr, you are hosting so the ip does not change.

8

Thanks for explaining <3

9

Correct your public IP is not visible when connected to the TryHackMe network. Your internal issued IP will be, and is logged for safety and diagnostic reasons. Hope this helps clarify

10

Your most welcome! Happy Hacking!

11

If you want more information you can google search “tun0”. It’s a very interesting topic in my opinion.

12

Sort of.

Your public IP is hidden from other participants but is logged in the OpenVPN server. If it’s not logged permanently then it’s at least stored while you’re connected.