Technology
Why your VPN keeps getting blocked and the simple fix
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You fire up your VPN, connect to a server and pull up the streaming service or website you were trying to reach. A few seconds later, you see the dreaded message: blocked. So you try again. Still blocked. Then you switch servers. Same result.
If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. VPN blocking has become much more aggressive over the past few years. The old VPN tricks that once worked reliably no longer always get the job done.
The good news is that there is usually one specific reason your VPN keeps failing. Even better, most people never think to address it.
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STUCK BEHIND A VPN WALL? LET’S FIND A WAY AROUND IT
A VPN with modern protocols, obfuscation and DNS leak protection can help users avoid blocked connections and protect privacy. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Why your VPN keeps getting blocked by websites
Platforms block VPNs in a couple of main ways. The most common method is IP address detection. VPN providers use large pools of IP addresses. However, over time, those addresses get flagged and added to blocklists.
That creates a cat-and-mouse game. Cheaper VPNs often lose that fight because they do not have the resources to rotate and refresh their IP pools often enough.
Beyond IP detection, some websites and networks use deep packet inspection, also known as DPI. This technology can identify VPN traffic even when the IP address itself has not been flagged yet.
Corporate networks, schools and countries with heavy internet restrictions often rely on this method. It can even catch some respected VPN services off guard.
Premium VPN providers avoid many of these issues because the service is built around a more advanced protocol that addresses the problem closer to the source.
Quick checks before you blame your VPN
Before you assume your VPN has failed, try a few simple checks. First, close and reopen the app or browser you are using. Then, make sure your VPN app is updated because older versions may not handle blocked networks as well.
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Also, check whether your browser has location permissions turned on. If a website can access your device location, it may still figure out where you are, even while your VPN is connected.
The VPN fix most people miss
Here is where most people go wrong. When their VPN gets blocked, they do the obvious thing. They switch servers. Sometimes that works for a little while. However, if the real issue is DPI rather than IP blacklisting, changing servers will not solve the problem. That is because the traffic pattern itself gives you away.
The fix is obfuscation. In other words, your VPN needs to disguise its traffic so it looks like regular web browsing instead of VPN activity. Surprisingly, many VPN users have never heard of obfuscation. Even some VPN providers do not make it easy to use.
Obfuscated servers make your VPN traffic look like ordinary HTTPS web traffic. To a network monitoring tool or a streaming platform’s detection system, your connection looks like a regular browser session. There is no obvious VPN fingerprint to flag.
Obfuscation can help VPN traffic look like ordinary web browsing, reducing the chances that websites or networks will block the connection. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
A premium VPN handles this automatically. Its Lightway protocol is built with obfuscation in mind and adapts depending on the network you are using. You do not have to dig through settings or manually turn anything on.
If a network is aggressively blocking VPN traffic, Lightway adjusts to help get around it without making you do the hard work.
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Why DNS leaks can expose your real location
There is one more thing worth checking: your Domain Name System (DNS) settings. Even when your VPN connection is active, DNS leaks can reveal your real location. A DNS leak happens when your device sends domain name requests outside the encrypted VPN tunnel. That means websites may see your actual internet provider and location, even though your IP address appears to be somewhere else.
In other words, your VPN may look connected, but part of your browsing activity may still be pointing back to your real internet provider.
Here is the simple way to check:
- Connect to your VPN.
- Open a browser and go to a trusted DNS leak test site.
- Run the test.
- Look at the results. If you see your regular internet provider, your VPN may be leaking DNS requests. If you see your VPN provider’s servers or a location tied to the VPN server, that is what you want.
You may also want to run a WebRTC leak test, especially if you use Chrome, Edge or Firefox. WebRTC is a browser feature that can sometimes reveal your real IP address. To check, stay connected to your VPN, open a WebRTC leak test page and look for your real public IP address. If your real IP appears, your browser may be leaking identifying information.
