[Resolved, thanks!]
Weird, but I just got two copyright notices from my ISP. I always use a paid VPN (Proton). How’d they see me?
I did accidentally open qBitTorrent before connecting to the VPN yesterday, but immediately exited the program before anything loaded. Is that enough time to get two strikes? One was for seeding TNG S03 and the other for TNG S05 lol.
What confuses me is that that happened yesterday, but the email lists the day prior as the time of offense.
So I guess it’s time to set up a kill switch or make sure the qBitTorrent wont open without Proton connected. If anyone has a guide for that send a link my way… thanks.
I highly recommend configuring qBittorrent to only connect to the VPN interface, so if your VPN is off it will simply not connect to the internet at all.
I would go farther and use one of the containerized solutions that integrate the VPN. No VPN? No network for that entire “machine”
Obviously designed with a server/NAS in mind, but can also run locally with not much more than “double click this script when you want to pirate shit”
In qbittorrent > settings (gear icon) > advanced settings. There will be a option that lets you select a network interface. You should see your Proton VPN interface in the list, select it and you should be set. I would recommend checking the app after patching to make sure the settings persists.
Easy way to test Pause/stop all your torrents > shut off the VPN > go out to ipleak.net > use the torrent address detection section and use the magnet link. If done right you should never get a file list from the magnet link/the torrent won’t start because qbit is trying to use the down VPN interface.
The process some others have described is called binding. You want to bind qBit to your VPN. qBit will only work if your VPN is active then. Close the VPN (while uploading/downloading) and qBit automatically loses it’s connection. This is above and beyond a “kill-switch,” which is notoriously unreliable. Most decent VPNs have a built in kill switch, but you should not solely rely on it.
I use Mullvad, but here is the Proton page you need to refer to: https://protonvpn.com/support/bittorrent-vpn/
“Binding your BitTorrent client to the VPN interface” and “How to bind the client to the Proton VPN interface.”
To be sure, you should still continue only starting qBit after your VPN is active (obviously don’t have it startup with your operating system).
The way these strikes happen is that the right holder (or usually just some company on their behalf) joins public torrents for their content, and grabs every ip that connects. It’s entirely possible that in the few seconds you had qbit open without a vpn, enough of the program had initialized that the basics of joining the swarm started, and your ip got seen.
It may be overkill, but I run all my network traffic in a VM. I never load my client before I turn on the VPN, and make sure to use the kill switch functionality. There’s a step by step that should be followed for every time to remain secure in what you are downloading or uploading.
I thought I was the only one who did this. It’s the only way I feel 100% secure.
