My team and I don’t condone downloading illegal, copyrighted material — you can avoid taking legal risks altogether by abiding by the laws on torrenting. However, even with legal torrenting, there are several risks involved including vulnerability to hacking and malware attacks and data privacy concerns. Luckily, a seedbox, together with other tools, can provide a solution to all your torrenting concerns. A seedbox is a dedicated remote server at a high-speed data center that you can use to safely download and upload torrent files at extremely high speeds. Read on to find out how to use seedboxes to get faster torrent downloads, and how to best secure your data and devices during the process.
What Is a Seedbox and How Does It Work?
First off, if you’re looking for seedbox gardening advice, you are definitely in the wrong place! In BitTorrent jargon, a user who has and shares a complete copy of a file is known as a “seed” or “seeder.” Seeders who frequently share files on their torrent tracker are rewarded with faster download speeds. However, uploading those large files through your home connection devours your upstream bandwidth, making you a big target for throttling and surveillance. Enter the seedbox. With a seedbox, you connect to a computer that has an incredibly fast internet connection and is only used to download and upload torrents. This means you can get fantastic ratios on your torrent tracker and in turn enjoy download speeds of up to 10Gbps (1250MB/s). You access the seedbox service via a torrent client’s web interface. Once you’re connected, you can upload your torrent files to the seedbox computer. You save bandwidth because even if multiple users download the file, you only had to upload it once. To download, just select the torrent files you want, and they download immediately onto the seedbox. They will remain there on the seedbox for you to anonymously download to your personal computer whenever you like. Most users download torrents from the seedbox via an FTP or SFTP connection in order to prevent their personal information from being exposed to hackers and cybercriminals. However, there’s a much better way to protect yourself – using a virtual private network, or VPN. Before getting into the details of how a VPN keeps your P2P activity safe, let’s look at why you should always take precautions to ensure your privacy while torrenting.
Are There Risks with Using a Seedbox?
Torrenting legally shareable files is perfectly fine everywhere, but it’s important to understand that piracy of copyrighted material is illegal in basically every country. Some countries have even banned torrenting websites because of high rates of piracy. At vpnMentor, we neither encourage nor support illegal downloading or distribution of copyrighted material. The risk of content owners reaching out to law enforcement to track down users who share illegal torrents might be remote, but it’s real. And if torrenting site operators receive a court order to reveal the identities of their clients, they have to either comply or risk being sued themselves. Using a seedbox keeps your personal data protected because you use a public IP address that belongs to a data center. Data center computers and servers have multiple layers of protection to go through in order to reach the end user. Nevertheless, a skilled hacker could potentially track your seedbox activity back to you, so it’s best to aim for total anonymity every time you torrent. By combining a seedbox with a quality VPN, you can be certain you and your devices will never be vulnerable to cyber threats.
Why You Should Use a VPN for Anonymity While Torrenting
With a VPN, all your online activity is sent through an encrypted channel to a remote server. The server then sends out your request and retrieves the data you need, returning it to you still in encrypted form. Spying eyes can see what you’re doing, only how much data you transmit and receive – and the best VPNs even use data compression methods to disguise that, too. For torrenting, look for a VPN with military-grade encryption, tracking prevention, and very importantly, a kill switch. This crucial feature will immediately stop data transmission if your connection to the VPN server is interrupted, so your data never leaks onto the public internet. VPNs are always adding more sophisticated security features to their repertoire. A multi-hop VPN, for example, encrypts your connection across more than two different servers in separate locations to give you added privacy and security. Common forms of multi-hop functionality include Onion over VPN and DoubleVPN. Finally, make sure to choose a VPN with lightning-fast connection speeds, so downloading a torrent file doesn’t turn into a day-long project.
Best VPNs for Torrenting with a Seedbox
Here are the most trustworthy and best-performing VPNs for torrenting with a seedbox. They offer all the features you need to enjoy fast download speeds and remain anonymous while doing so.
1. ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is perfect for both downloading torrents and streaming live video. To back up the provider’s claim that it’s the fastest VPN on the market, ExpressVPN’s service includes a VPN Speed Test that allows you to select the quickest server available. The provider’s location in the British Virgin Islands means this VPN is not subject to any data retention laws. ExpressVPN makes the most of this freedom with a strict zero-logging policy that protects torrent users from ever having their activity tracked. These are just a few of the reasons that in spite of a slightly higher price tag than our other recommended services, ExpressVPN is a user favorite. View ExpressVPN Deals Supports torrenting:
Yes, all servers support P2P activity.
ExpressVPN works on these devices:
Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Android TV, Linux, Chrome, and Firefox. It also offers an app for use with certain routers.
2. CyberGhost
CyberGhost takes torrenting safety seriously with a dedicated torrenting profile that connects you to P2P-compatible servers. These servers are specifically designed to encrypt your torrenting traffic and hide your personal information from hackers. Those measures wouldn’t mean much without strong network security, however. CyberGhost has you covered there as well with a zero-logging policy, kill switch, and IP & DNS leak protection. With its intuitive, visual user interface, CyberGhost has earned the loyalty of experienced users and VPN beginners alike. View CyberGhost Deals
Dedicated streaming profile with servers optimized for: Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Sky Go, Comedy Central, Eurosport, ESPN, and others.
Supports torrenting:
Yes; dedicated profile shows countries and number of users.
CyberGhost works on these devices:
3. IPVanish
IPVanish is unique in that it allows you to download torrents on all its servers. Since restricting P2P activities to specific servers can result in overcrowding and reduced speeds, this server flexibility is a big advantage. Like our top three providers, IPVanish offers unlimited bandwidth to subscribers, so regularly downloading large files at high speeds is hassle-free. You can use IPVanish to share files with both the uTorrent and BitTorrent protocols, with no blocked services in either case. IPVanish’s network security and privacy protection measures are impressive, offering 256-bit encryption, a kill switch, and IP/DNS leak protection. You can see for yourself what users have to say in their reviews of IPVanish. View IPVanish Deals
Netflix, BBC iPlayer.
Supports torrenting:
Yes.
IPVanish works on these devices:
Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, FireTV, Windows Phone, Linux, Chromebook, Routers.
4. HotSpot Shield
HotSpot Shield is one of the best VPN providers at hiding and protecting your data. By offering both 128-bit AES and 256-bit AES encryption, this VPN puts you in control to choose the balance of speed and security that’s ideal for you. The provider also claims to automatically delete your IP address every time you log off and replace it with a company IP address in order to erase your footprints completely. What’s more, Hotspot Shield’s unique Catapult Hydra protocol compresses your data, making it much faster to transmit and reducing the risk that your high data usage while torrenting will flag the attention of hackers or other spying eyes. To see what else HotSpot Shield has to offer seedbox torrenting fans, check out what users have to say about it. View Hotspot Shield Deals Supports torrenting:
Yes, P2P allowed on all servers.
Hotspot Shield works on these devices
Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Chrome.
Summary
Even if you use a seedbox, complete protection of your anonymity should be your top priority when torrenting. When you take the necessary precautions, you can put those concerns out of your mind and focus on getting the files you need fast. Combining use of a seedbox and a VPN will help you download torrents at incredibly fast rates while remaining anonymous and protected throughout the process. The best VPNs aren’t free, but we do everything we can to find deals to make them as close to free as possible for you. Check out our coupon codes pages to see just how cheap complete privacy protection can be! Get ExpressVPN NOW! The information above can be used to track you, target you for ads, and monitor what you do online.
VPNs can help you hide this information from websites so that you are protected at all times. We recommend ExpressVPN — the #1 VPN out of over 350 providers we've tested. It has military-grade encryption and privacy features that will ensure your digital security, plus — it's currently offering 49% off.
Visit ExpressVPN
