VPN service explained

A virtual private network (VPN) service is a proxy server marketed to help users bypass Internet censorship such as geo-blocking and users who want to protect their communications against user profiling or MitM attacks on hostile networks.

A wide variety of entities provide VPN services for several purposes. Depending on the provider and the application, they do not always create a true private network. Instead, many providers simply provide an Internet proxy that uses VPN technologies such as OpenVPN or WireGuard. Commercial VPN services are often used by those wishing to disguise or obfuscate their physical location or IP address, typically as a means to evade Internet censorship or geo-blocking.

Providers often market VPN services as privacy-enhancing, citing security features, such as encryption, from the underlying VPN technology. However, when the transmitted content is not encrypted before entering the proxy, that content is visible at the receiving endpoint regardless of whether the VPN tunnel itself is encrypted for the inter-node transport. On the client side, configurations intended to use VPN services as proxies are not conventional VPN configurations. However, they do typically utilize the operating system's VPN interfaces to capture the user's data to send to the proxy. This includes virtual network adapters on computer OSes and specialized "VPN" interfaces on mobile operating systems. A less common alternative is to provide a SOCKS proxy interface.

In 2025, 1.75 billion people used VPNs. By 2027, this market has been projected to grow to $76 billion.[1] As of 2022, recommendation websites for VPNs tended to be affiliated with or even owned by VPN service providers, and VPN service providers often make misleading claims on their products.[2]

Reasons for use

While research on user behavior and motivations for using VPNs is relatively limited compared to technical literature,[3] [4] studies generally find that users are motivated by concerns over security and privacy,[5] particularly protection against hackers.[6] [7] In contrast, a study of 349 college students found that students were more likely to use VPNs to access entertainment content than for privacy-related reasons. Another study of 90 technically savvy users reported that those motivated by privacy concerns, rather than by practical needs such as accessing geo-blocked content, were more likely to continue using VPNs over time. Surveys have also found that users tend to distrust free VPN services and express concern about providers collecting or selling their data.

VPN usage has also been observed to increase in response to content restrictions,[8] [9] social media taxes,[10] [11] and the implementation of age verification laws.[12]

Accessing geo-restricted content

VPNs allow users to bypass regional restrictions by hiding their IP address from the destination server and simulating a connection from another country.

Improving privacy on public Wi-Fi

Where public Wi-Fi networks do not provide isolated encryption for each connected device, VPN services can provide a certain level of protection. When in use, potential eavesdroppers on the network can only observe that a connection to the VPN server is made by a user's device.[13] As of June 2025, however, approximately 98% of human-generated internet traffic was encrypted using TLS through the HTTPS protocol;[14] when TLS is used, network eavesdropping can only point out the IP addresses or hostnames a user is connecting to. Interception of network requests by a bad actor in the form of a Man-in-the-middle attack will most likely result in a certificate warning in being displayed in the user's browser.[15]

SSL stripping, the practice of downgrading a connection to unencrypted HTTP,[16] [17] doesn't always result in a browser warning, although this has been partly mitigated by the implementation of HTTP Strict Transport Security.[18] [19]

Improving privacy

Activists and journalists working in restrictive or authoritarian regions can use VPNs to help maintain anonymity and protect sensitive communications.[20] [21]

By geographical region

As of 2025, four of the top six countries of VPN adoption rates from 2020 through the first half of 2025 were in the Middle East: UAE #1, Quatar #2, Oman #5 and Saudi Arabia #6 [22] Aside from bypassing a block of content it is thought that bypassing of restriction of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services,like WhatsApp, Skype, and FaceTime are motivating factors.

Criticism and limitations

Research has generally found that non-specialist users often have flawed mental models of VPNs and misunderstand the extent of the protection they provide. Such misconceptions may persist even among active VPN users.

Most users discover VPN services through review websites, which can be influenced by commercial incentives, with some relying on paid reviews and auctioning off the top review spot.

Users are commonly exposed to misinformation on the VPN services market, which makes it difficult for them to discern fact from false claims in advertisements.[23] According to research by Consumer Reports, 12 out of 16 surveyed service providers had poor privacy and security practices and also made hyperbolic claims.[24] The New York Times has advised users to reconsider whether a VPN service is worth their money.[25] VPN services are not sufficient for protection against browser fingerprinting.[26] The provider may log the user's traffic, although this depends on the individual company. Users can still be tracked through tracking cookies even if the user's IP address is hidden.

