Why are streaming services getting better at detecting VPNs?

There’s an ongoing game of cat-and-mouse between streaming services and VPN providers. As more of us use VPNs, like those on our best VPN list, to get around geo-restrictions and enjoy content available in locations other than the one we call home, streaming services are constantly cracking down on VPNs to put a stop to it. This raises a couple of pertinent questions that I’ll explore in this article.

I’ll look at why and how streaming providers are able to block VPNs from accessing their service and the new technologies they employ to better detect VPNs, big and small.

Why do streaming services block VPNs?

So, you might wonder why streaming services block VPNs in the first place. After all, most websites don’t care about your location, and you pay for a subscription to your streaming service of choice. Why should it matter where in the world you are or which Netflix region you want to check out?

The issue is that all the streaming services, such as Netflix, Max, Prime Video, etc, have to abide by strict licensing agreements that vary from region to region.

These agreements determine where content can and can’t be shown. This is why shows and movies will be available in one country and not another. It’s a little like region encoding on DVDs and Blu-rays – licensing agreements determining which movies can be sold in which countries.

To stick to these agreements, streaming services use geo-blocking techniques to ensure that subscribers can only access the content that’s licensed in their region. Streaming platforms use your IP address to determine your current location, and this determines what content they’ll serve up to you.

You can’t avoid revealing your IP address when you access a website or streaming service as it will always have to know where to return the data/movie/song that you’re trying to access. This is where a VPN comes in to help mask your real IP address and make it harder for streaming services to know where you really are.

How do streaming services block VPNs?

One of the biggest uses for VPNs, other than to add an additional layer of security and encryption to keep your browsing habits safe from nosy government agencies and cybercriminals, is in allowing people to spoof their location, hiding their real location.

This allows them to access content libraries from other regions – and streaming services aren’t big fans of this. So, they use a number of different methods to block VPNs from accessing their service.

These methods have evolved over time as VPNs become more and more popular and content has become more and more fractured across multiple streaming sites. Of course, streaming services won’t reveal exactly how they detect and ban VPN usage, as that information would then be used to find better ways to get around the bans, but there are a few known methods, including:

• Blocking known IPs
  • Streaming platforms keep lists of IP addresses that are known to belong to VPN servers. They get this information from a lot of different places, including third-party databases
  • When you access a streaming platform, it checks your IP address against the list it holds, and if matches, you’ll probably run into an error message where the content might not load, or the site will tell you to disconnect from your VPN, or the streaming site might not load at all
• GPS detection
  • Streaming platforms also take a look at how you connect to the server and compare GPS data with your IP address to see if it matches
  • If you’re not using a VPN, then when you connect from your device at home, you will have an IP address that matches your country
  • If, however, the IP address doesn’t match, such as when you’re connecting to a VPN and get assigned an IP address that’s in a different country, that can be a red flag to a streaming provider that you’re trying to get around geo-blocks
• Deep packet inspection
  • This is a tactic used by streaming platforms such as Netflix, and it’s pretty effective at sniffing out VPN usage
  • Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a kind of network filtering that works by analyzing the data packets sent from the users’ device and is often used as a cybersecurity tool, acting as an intrusion detection system
  • DPI is also similar to the tactics used by the Chinese government to stop people attempting to access content through the Great Firewall of China
  • DPI can be used to determine whether internet traffic comes through a VPN as it analyzes the content of each data packet. If it detects a VPN, access to the platform will be blocked
  • DPI is expensive to implement, so it’s not the first line of defense for every streaming site out there, and if you’re overzealous with your rules, you can cause slowdowns and create bottlenecks in your network

Is there anything you can do?

So what can you do about all this? Does all this mean that streaming sites will block you from accessing content overseas? Yes and no. This is an always ongoing, always evolving battle between VPN providers and streaming platforms.

If you find you’re having issues getting access to a particular service through your VPN, there are some things you can try before you throw up the white flag.

• Switch to a different server in the same region
  • Often, switching to a different location in the same country will get you access as the streaming service hasn’t blocked that particular IP address. The best Netflix VPNs, for example, offer multiple servers within a country, so keep trying different ones
• Ensure you’re using a paid, premium streaming VPN and not a free service
  • Free VPNs have far fewer servers than paid ones, so it is far easier for streaming providers to block them. They also can’t invest the money in new servers to get around these blocks
• Check to see whether the VPN has dedicated streaming servers
  • Some premium VPN providers offer specific servers for streaming that offer a much better chance of being able to get around any streaming service’s attempts to block them
• Enable obfuscation if available
  • Using an obfuscated server can help defeat the various methods streaming providers use to sniff out VPNs by disguising the fact you’re using a VPN at all
• Invest in a static IP
  • Most premium VPNs will offer a static (often called dedicated) IP address for an additional fee. Why would you want this? VPN IP addresses are shared with lots of other users, which might lead to that IP being blocked, especially if people are using and abusing it. A static/dedicated IP is assigned only to you, which also means that secure sites are less likely to panic if they see your IP address change or serve you CAPTCHAs because they think you might be a bot.