I recently started using NordVPN and have noticed something strange.
Sometimes when I connect to the VPN service in my system tray it will show a wifi connection and other times an ethernet connection. In both cases I am connected to my home router by wifi.
In case 1) where it shows a wifi icon in the corner it will display
1) "My router name" on top and "Unidentified network no internet access".
2) Then in the internet settings it shows this
And it shows
3) this in the status for each connection:
When I check different websites ipleak etc. it shows my VPN ip and VPN DNS, I cannot see any leaks this way.
At other times the opposite will happen and instead of having a wifi icon showing it will display as an ethernet connection and the following will now happen:
1) "My router name internet access" is on the bottom and "unidentified network" now says "internet access" and is on top.
2) My network settings now displays this
and my status for both connections now show this
3)
Notice how it now says ipv4 connectivity as internet for the VPN connection (ethernet 2).
Also in this case websites such as ipleak show my ip/dns as the VPN ip and there appears to be no leaks.
In both cases the bytes are increasing for both connections.
I have had both cases (wifi icon and images 1-3/ethernet icon and images 4-6) happen fairly regularly and even change whilst I am on the VPN. I have had no disconnects or anything like that.
I have a few questions:
A. Is this normal for a VPN to do this? (What is causing this behaviour)
B. Am I safe in both cases (as I cannot detect any leaks from ipleak and other similar sites even in the first case when it says no internet access for the VPN connection in its status menu) or should I be concerned for security/privacy?
Thank you.