A VPN service is not in itself a means for good Internet privacy. The burden of trust is simply transferred from the Internet service provider to the VPN service provider.[27] [28]

Legality

China

In China, unlawful use of VPNs may result in criminal prosecution under the relatively obscure Supreme People’s Court guidelines: the Criminal Information Technology System Security Offense Adjudicative Guidelines [29] and the Damage to Telecommunications Market Integrity Adjudicative Guidelines.[30]

According to the guidelines, however, the simple use of typical VPN tunnels is not inherently unlawful because it does not achieve the elements of a computer crime, i.e. intrusion or unlawful control of a computer. VPN providers themselves can be prosecuted because providing a type of VPN in a way that severely disrupts the telecommunications market constitutes the offense of unlawful business operations. Additionally, if a VPN is used to commit illegal activities, then its provision could fall under aiding and abetting a crime. This was the logic applied by Chinese police in the widely publicized case involving a Chinese programmer who was penalized on grounds he used an unapproved international connection to provide internet consulting services to a Company for 1,058,000 CNY in unlawful income.[31]

Russia

Russia banned various VPN service providers in 2021.[32] Law No. 276-FZ (2017) requires VPN/anonymizer services to prevent access to sites on the government blacklist; it prohibits owners of virtual private network (VPN) services and internet anonymizers from providing access to websites banned in Russia. The obligation is codified via amendments adding Article 15.8 to the Information Law and enforced by Roskomnadzor.[33]

North Korea

VPN use is subject to a blanket criminal ban protecting the North Korean internet firewall; communication through other countries’ communication networks without approval within the territory of the Republic is not allowed. The 2023 revision of the Radio Wave Control Law also provides penalties including fines and "up to three months of unpaid labor or punishment by labor education".[34]

Iran

VPNs are subject to general criminalization, but with discretion by the government to allow certain permissible uses. Use of filtering-circumvention tools (e.g., VPN services) is prohibited unless legally authorized by permit under the Supreme Council of Cyberspace’s 2024 resolution (cl. 6).[35]

Comparison of commercial virtual private network services

Privacy

In 2018 PC Magazine recommended that users consider choosing a provider based in a country with no data retention laws because that makes it easier for the service to keep a promise of no logging.[36] PC Magazine and TechRadar also suggested that users read the provider's logging policy before signing up for the service,[37] because some providers collect information about their customers' VPN usage.[38] [39]

Technical features

Service! colspan="3"
Leak ProtectionProtocolsObfuscation / Censorship AvoidanceNetwork NeutralityServer
First-party DNS serversIPv6 supported / blockedOffers kill switchOffers OpenVPNOffers WireGuardSupports multihopSupports TCP port 443Supports ObfsproxyOffers SOCKSLinux supportSupports SSL tunnelSupports SSH tunnelBlocks SMTP (authent.)Blocks P2PDedicated or virtualDiskless
Avast SecureLine[40] [41]
ExpressVPN[42] [43] [44] [45]
Hotspot Shield?
IPVanish[46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52]
IVPN[53] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58]
Mullvad[59] [60] [61] and SOCKS5[62] [63] [64] [65] [66] [67]
NordVPN[68] [69] [70] [71] [72] and SOCKS5[73] [74] [75] [76]
NymVPN
Private Internet Access[77] [78] [79] [80] [81] [82] [83] accessdate=15">Web site: Stats on 89 Linux VPN Providers Across 16 Linux Distributions. 15 February 2018. English. [84] [85] [86]
PrivadoVPN
ProtonVPN[87] [88]
PureVPN[89] [90] [91] [92] [93] [94]
Surfshark
TunnelBear[95] [96] [97] [98] [99] [100]
Windscribe[101] [102] (via Stealth protocol)[103]

