DEV Community: RAHUL K N

DNS Leaks Explained: Why Your VPN Might Still Expose You

RAHUL K N — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 06:54:45 +0000

If you're using a VPN, it's easy to assume all your online activity is completely private. However, many users overlook one important issue: DNS leaks. Even if your internet traffic is encrypted, a DNS leak can still reveal which websites you're trying to visit.

What Is DNS?

Every time you enter a website address like example.com, your device first needs to find the server behind that domain. It does this by sending a request to a Domain Name System (DNS) server, which translates domain names into IP addresses.

Normally, this happens automatically in the background, and most users never notice it.

What Is a DNS Leak?

A DNS leak occurs when your DNS requests bypass the encrypted VPN tunnel and are sent directly to your Internet Service Provider or another external DNS server.

Although the content of your browsing session may still be encrypted, these DNS requests can reveal the domains you're visiting. For privacy-conscious users, this creates an unnecessary exposure.

Why Does It Happen?

DNS leaks usually occur because of one or more of the following:

The VPN doesn't force DNS traffic through the encrypted tunnel.
The operating system continues using the default DNS resolver.
IPv6 or multiple network adapters are not handled correctly.
The VPN lacks proper firewall rules.

These issues are more common than many people realize, especially with poorly configured VPN applications.

How Modern VPNs Prevent DNS Leaks

Modern VPN implementations take several steps to reduce the risk of DNS leaks.

Some solutions include:

Routing DNS traffic inside the VPN tunnel.
Blocking external DNS requests while connected.
Using dedicated secure DNS resolvers.
Applying firewall rules that prevent accidental traffic leaks.
Integrating these protections directly into the VPN connection instead of relying on manual configuration.

These measures help ensure that both your internet traffic and your DNS requests remain protected throughout the session.

Why This Matters

A VPN should protect more than just your data packets. If DNS requests are still visible outside the encrypted tunnel, your browsing activity can still leave traces even though the connection itself is encrypted.

For developers, system administrators, and privacy enthusiasts, understanding how DNS works is just as important as understanding encryption itself.

Learn More:

If you're interested in seeing how a privacy-focused VPN approaches DNS protection and modern networking, the OllaVPN(https://ollavpn.com/) website provides a helpful overview of its security architecture and privacy-first design.

You can explore more at:

Technology Overview: https://ollavpn.com/technology
Technology Stack: https://ollavpn.com/technology#stack

Understanding concepts like DNS protection, secure routing, and modern VPN architecture makes it much easier to evaluate VPN solutions based on their engineering rather than marketing claims. As online privacy becomes increasingly important, learning how these technologies work helps you make more informed decisions about protecting your network traffic.

What a Server Can (and Can't) See During an Encrypted Video Call

RAHUL K N — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:05:20 +0000

When I first started reading about secure video conferencing, I assumed one thing:

If a meeting is "encrypted," then nobody except the participants can see anything.

After spending some time learning how modern collaboration platforms actually work, I realized that the answer isn't that simple.

Different platforms use different security models, and understanding them completely changed how I think about online meetings.

Encryption Isn't Always the Same

The word encrypted appears on almost every collaboration platform today, but it can mean different things depending on how the platform is designed.

For example, some systems encrypt data while it's traveling across the internet, while others also protect the content so that only meeting participants can decrypt it.

That difference becomes important when organizations are handling confidential conversations.

What Does the Server Actually Do?

Even during an encrypted meeting, the server still has work to do.

Depending on the platform, it may handle:

Connecting participants
Routing audio and video streams
Managing authentication
Recording meetings (when enabled)
Handling permissions
Maintaining meeting quality

How much information the server can actually access depends on the platform's architecture and security model.

Why Deployment Makes a Difference

Another thing I learned is that deployment can completely change how organizations manage their communication systems.

Some teams are happy using a fully managed cloud platform.

Others need complete control over where their meeting data is processed, especially in industries like healthcare, finance, legal services, and government.

During my research, I found that OllaSync provides a good example of this approach by supporting both managed deployments and self-hosted environments.

If you're curious about the overall platform, the official website provides a useful overview:

👉 https://ollasync.com

Looking Beyond Marketing Terms

I also spent some time reading through OllaSync's public documentation.

Instead of simply listing features, it explains deployment models, security considerations, and infrastructure choices in a way that's easy to understand.

