Am I traceable if the VPN I am using keeps turning on and off?

Question

Let's say Bob is on network A and he decided to use a VPN service. Unfortunately he is using a poor VPN service which keeps turning on and off. But the Active downloads of packets are still ongoing because of the active home network A.

For example, a streaming youtube video is not effected by this switching of networks. So is there anywhere this trail is logged? If it's logged, who can trace it? Who has rights to trace it?

I found this somehow related to it but does not answer my question : https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/72679/differences-between-using-tor-browser-and-vpn?rq=1 — Talk is Cheap Show me Code, Nov 23 '18 at 06:23
sure, when I just went through above Q, I come to realize that the whole idea of anonymity through VPN is not complete. I understood that it provide access to different network and IPs. — Talk is Cheap Show me Code, Nov 23 '18 at 10:46

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:20

1

You are traceable. You used the correct idea when you described it as "switching networks". As you are streaming, your computer continually reaches out to the server to get the next bits. Your computer does not care what network it is on, it is just reaching out to the server, and the network and all the hops between you and the server are responsible for getting the traffic there.

So, if you start off using a VPN, then the packets travel over the VPN network. If that network goes down, then the network adjusts to keep the stream going on the new non-VPN network. This stream is unprotected in any way.

All streams are logged. The VPN provider logs the streams going through it, and the ISP logs the streams going through it. The server also logs the connections made, so it will see that the stream keeps switching networks.

answered Nov 23 '18 at 10:20

schroeder

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and so this kind of sessions which are divided over multiple network is more exposing about digital footprint than the sessions which are performed only in single network? Or one (admin of ISP or VPN) can deduct the same footprint in both cases? – Talk is Cheap Show me Code Nov 23 '18 at 10:45
what do you mean by "footprint"? – schroeder Nov 23 '18 at 11:30
I mean when the session started , which IP , new IPs of VPN, accessed URL throughout the session and things like this which ISP servers keep sniffing. – Talk is Cheap Show me Code Nov 23 '18 at 11:37

Am I traceable if the VPN I am using keeps turning on and off?

1 Answers1