Notes

Encryption

ServiceData encryptionHandshake encryptionData authentication
Default providedStrongest providedWeakest providedStrongest providedWeakest providedStrongest provided
Avast SecureLineAES-256
ExpressVPNAES-256CA-4096
Hotspot ShieldAES-128[104] TLS 1.2 ECDHE PFSHMAC[105]
IPVanishAES-256[106] RSA-2048SHA-256
IVPNAES-256[107] RSA-4096
MullvadAES-256 (GCM)ML-KEM[108] RSA-4096SHA-512
NordVPNAES-256[109] AES-256 (CBC)2048-bit Diffie-Hellman
NymVPNAES-256 (GCM)[110]
Private Internet AccessAES-128 (CBC)[111] AES-256ECC-256k1RSA-4096SHA-1SHA-256
PrivadoVPNAES-256
ProtonVPNAES-256RSA-4096HMAC with SHA-384
PureVPNAES-256
SaferVPNAES-256[112] 2048bit SSL/TLSSHA-256
TunnelBearAES-128 (CBC)AES-256 (CBC)1548 bit Diffie–Hellman4096 bit Diffie–HellmanSHA-1SHA-256
SurfsharkAES-256AES-256 (CBC)2048-bit Diffie–Hellman
WindscribeAES-256[113] RSA-4096SHA-512
Notes