A premium VPN routes DNS queries through its own encrypted servers and includes built-in DNS leak protection. As a result, most users do not need to troubleshoot this manually. Still, running a quick leak test gives you peace of mind that your VPN is doing what it should.
Why choosing the right VPN makes a difference
Free VPNs and many budget options often share server infrastructure. That means their IP addresses can get flagged and blacklisted quickly.
Their servers may also be overcrowded. Their protocols may be outdated. Many also lack meaningful obfuscation, which leaves your VPN traffic easier to detect.
A premium VPN maintains thousands of servers across 110+ countries and works to keep those servers accessible, even on networks that try hard to block VPN traffic. It also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it and see whether it solves the blocking issues you keep running into.
ROUTER VPNS VS DEVICE VPNS: WHICH PRIVACY SOLUTION IS BEST FOR YOU?
Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson types on a laptop while explaining how shared VPN IPs can trigger blocks by banks, email providers and streaming sites, and how a dedicated IP can prevent this. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
What this means to you
If your VPN keeps getting blocked, the problem may go deeper than the server you picked. The website, streaming platform or network may be detecting the way your VPN traffic looks.
That is why obfuscation can make such a big difference. It helps your connection blend in with regular web traffic, which can reduce the chances of being flagged.
DNS leak protection also helps because your location can still slip through if your device sends requests outside the VPN tunnel.
In other words, a stronger VPN can help you stay connected, private and secure with far less frustration.
For the best VPN software, see my expert review of the best VPNs for browsing the web privately on your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at CyberGuy.com.
Kurt’s key takeaways
When your VPN keeps getting blocked, switching servers may feel like the easiest fix. Sometimes it works for a short time. However, it often acts more like a temporary patch than a real solution. The better answer is to use a VPN with modern protocols, obfuscation and strong DNS leak protection. That combination helps hide the telltale signs that make websites and networks block VPN traffic in the first place. With a premium VPN, that technology works behind the scenes. You connect through the app, and the VPN handles the harder technical work for you. The result is a simpler experience: a more private, secure and open internet without constantly fighting blocked connections.
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Have blocked VPN connections made you rethink which VPN you use? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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Apple’s big developer conference is today, and protesters are using the occasion to call on the company to remove “nudify apps” from the App Store and pull “known” child sexual abuse material from iCloud.
Outside the visitors center at Apple’s Cupertino campus, protesters have put up a large sign saying “Apple is powered by child sexual abuse” and asking incoming CEO John Ternus, “What will you do?” The protesters come from UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group, and Heat Initiative, a group that aims to “hold tech companies accountable for enabling and profiting from child sexual abuse.”
Apple and Google came under significant scrutiny earlier this year for continuing to keep apps like xAI’s Grok on their app stores even though users were able to make nonconsensual sexualized deepfakes. In pamphlets distributed at the protest, the organizations say that “at least 47 nudify apps have been found on Apple’s App Store” and that “Apple has made an estimated $117 million minimum from nudify apps,” including “an estimated $35+ million from Grok alone,” citing data from the Tech Transparency Project. UltraViolet also has a website dedicated to its protest today.
Apple previously scrapped plans to scan photos saved to iCloud for child sexual abuse imagery over privacy concerns.
Apple didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
We’ve seen Axiom Space and Prada’s collaboration on the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit. Now the company has revealed the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) that astronauts will wear underneath it when Artemis IV returns humans to the Moon in 2028.
The LCVG is the all-important base layer that will keep the crew cool and comfortable while inside the AxEMU and on spacewalks. Cold water is circulated through tubes embedded in the suit to whisk heat away from astronauts’ bodies. And, should the primary system fail, there is a backup, unlike older cooling suits. The LCVG also houses the ventilation system that supplies fresh oxygen to the AxEMU helmet and directs exhaled CO2 to a scrubber for recirculation.
