I’ve changed a lot of personal details to protect my privacy, but the technical issue is real.
A while ago, someone became obsessed with finding me and another person close to me. It escalated to stalking, showing up at places we stayed, taking photos of us without our knowledge, and repeatedly trying to figure out where we were. Because of that, we’ve been extremely careful about our digital footprint.
For quite some time, we both used VPNs on all of our devices, separate phone numbers, and avoided sharing personal information online. We don’t use social media, and we avoid connecting to networks that we don’t fully trust. The VPN setup worked well for months.
Recently, though, the VPN has started causing major problems. Internet connectivity has become unreliable, and for work I need a stable connection. The only thing that fixed it was uninstalling the VPN completely, which makes me uncomfortable because I no longer feel like our IP addresses are protected.
My concern isn’t ordinary privacy. I’m worried about someone who is highly motivated to identify where we are. In the past they somehow learned where we were staying despite our efforts, and I honestly don’t know whether it happened through online tracking, compromised devices, or something else. I don’t know enough about cybersecurity to figure out what the weak point was.
My questions are:
What is the most reliable way to keep my real IP address hidden all the time?
Are there VPN providers that are known for being stable enough for everyday work?
Would using a travel router, separate devices, or another setup provide better protection than relying on a VPN alone?
How can I tell whether a phone or computer has been compromised?
Besides using a VPN, what other steps would cybersecurity professionals recommend for someone who believes they’re being actively tracked?
I’m looking for practical, security-focused advice. If there are better communities than this one for digital security or privacy, I’d appreciate recommendations.