Definitions

The following definitions clarify the meaning of some of the column headers in the comparison tables above.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hooson . Mark . 2025-03-03 . VPN Statistics . 2025-03-19 . Forbes UK . en-GB.
  2. Investigating the VPN Recommendation Ecosystem . IEEE Security.
  3. Book: Akgul . Omer . Roberts . Richard . Namara . Moses . Levin . Dave . Mazurek . Michelle L. . Investigating Influencer VPN Ads on YouTube . May 2022 . 2022 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP) . IEEE . 876–892 . 10.1109/SP46214.2022.9833633 . 978-1-6654-1316-9.
  4. Namara . Moses . Wilkinson . Daricia . Caine . Kelly . Knijnenburg . Bart P. . 2020-01-01 . Emotional and Practical Considerations Towards the Adoption and Abandonment of VPNs as a Privacy-Enhancing Technology . Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies . en . 2020 . 1 . 83–102 . 10.2478/popets-2020-0006 . 2299-0984. free .
  5. Dutkowska-Zuk . Agnieszka . Hounsel . Austin . Morrill . Amy . Xiong . Andre . Chetty . Marshini . Feamster . Nick . 2022 . How and Why People Use Virtual Private Networks . Proceedings of the 31st USENIX Security Symposium . en . 3451–3465 . 978-1-939133-31-1.
  6. Ramesh . Reethika . Vyas . Anjali . Ensafi . Roya . 2023 . "All of them claim to be the best": Multi-perspective study of VPN users and VPN providers . Proceedings of the 32nd USENIX Security Symposium . en . 5773–5789 . 978-1-939133-37-3.
  7. Story . Peter . Smullen . Daniel . Yao . Yaxing . Acquisti . Alessandro . Cranor . Lorrie Faith . Sadeh . Norman . Schaub . Florian . 2021-07-01 . Awareness, Adoption, and Misconceptions of Web Privacy Tools . Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies . en . 2021 . 3 . 308–333 . 10.2478/popets-2021-0049 . 2299-0984. 11603/21389 . free .
  8. Book: Khattak . Sheharbano . Javed . Mobin . Khayam . Syed Ali . Uzmi . Zartash Afzal . Paxson . Vern . A Look at the Consequences of Internet Censorship Through an ISP Lens . 5 November 2014 . Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Internet Measurement Conference . https://doi.org/10.1145/2663716.2663750 . IMC '14 . New York, NY, USA . Association for Computing Machinery . 271–284 . 10.1145/2663716.2663750 . 978-1-4503-3213-2. subscription .
  9. Web site: 26 October 2021 . Amid major network disruptions, 1.76M Psiphon users in Belarus . 8 November 2025 . Psiphon.
  10. Web site: Namubiru . Lydia . 20 July 2018 . Uganda's government is doubling down on its controversial social media tax . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20181114024503/https://qz.com/africa/1332793/uganda-doubles-down-on-social-media-tax-vpn-use-rises/ . 14 November 2018 . 8 November 2025 . Quartz.
  11. Web site: Christopher . Kalema . August 2022 . Investigating VPN Blocking and its Impact on Uganda's Preparations for the 2021 General Elections and Responses Afterward . 8 November 2025 . Internews.
  12. Web site: Migliano . Simon . 14 October 2025 . VPN Demand Surges Around the World . 8 November 2025 . Top10VPN.
  13. Book: Karaymeh . Ashraf . Ababneh . Mohammad . Qasaimeh . Malik . Al-Fayoumi . Mustafa . Enhancing Data Protection Provided by VPN Connections over Open WiFi Networks . October 2019 . 2019 2nd International Conference on new Trends in Computing Sciences (ICTCS) . 1–6 . 10.1109/ICTCS.2019.8923104. 978-1-7281-2882-5 .
  14. Web site: HTTP requests by HTTP/HTTPS time series: Distribution of HTTP requests by HTTP protocol (HTTP vs. HTTPS) over time . June 9, 2025 . Cloudflare Radar.
  15. Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure Certificate and Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile . Boeyen . Sharon . Santesson . Stefan . Polk . Tim . Housley . Russ . Farrell . Stephen . Cooper . David . August 2008 . Internet Engineering Task Force . RFC 5280.
  16. News: Greenberg . Andy . 2009-02-18 . Breaking Your Browser's 'Padlock' . https://web.archive.org/web/20140227132201/http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/18/black-hat-hackers-technology-security_0218_blackhat.html . 2014-02-27 . 2025-06-09 . Forbes . en.
  17. Book: Shahid . Muhammad Azhar . Akram . Urooj . Shahid . Muhammad Mazhar Ali . Samad . Ali . Mushtaq . Muhammad Faheem . Majeed . Rizwan . A Systematic Approach Towards Compromising Remote Site HTTPS Traffic Using Open Source Tools . November 2020 . 2020 IEEE 23rd International Multitopic Conference (INMIC) . 1–6 . 10.1109/INMIC50486.2020.9318180. 978-1-7281-9893-4 .
  18. Web site: Ali . Junade . 2017-10-20 . Performing & Preventing SSL Stripping: A Plain-English Primer . 2025-06-09 . The Cloudflare Blog.
  19. Book: Bramwell, Phil . Hands-on penetration testing on Windows: unleash Kali Linux, PowerShell, and Windows debugging tools for security testing and analysis . 2018 . Packt Publishing . 978-1-78829-509-3 . Unleash Kali Linux, PowerShell, and Windows debugging tools for security testing and analysis.
  20. Web site: Shahbaz . Adrian . Funk . Allie . Vesteinsson . Kian . 2022 . Countering an Authoritarian Overhaul of the Internet . 4 November 2025 . Freedom House.