Documentation:

👉 https://ollasync.com/docs/

For anyone interested in understanding how privacy and enterprise security are approached, the security documentation is also worth reading:

👉 https://ollasync.com/security/

If you're specifically exploring private infrastructure or on-premise deployments, the self-hosting section explains the available deployment options and when they might be useful:

👉 https://ollasync.com/self-hosted/

My Biggest Takeaway

The biggest lesson I learned wasn't about encryption itself.

It was realizing that choosing a collaboration platform isn't only about meeting quality or feature lists.

Understanding how the platform handles infrastructure, deployment, and security often tells you much more than a comparison table ever could.

What I Learned After Comparing Modern Video Conferencing Platforms

RAHUL K N — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 08:01:55 +0000

It was easy for users to select the best video conferencing platform a few years ago because the selection criteria were limited to basic features like video quality, number of participants, and compatibility of screen sharing capabilities.
After comparing a variety of video conferencing platforms, I have learned that times have changed significantly since then.

These days video conferencing platforms are not mere communications tools; they are evolving into collaboration platforms and the developments are much more exciting than I thought before.

1. It Is Not About Video Conferencing Anymore

Until recently, it was relatively simple to compare video conferencing platforms.

Usually, people considered the following:

Video and audio quality
Maximum number of participants
Screen sharing ability
Price

Nowadays, most of these features seem to be standard.

The key differences come from security considerations, deployment opportunities, compliance, and how a platform treats sensitive data.

2. Security Is Not Just About Encryption

Another thing I discovered during my research is that the term "encrypted" may mean something completely different depending on the situation.

Most video conferencing services use encryption for data being transferred, however, companies dealing with confidential data require much more than that.

Here are some questions that should be asked:

Who holds the encryption keys?
Where is the meeting data processed?
Is the provider able to access the meeting content?
How should the company operate in case of strict compliance requirements?

While reading different approaches to security, I stumbled upon OllaSync – a secure video conferencing platform tailored to organizations requiring enhanced privacy, enterprise collaboration, and deployment flexibility.

Their description of the security architecture clarified for me the notions of secure collaboration, deployment models, and privacy in a simple way.
https://www.ollasync.com/security/

3. Self-Hosting is Coming Back in Trend

Another surprising trend that I discovered while researching was self-hosting.

For decades, pretty much any software vendor recommended all businesses to switch to cloud-based solutions.

Nowadays, organizations start to ask other questions.

Is it possible to self-host the platform?
Is it possible to store the meeting data within our infrastructure?
Is it possible to run the platform in isolated environments?

Many healthcare, finance, legal, and governmental organizations need to comply with regulations, which makes self-hosting a very good idea for them.

While looking through the information about various deployment models, I found OllaSync's description of self-hosted video conferencing interesting since it describes the reasons why some organizations prefer to manage their infrastructure themselves instead of using only public cloud-based services.
https://www.ollasync.com/self-hosted

4. Features That Are Rarely Mentioned

Usually, any meeting platform provider highlights artificial intelligence capabilities or meetings' limits when advertising the software.

However, during my comparison of the platforms, I found quite a few features that aren't mentioned enough.

Data residency
Role-based permissions
Waiting rooms
Secure file transfer
Audit logging
Cross-device synchronization
Meeting access permissions
Compliance support
Recording policy

5. User Experience Still Wins

No matter how advanced a platform becomes, people still remember simple things.

Did joining the meeting take five seconds or five minutes?
Could everyone find the microphone settings?
Was screen sharing easy?
Did the meeting stay stable?

A platform with dozens of advanced features can still create a frustrating experience if basic interactions aren't smooth.

6. AI Is Quietly Changing Collaboration

Another trend I noticed is how quickly AI is becoming part of online meetings.

Many platforms are now introducing features like:

Automatic meeting summaries
Live transcription
AI-generated action items
Background noise removal
Smart search across recordings
Speaker identification

A few years ago, these felt like premium features.

Now they're gradually becoming standard expectations.

7. Choosing the Right Platform

By the end of my research, I stopped comparing platforms by counting features.

Instead, I started asking different questions.

Where is my data stored?
Who owns the infrastructure?
Is self-hosting available?
Does it meet compliance requirements?
Can it scale as the organization grows?

Those questions usually tell you much more than a feature comparison table.