NordVPN is a good choice when it comes to torrenting. It has all the security features you require to prevent leaks while using torrent clients. The speeds are also excellent.
There are further steps you can take to prevent leaks if the VPN application somehow catastrophically fails, which is extremely unlikely, but it will give you peace of mind.
Before thinking of loading a torrent client on your PC, we need to make sure NordVPN is set up and configured at maximum security to prevent any leaks.
NordVPN Desktop App Security Settings:
In this example, we will use the Mac OS app.
- When opening the application, click the application preferences icon on the sidebar as pointed out below:
2. There are quite a few sections to go through. I will list them below:
General: We highly recommend enabling the “Auto launch when computer starts” option, especially if your torrent app starts at the same time. Although we recommend starting your torrent client manually, this will prevent any accidental leaks in future.
Auto-connect: If you plan on using torrents in a network other than your home or “Trusted Networks” list, we highly recommend you enable the client to auto-connect feature to connect to a P2P location.
Kill-Switch: It wasn’t immediately clear how the kill-switch operated on Mac OS, but it appears that (after speaking to support) the kill switch is activated by default system-wide (we will test this later).
You can also add an application in this section which will specifically block internet access to this application only. To add to the security, you can have NordVPN kill the app if the VPN disconnects for any reason.
We prefer system-wide kill-switches, but if you prefer to block access to individual applications, then you can add your application to the list under the kill-switch section as pointed out below:
BitTorrent Application Security Settings:
For ultimate safety when downloading using a torrent client, we highly recommend you bind the torrent client to the VPN interface; this way, you can be sure no traffic will pass unless this VPN interface is active. We will list some torrent clients we recommend that include this feature.
- qBittorrent – The qBittorrent project aims to provide an open-source software alternative to µTorrent. Additionally, qBittorrent runs and provides the same features on all major platforms (FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, OS/2, Windows). It’s a great little client and has all the required features without the junk included.
To set up qBittorrent, the first time, click the little settings cog icon directly on the main interface and click connection; first, you want to uncheck the following option “Use UPnP / NAT PMP port forwarding from my router.” to be on the safe side, UPnP won’t work on servers that don’t support it and its highly likely not supported.
Now click the settings cog on the sidebar; it should be the very bottom option; it will bring up a list of advanced settings; we want to change the “Network Interface” dropdown to select the VPN interface related to your connection. On Mac OS, this is typically named utunx (x is the number of the interface); on windows, it may be named ethx or netx etc.
The easiest way to determine which one is being used by your VPN software is to connect the VPN software you wish to use, open the terminal and run the following command:
ifconfigOn Windows, type:
ipconfig /allIt should then list all current interfaces. In this example, the utun5 interface, currently assigned an internal address range, is the one you select in the drop-down. Your output may look similar to this on mac OS:
Once selected, it’s crucial you click Apply in the bottom left-hand corner and then OK.
- Deluge – Deluge is another lightweight, open-source, cross-platform BitTorrent client that is well worth the look. It provides a plugin-type design that provides most of its features. It offers everything you would expect from a torrent client.
With Deluge, there is currently no way to bind Deluge to an interface by default without first installing one of its plugins named “ltConfig” . You can, however, bind the internal IP assigned to the VPN Interface. See below for an example.
Keep in mind this internal IP will change every time you reconnect to the VPN unless you request a static IP from your provider. You will need to ask support to see if this is possible.
While in this section, we want to disable UPnP and NAT-PMP under “Network Extras” to make sure our traffic stays within the tunnel. You must click Apply to save all changes and then OK.
On Windows, it’s very similar; you use the plugin named earlier or enter the outgoing and incoming interface “internal” IP assigned to the VPN interface.
- BiglyBT – BiglyBT is basically the open-source, ad-free version of Vuze; it doesn’t contain all the junk software within the installer or the pesky ads inside the app. BiglyBT is forked from the original project and is being maintained by two of the original developers as well as members of the community.
BiglyBT makes it easy to bind to your VPN interface – head to Tools –> Options –> Connection –> Advanced Network Settings. Here you can easily find the VPN interface listed in the interface list; in this example, we don’t show any VPN interface, but when one is connected, the list shows the “TAP-Windows Adapter.” or something similar depending on the provider and the protocol you use.
Set “Bind to local IP address or Interface” to the VPN interface; scroll down and check to “Enforce IP bindings when interface is not available” and check the sub-option “Pause downloads on loss of binding” to be sure nothing gets out if the interface somehow disappears.
We recommend NordVPN if you need to torrent safely. You can get huge discounts using the following link.
Important Notes:
- When using static IPs for binding, these IPs are prone to change and potentially cause leaks unless you have a static IP assigned and NordVPN security is set as per this article.
- When binding to the interface using an IP, the IP is NOT the public IP. It’s the internal IP bound to the VPN interface whilst the VPN is connected.
- We do not recommend downloading using socks5 proxies unless using the VPN at the same time. Proxies may not work while binding to the VPN interface.
- If using a proxy on its own (we do not recommend this), you must understand the risks; traffic is not encrypted. Using features such as UPnP and NAT-PMP while using a proxy on its own can lead to leaks.