  21. Web site: September 2023 . Digital Security and Human Rights Defenders in the Asia-Pacific . 4 November 2025 . Asia Centre.
  22. Web site: Deimantė Karaciejūtė . 21 October 2025 . VPN adoption rates by country: trends and statistics .
  23. Perta. Vasile C.. Barbera. Marco V.. Tyson. Gareth. Haddadi. Hamed. Mei. Alessandro. 2015-04-01. A Glance through the VPN Looking Glass: IPv6 Leakage and DNS Hijacking in Commercial VPN clients. Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies. 2015. 1. 77–91. 10.1515/popets-2015-0006. 2299-0984. 10044/1/56834. 3468680. free.
  24. Web site: Grauer . Yael . VPN Testing Reveals Poor Privacy and Security Practices, Hyperbolic Claims . 2023-01-18 . . 30 September 2022 . en-US.
  25. News: Chen. Brian X.. 2021-10-06. It's Time to Stop Paying for a VPN. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-12-21. 0362-4331.
  26. Web site: You Tossed Your Cookies But They're Still Tracking You; Here's How to Hide Your Browser Fingerprint. 2021-12-21. PCMAG. en.
  27. Web site: 25 April 2020 . Understanding and Circumventing Network Censorship . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221015202322/https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/understanding-and-circumventing-network-censorship . 15 October 2022 . 15 October 2022.
  28. Web site: 16 October 2018 . Techsplanations: Part 5, Virtual Private Networks . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221015202316/https://cdt.org/insights/techsplanations-part-5-virtual-private-networks/ . 15 October 2022 . 15 October 2022.
  29. Web site: 关于办理危害计算机信息系统安全刑事案件应用法律若干问题的解释 . zh . 2011-08-01 . Issued 2011-08-01 . 最高人民法院、最高人民检察院.
    Translated in Web site: Criminal Information Technology System Security Offense Adjudicative Guidelines . 2025-09-26 . CBL Translations . en-US.
  30. Web site: 最高人民法院关于审理扰乱电信市场管理秩序案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释 . zh . 2000-05-12 . Issued 2000-05-12 . 最高人民法院.
    Translated in Web site: Damage to Telecommunications Market Integrity Adjudicative Guidelines . 2025-09-26 . CBL Translations . en-US.
  31. News: Hawkins . Amy . Chinese programmer ordered to pay 1m yuan for using virtual private network . The Guardian . 2023-10-09 . 2025-10-08.
  32. News: 2022-03-14 . Russians' demand for VPNs skyrockets after Meta block . en . Reuters . 2022-04-07.
  33. Web site: Russia: New Legislation Attacks Internet Anonymity . Human Rights Watch . 2017-08-01 . 2025-10-08.
  34. Web site: Kim . Yonho . North Korea's Revised Radio Wave Control Law: Implications for Information Control . 38 North . 2025-07-08 . 2025-10-08.
  35. Web site: Freedom on the Net 2024: Iran . Freedom House . 2024. 2025-10-08.
  36. Web site: Eddy . Max . The Best VPN Services of 2018 . . Can You Trust Your VPN Service? . 2018-01-15 . 2018-01-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180118002225/http://uk.pcmag.com/software/138/guide/the-best-vpn-services-of-2018 . dead.
  37. Web site: Athow . Desire . 2018-01-13 . The best VPN services for 2018 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180117232459/http://www.techradar.com/vpn/best-vpn#how-to-test-a-vpn . 2018-01-17 . . How to test a VPN . We were looking for features, value, and clear and honest pricing. Free ways to learn more about a service - free plans, trial periods, refund periods - were important, and we also looked for companies which maintained your privacy when you signed up (no email address required, trials available without credit cards, Bitcoin available as a payment option)..
  38. Web site: Paul . Ian . 2018-01-02 . Best VPN services of 2018: Reviews and buying advice . https://web.archive.org/web/20180104160416/https://www.pcworld.com/article/3198369/privacy/best-vpn-services-apps-reviews-buying-advice.html#toc-6 . 2018-01-04 . What to look for in a VPN . PC World.
  39. Web site: Krebs . Brian . Brian Krebs . Post-FCC Privacy Rules, Should You VPN? . Krebs on Security . 2017-03-17 . 2018-01-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180118024429/https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/03/post-fcc-privacy-rules-should-you-vpn/ .
  40. Web site: Avast SecureLine / A VPN to protect your online activities . It’s your Internet. Take it back - Connect with your peers. No tricks . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171229094517/https://www.avast.com/secureline-vpn#pc . 2017-12-29 . We support peer-2-peer (P2P) networking in some of our server locations. .
  41. Web site: Avast SecureLine / A VPN to protect your online activities . Where speed meets capacity - Rows upon rows of dedication . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171229094517/https://www.avast.com/secureline-vpn#pc . 2017-12-29 . All of our VPN gateways run on dedicated hardware servers. .
  42. News: Eddy . Max . ExpressVPN . . 2017-05-12 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170514144901/http://uk.pcmag.com/expressvpn/83190/review/expressvpn . 2017-05-14 .