The collaboration between Axiom Space and Prada isn’t the first time NASA has gotten involved with a project that blended high-tech materials and manufacturing with high-fashion design. It also funded the BioSuit concept created by MIT professor Dava Newman with help from renowned architect Guillermo Trotti.
Technology
Antares reaches reactor criticality under Trump pilot program, marking major nuclear milestone
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Antares Nuclear, Inc. announced Thursday that its Mark-0 microreactor achieved criticality at Idaho National Laboratory, becoming the first advanced reactor to reach the milestone under a U.S. Department of Energy pilot program established after President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order aimed at accelerating nuclear development.
The Torrance, California-based company said the reactor reached initial criticality under DOE authorization, making Antares the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality through the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program.
“Hitting our commitments is everything to us. Nuclear in America has been defined for too long by delays, by companies that said they would and then didn’t,” Antares CEO Jordan Bramble said. “We said criticality in 2026, electricity production in 2027, and power to the warfighter in 2028. Today is the first of those commitments delivered on the schedule we set.”
Criticality occurs when a reactor achieves a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, a major milestone in reactor development. Antares said the demonstration validated key reactor physics parameters and produced testing data and control system performance information that will support future reactor development.
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Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Antares Nuclear’s Mark-0 microreactor became the first privately developed non-light-water reactor to achieve criticality in the U.S. in more than four decades under the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program. (F. Carter Smith/Bloomberg)
The Department of Energy confirmed the achievement Thursday, describing it as the first privately developed non-light-water reactor to reach criticality in the U.S. in more than four decades.
“Today’s achievement is a historic moment for American nuclear energy,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “By bringing the first American non-light water privately developed reactor to criticality in more than four decades, Antares has shown what is possible when American innovation is unleashed.”
The milestone comes just over a year after Trump signed four executive orders directing the federal government to accelerate reactor testing, expand domestic nuclear fuel production and streamline pathways for advanced nuclear technologies.
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President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order in the Oval Office. Antares Nuclear said its Mark-0 microreactor achieved criticality under a Department of Energy pilot program created after Trump’s 2025 executive orders aimed at accelerating advanced nuclear reactor development. File photo. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
One of those orders, Executive Order 14301, directed the Department of Energy to establish a pilot program designed to speed testing and demonstration of advanced reactor designs. The administration set a goal of achieving criticality for advanced reactor concepts by July 4, 2026.
“The President and DOE set an ambitious timeline for reactor testing, and we met that challenge,” Bramble said. “I want to thank our partners at the Department of Energy, Idaho National Lab, BWXT, and the U.S. Army. This is what happens when industry and government work together to accomplish big things.”
Antares said the criticality demonstration was conducted in partnership with the Department of Energy, Idaho National Laboratory and BWX Technologies, while the U.S. Army participated as a future end user of the technology.
DEPARTMENT OF WAR TRANSPORTS NEXT-GENERATION REACTOR IN NUCLEAR ENERGY MILESTONE
The company said the Mark-0 used TRISO fuel fabricated by BWXT and benefited from fuel technology developed through Project Pele, a Defense Department effort to build transportable microreactors for military applications.
DOE officials said the achievement demonstrates the potential of the Reactor Pilot Program.
“The skeptics didn’t believe President Trump’s Reactor Pilot Program could achieve criticality in less than a year,” Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish said. “Today, we celebrate the first of the pilot projects to reach criticality and the people who rolled up their sleeves to shape the future of nuclear energy in the United States.”
The company said engineers gained critical insight into reactor physics, control systems and supply chain performance during the demonstration. The data will be used to support future reactor development and eventual commercial licensing.
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“We went from concept to a critical reactor, safely, in less than 12 months. That doesn’t happen by accident. The team treated the schedule as non-negotiable,” Bramble said. “For the American nuclear renaissance to succeed, we need efficient, iterative reactor testing, not a decade per design.”
Antares said it expects to begin producing electricity from the same facility in 2027 and remains on track to deploy electricity-generating microreactors to U.S. military installations by 2028.
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