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Pretty much all VPNs use their own DNS servers. Their "DNS Leak Tests" just check if queries come from that DNS server. Portmaster overrides any custom DNS ser

by dhaavi 4y ago

Pretty much all VPNs use their own DNS servers. Their "DNS Leak Tests" just check if queries come from that DNS server. Portmaster overrides any custom DNS server and enforces the ones the user set - or are set by default. This "breaks" the VPN leak test. You'd need to use a leak test from the DNS provider for it to work. Thanks for the feedback. I will look into improving the text.

DavideNL 4y ago
> "overrides any custom DNS server and enforces the ones the user set - or are set by default" If Portmaster "enforces DNS servers with the ones that are set", after installing Portmaster and without the user changing anything, i'd say that's a decrease of privacy; Your VPN provider can see your traffic in any case (even when you're not using their DNS server.) So, if Portmaster would change this to whatever your default is (Cloudflare, Google, etc.), people are then suddenly sharing their DNS requests with yet another 3th party.
- dhaavi 4y ago
  There is a welcome screen that informs you of Portmaster handling and securing DNS queries with the option to change the provider. But especially with a VPN the privacy is increased as it effectively becomes DNS-over-TLS/HTTPS-over-VPN. The VPN still sees your destination IP addresses, so the privacy improvement is not increased by a lot, but still.
  - DavideNL 4y ago
    > with the option to change the provider. Ah right, that sounds good. So the user is aware of it. > But especially with a VPN the privacy is increased as it effectively becomes DNS-over-TLS/HTTPS-over-VPN. I disagree; VPN providers use an internal IP as DNS server and your connection to this DNS server goes through a secured VPN tunnel anyway. So, by sharing your DNS requests with an external 3th party you gain nothing, and it's even a decrease of your privacy since now Google/Cloudflare/etc collects all these requests.
  - maxloh 4y ago
    Seems that there isn't an option to use the default ISP's DNS server. :(
    - dhaavi 4y ago
      You can use anything: DNS Configuration Guide: https://docs.safing.io/portmaster/guides/dns-configuration https://docs.safing.io/portmaster/guides/dns-configuration
      - maxloh 4y ago
        I found the option after completed the setup process. The problem was that there isn't a "keep my DNS as is" option in the initial setup dialog (or not an obvious one), so we are forced to pick one from the four secure DNS.

by dhaavi 4y ago

DavideNL 4y ago

> "overrides any custom DNS server and enforces the ones the user set - or are set by default" If Portmaster "enforces DNS servers with the ones that are set", after installing Portmaster and without the user changing anything, i'd say that's a decrease of privacy; Your VPN provider can see your traffic in any case (even when you're not using their DNS server.) So, if Portmaster would change this to whatever your default is (Cloudflare, Google, etc.), people are then suddenly sharing their DNS requests with yet another 3th party.

dhaavi 4y ago
There is a welcome screen that informs you of Portmaster handling and securing DNS queries with the option to change the provider. But especially with a VPN the privacy is increased as it effectively becomes DNS-over-TLS/HTTPS-over-VPN. The VPN still sees your destination IP addresses, so the privacy improvement is not increased by a lot, but still.
- DavideNL 4y ago
  > with the option to change the provider. Ah right, that sounds good. So the user is aware of it. > But especially with a VPN the privacy is increased as it effectively becomes DNS-over-TLS/HTTPS-over-VPN. I disagree; VPN providers use an internal IP as DNS server and your connection to this DNS server goes through a secured VPN tunnel anyway. So, by sharing your DNS requests with an external 3th party you gain nothing, and it's even a decrease of your privacy since now Google/Cloudflare/etc collects all these requests.
- maxloh 4y ago
  Seems that there isn't an option to use the default ISP's DNS server. :(
  - dhaavi 4y ago
    You can use anything: DNS Configuration Guide: https://docs.safing.io/portmaster/guides/dns-configuration https://docs.safing.io/portmaster/guides/dns-configuration
    - maxloh 4y ago
      I found the option after completed the setup process. The problem was that there isn't a "keep my DNS as is" option in the initial setup dialog (or not an obvious one), so we are forced to pick one from the four secure DNS.