  43. Web site: Stay Safe and Keep Your Online Privacy With a Secure VPN . ExpressVPN . ExpressVPN Features . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180104015732/https://www.expressvpn.com/what-is-vpn/secure-vpn . 2018-01-04 . Our network is SSL-secured .
  44. News: Williams . Mike . ExpressVPN review . . 2017-10-23 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180104005945/http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/utilities/expressvpn-1325564/review . 2018-01-04 .
  45. Web site: Virtual server locations . ExpressVPN . 2017-12-04 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180104013616/https://www.expressvpn.com/support/troubleshooting/virtual-server-locations/ . 2018-01-04 .
  46. Web site: DNS Leaks. IPVanish. 29 March 2025 .
  47. Web site: IPv6. IPVanish.
  48. Web site: The Best VPN Service Provider with Fast, Secure VPN Access. www.ipvanish.com. en.
  49. Web site: WireGuard® VPN Protocol - What is WireGuard? | IPVanish . 12 October 2021 .
  50. Web site: Ports used for VPN Protocols. IPVanish. 18 April 2025 .
  51. Web site: Android VPN Software Setup - IPVanish. www.ipvanish.com. 8 October 2021 . en.
  52. Web site: VPN Software Setup - Choose Your Platform - IPVanish. www.ipvanish.com. 6 October 2021 . en.
  53. Web site: Do you offer IPv6? . IVPN . IVPN Help Center . IVPN . https://web.archive.org/web/20190725132024/https://www.ivpn.net/knowledgebase/109/Do-you-offer-IPv6.html . 2019-07-25 . dead.
  54. Web site: VPN Setup guide for Linux using the terminal . IVPN . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180326223437/https://www.ivpn.net/setup/gnu-linux-terminal.html . 2018-03-26 . IVPN .
  55. Web site: Does IVPN protect SSH connections? . IVPN . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180326221837/https://www.ivpn.net/knowledgebase/184/Does-IVPN-protect-SSH-connections.html . 2018-03-26 . IVPN .
  56. Web site: Do you allow SMTP (email) whilst connected to IVPN? . IVPN . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180326222125/https://www.ivpn.net/knowledgebase/113/Do-you-allow-SMTP-email-whilst-connected-to-IVPN.html . 2018-03-26 . IVPN .
  57. Web site: Do you allow P2P / BitTorrent / torrents downloading? . IVPN . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180326222320/https://www.ivpn.net/knowledgebase/78/Do-you-allow-P2P-or-BitTorrent-or-torrents-downloading.html . 2018-03-26 . IVPN .
  58. Web site: Answers for "18 Questions to ask your VPN service provider" . IVPN . IVPN Help Center . IVPN .
  59. Web site: Features / Mullvad . Details . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20171222160219/https://www.mullvad.net/en/features/ . 2017-12-22 . 2017-12-26 .
  60. Web site: WireGuard is no longer the new kid - Blog / Mullvad VPN . 2020-03-30 . 2020-03-30 .
  61. Web site: New features for WireGuard users . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180324045323/https://www.mullvad.net/en/blog/2017/8/7/new-features-wireguard-users/ . 2017-08-07 . 2018-03-24 .
  62. Web site: Client version 65 released - Blog / Mullvad . Mullvad . Blog . 2017-10-24 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180111043702/https://www.mullvad.net/en/blog/2017/10/24/client-version-65-released/ . 2018-01-11 . Mullvad .
  63. Web site: Increased security with SOCKS5 proxy - Blog / Mullvad . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171227150919/https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2016/11/29/increased-security-socks5-proxy/ . 2016-11-29 . 2017-12-27 .
  64. Web site: Linux OpenVPN Installation - Guides / Mullvad . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171226121448/https://mullvad.net/en/guides/linux-openvpn-installation/ . 2017-12-26.
  65. Web site: Removing the support for forwarded ports . 2023-05-29 . live . https://archive.today/20241222123142/https://mullvad.net/en/blog/removing-the-support-for-forwarded-ports . 2024-12-22 . 2025-07-20 . Mullvad VPN.
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  73. Web site: What is OpenVPN? . NordVPN . NordVPN . March 14, 2018 . For OpenVPN TCP connections - port 443..
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  77. Web site: Client Support Area / Private Internet Access VPN Service . DNS Leak Protection . live . https://archive.today/20171231150012/https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/client-support/ . 2017-12-31 . We use our own private DNS servers for your DNS queries while on the VPN. . 2017-12-31 .
  78. Web site: Client Support Area / Private Internet Access VPN Service . IPv6 Leak Protection . live . https://archive.today/20171231150012/https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/client-support/ . 2017-12-31 . IPv6 leak protection disables IPv6 traffic while on the VPN. This includes 6to4 and Teredo tunneled IPv6 traffic. .
  79. Web site: How a VPN Tunnel Works / Private Internet Access VPN Service . live . https://archive.today/20171227092922/https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/how-it-works/%23 . 2017-12-27 . This is used in conjunction with the OpenVPN protocol [...] . 2017-12-27 .
