iCloud Private Relay leaks can expose your real IP

If you pay for iCloud+ and use Safari, you may have turned on iCloud Private Relay for an extra layer of privacy.

Apple designed the feature to prevent websites from seeing your actual IP address and exact location.

Now, security researchers have found three ways that certain WebKit features can slip outside that protection.

Researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk discovered that DNS prefetching, a WebAuthn feature connected to passkeys and WebTransport can bypass WebKit's proxy configuration.

Two of those methods can expose your real internet protocol (IP) address.

The other can reveal information about the DNS servers your device is using.

What makes this especially concerning is that these are legitimate browser technologies .

A website does not necessarily need to convince you to download a suspicious file or install a shady app for the network requests to occur.

Here's how these iCloud Private Relay leaks work, who may be affected and what you can do to better protect your privacy.

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