10 Aug

Web RTC: What is it?

Web Real-Time Communication (better known as RTC) is a standard that allows the transmission of streaming information in the current mode without browser add-ons using P2P technology (built into web browsers used today).

VP8 and H.264 video codecs and 2 audio codecs (G711 and OPUS) are used. This standard allows users to interact effectively, video and audio chats can be created on sites. Everything seems to be OK, there is no point in disabling this technology.

Since communications between users are established automatically, permission is not required to use the protocol. In addition, when using VNP in the Opera browser, you can note:

• during a regular IP address check, it shows only the address of the VNP server, and the real address of the PC remains unknown;
• you can fix the local IP address of the computer (the same laptop).

In general, the online communication option allows web pages to obtain a large amount of identifying information. By the way, proxy is not a helper here.

When Web RTC is enabled

To check the browser, you can use the https://ip8.com/webrtc-test and https://www.expressvpn.com/ru/webrtc-leak-test sites.

When “Yep” is displayed in the “Browser Supports WebRTC (Either 1.0 or 1.1)?” line, it indicates that it is active.

On the second page, the information is posted in Russian.

When a “Potential Leak” appears, it also indicates that the technology has been turned on.

In principle, you can leave everything like this. Still, it is advisable to take measures to prevent data leaks that can fall into the hands of fraudsters.

Deactivating WebRTC in the Firefox browser

It’s easier to do this at the browser level. The first thing to do is enter “about:config” in the line.

Next, a warning window pops up. To confirm the action, click “I promise to be careful.”

A list with settings appears.

Find the line “media.peerconnection.enabled” (you can find it through the same “search” by pressing Ctrl+F). To disable it, you should set it to “false”.

WebRTC Control plugin

To activate or deactivate using the settings, you will have to be patient. And to speed up the process, a plugin is needed.

First of all, add-ons open in the settings.

In the search, enter WebRTC Control (this is the name of the plugin itself).

An “add to firefox” appears, it is activated to make the installation.

At the top right, you can see the plugin icon. If it is blue. This means that the technology is blocked.

At the same time, you need to understand that these plugins do not provide one hundred percent protection. In some cases, the browser allows the transmission of identification data. And to protect yourself as much as possible, you can use the NoScript plugin (prohibits all scripts in the web browser). And even more effective will be the use of VPN (by creating a separate network, the IP address becomes inaccessible).

Opera browser

To disable the technology in Opera, you should go to the Extensions Gallery.

Find the extension, install it (by clicking), and then click “Add to Opera”. When the plugin is in active mode, the icon is blue.

In addition, in Opera, you can deactivate the technology in another way. Go to the Menu, then go to Settings, go to the Security section, activate “Show advanced settings”, in the Web RTC column, check the box next to “Disable unproxyed UDP”.

Yandex Browser

It is disabled in the same way as Opera using WebRTC Control. The icon should also be blue when enabled.

Google Chrome

Here everything is a little more complicated. The browser itself does not have options to block this technology, and therefore you will need to download an add-on, one of which is WebRTC Block.

In addition, there is Script Safe, one of the most effective solutions for preventing information leakage through the technology in question. At first glance, it looks tricky, but it should be used for decontamination.

There is also an option to use the WebRTC Control plugin. Go to “Extensions”, then click “More extensions”, find the add-on you are looking for there, and install it. The plugin icon should be blue.

You can resort to the WebRTC Leak Prevent or Easy WebRTC Block plugins (they work similarly to WebRTC Control).

Installed on a Google Chrome phone

To disable it, enter “chrome://flags/#disable-webrtc” in the line and set enabled.

Disable in Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer

The first one supports the WebRTC standard by default. And the technology can only be partially blocked, for which:

• enter about:flags in the browser line;
• tick the box;
• restart the browser.

In the second, there is no support for this technology, which is why the option of identity leakage is excluded.

Safari on macOS

To disable it, go to the browser settings. In the “Add-ons” section, check the “Develop in menu” box, then check the Remove Legacy WebRTC API to block WebRTC in Safari.

Safari on iOS

Go to the settings again. Find Safari at the bottom, go to “Add-ons” and get to Experimental Features. To block the technology, use the Remove Legacy WebRTC API.