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The Division 2 shows your public IP to others by default

Leaving VOIP enabled in The Division 2 could put your public IP at risk.

Josh Hawkins

February 8, 2019 9:25 AM

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The Division 2’s private beta kicked off yesterday and players all around the world have been diving into the second installment of Ubisoft’s shoot and loot series. While this should be a time of celebration for fans of the series, some bad news broke today as a popular Twitch streamer named BikeMan took to Twitter to reveal some troubling information for players.

So if you have VOIP turned on in Division or Division 2 it shows other players your public IP. For what purpose!? Other than absolutely exposing players to malicious DDoS attacks, what is the point of that and why not remove it?? @Ubisoft @TheDivisionGame

— BikeMan (@BikeManStream) February 8, 2019

According to BikeMan, leaving VOIP enabled while playing The Division 2 exposes your public IP, giving players way more information than they should need to play an online game with you. For Twitch streamers like BikeMan, and other “internet celebrities” out there, this is troubling news as exposure of their public IP could lead to malicious DDoS attacks. We hopped into the game to confirm the reports, and according to the settings menu, having VOIP enabled does indeed expose your public IP to others.

There isn’t really much reasoning for why this is a thing, or why it’s even included in the game. But if you want to protect your IP—which you should in this day and age—then you’re going to want to disable VOIP as soon as you launch the game and have access to the settings. Thankfully, you can do this pretty easily by opening up the settings menu and then looking for the Disable VOIP option under the Audio tab.

While some have been quick to point out in replies to BikeMan’s tweet that having access to your public IP doesn’t necessarily mean they can find you, it is far more information than anyone should need to talk to you in an online video game. We aren’t sure why Ubisoft chose to have this in the game, but we do know that the first game included the same type of setting. Unfortunately, right now, your settings won’t save when you restart the game, so make sure you disable VOIP each time you launch it.

For more help, make sure you also check out our The Division 2 guides.

Josh Hawkins

Guides Editor

Joshua holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has been exploring the world of video games for as long as he can remember. He enjoys everything from large-scale RPGs to small, bite-size indie gems and everything in between.