How To Secure Torrent Downloads with a VPN Router

Torrent downloads are a popular way of users sharing bits of a larger file in order to enable fast download speeds. Users around the world download torrents of music, movies, video games, and a host of other media files every day for disseminating their favorite content.

A Brief History of Torrent Downloads

In the early days of torrenting, centralized services like Napster and Limewire offered users access to a universe of downloadable content. Legal battles led to the demise of both services.

Currently, the BitTorrent protocol is the most popular method for downloading torrents. BitTorrent is a decentralized protocol providing the means to share torrent files and magnet links. While BitTorrent is a completely legal means of sharing files, torrent tracker sites like KickassTorrents and ThePirateBay find themselves in a legal gray area.

KickassTorrents and ThePirateBay function like search engines for torrent files. However, much of the content on these sites is copyrighted. While downloading torrents is legal on its own, downloading copyrighted material is not. Utilizing a service that focuses on encrypting these activities is of the utmost importance for avoiding unwanted legal issues with your ISP while downloading media.

In 2017 alone, 367 file sharing cases found their way into U.S. district courts. In order to protect yourself from potential legal issues, encrypting your downloads is mandatory.

Below are the best methods for securing a home WiFi network to ensure you and your family avoid legal issues while downloading music and movies online.

How Can I Stay Protected When Torrenting?

Torrenting is not illegal in and of itself. However, downloading unsanctioned copyrighted material is illegal. Knowing what content is legal to torrent and which isn’t can be confusing. Filtering traffic through a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is an ideal solution to hide activity download history from ISPs, government eyes, and copyright trolls monitoring torrent networks.

A VPN protects the network by tunneling any traffic to a remote server and back, switching your location. While using a VPN, an Internet Service Provider can view the traffic from outside the tunnel but not what the traffic is.

With this in mind, using a VPN is a secure method for encrypting your torrenting.

What Are The Best VPNs For Torrenting?

Unfortuntely, not all VPNs support torrenting. In deciding the best VPNs for torrenting, it is important to select a VPN service that has a no-logging policy, fast speeds, and strong encryption.

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Using A VPN Router To Protect Torrent Downloads

Using a VPN on the router level means you can send all your online traffic through the secure tunnel, not just a single device. All your devices that connect via the router count as one connection. Meaning, you never have to worry about hitting device limits.

In addition, devices like Playstations, Xbox, Rokus, and Smart TVs have no native VPN support. If you’re looking to bypass geo-restrictions, and stream your favorite content on one of these devices, a VPN Router is a must-have.

However, VPN configuration is unavailable on standard router firmware. Plus, default manufacturer router firmware is frequently laden with backdoors and firmware bugs and oftentimes lacks functionality. Using a router level VPN requires a router flashed with open source router firmware. Open-source routers include better security, enhanced features, and VPN integration, making them perfect for use when torrenting.