  80. Web site: WireGuard on PIA is out of beta and available to use on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS . 2020-04-10 . 2023-02-04.
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  82. Web site: What ports are used by your VPN service? / Private Internet Access . dead . https://archive.today/20170131093923/https://helpdesk.privateinternetaccess.com/hc/en-us/articles/220934827-What-ports-are-used-by-your-VPN-service- . 2016-08-29 . 2017-01-31 . 2017-12-26 .
  83. Web site: Client Support Area / Private Internet Access VPN Service . SOCKS5 Proxy Usage Guides . live . https://archive.today/20171231150012/https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/client-support/ . 2017-12-31 . Although quite different from a VPN, we provide a SOCKS5 Proxy with all accounts in the event users require this feature. .
  84. Web site: How a VPN Tunnel Works / Private Internet Access VPN Service . live . https://archive.today/20171227092922/https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/how-it-works/%23 . 2017-12-27 . In addition, any blocked software by your ISP including P2P and other various software applications will be unblocked and unrestricted on our systems. .
  85. https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/archive/forum/discussion/21619/telescope-private-internet-access-is-safe-from-the-tls-communications-vulnerability Private Internet Access™ is default secure from this vulnerability since we use real bare metal servers.
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  90. Web site: PureVPN Supported Ports . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171227162743/https://support.purevpn.com/on-what-ports-purevpn-work-and-should-i-allow-them-on-my-anti-virus-programfirewall . 2017-07-27 . 2017-12-27 .
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  93. Web site: PureVPN Servers . Virtual Servers and When you Should Use them? . 2017-11-11 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180104011633/https://support.purevpn.com/virtual-servers-and-when-you-should-use-them . 2018-01-04 . PureVPN has never denied using virtual servers. To make matters simpler, an update on our Server Location page will state which servers are virtual and which are physical. .
  94. News: Paul . Ian . ExpressVPN review: A good service with no public leadership . . 2017-09-20 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180104010156/https://www.pcworld.com/article/3223384/privacy/expressvpn-vpn-review.html . 2018-01-04 . Similar to PureVPN, ExpressVPN says it uses virtual servers in certain locations due to infrastructure issues. .
  95. Web site: TunnelBear DNS: Protecting Your Privacy and Mauling DNS Leaks . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171228145059/https://www.tunnelbear.com/blog/tunnelbear-dns-protecting-your-privacy-and-mauling-dns-leaks/ . 2017-06-22 . 2017-12-28 . Every time you connect to TunnelBear, your DNS requests are directed to TunnelBear DNS servers, so your ISP can no longer see what websites you’re visiting. And because we don’t keep any records of your DNS, you’re the only one that knows your browsing history..
  96. News: Eddy . Max . TunnelBear VPN . . 2017-05-02 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180110165526/http://uk.pcmag.com/tunnelbear-vpn/83271/review/tunnelbear-vpn . 2018-01-10 .
  97. Web site: GhostBear: How to Hide Your VPN From DPI . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20171228143716/https://www.tunnelbear.com/blog/how-to-hide-your-vpn-from-dpi/ . 2017-07-18 . 2017-12-28 . When you turn GhostBear on, it changes your VPN traffic signature to look like a different kind of traffic. To do this, GhostBear uses a technology called Obfsproxy..
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  99. Web site: TunnelBear / Search Results . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180103190929/https://help.tunnelbear.com/customer/portal/articles/search?b_id=17004&q=smtp . 2018-01-03 . TunnelBear does not block SMTP on our network. . 2018-01-03 .
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  102. Web site: SOCKS5 servers are phased out and are no longer offered by Windscribe. Windscribe . 2023-07-09 . windscribe.com.
  103. Web site: 2023-12-19 . NodeOS: How We Stopped Worrying about Disks and Started Booting from RAM . 2024-05-05 . Windscribbles . en.
  104. Web site: Hotspot Shield Privacy Frequently Asked Questions / Hotspot Shield . live . 2017-12-28 . How does Hotspot Shield secure my Internet connection? . Turning Hotspot Shield on encrypts all of the traffic between your device and our servers using TLS 1.2 with perfect forward secrecy (ECDHE), 128-bit AES data encryption. . https://archive.today/20171228150759/https://www.hotspotshield.com/privacy-faq/ . 2017-12-28.
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  110. Web site: 2025 . Up-to-date cryptography . Nym Technologies . 2025-12-31 .
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  113. Web site: What kind of encryption does Windscribe use? Windscribe . 2023-07-09 . windscribe.com.

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