VPN service

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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 data profiling or MitM attacks on hostile networks.

Contents

A wide variety of entities provide VPN services for several purposes. But 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, users must consider that when the transmitted content is not encrypted before entering the proxy, that content is visible at the receiving endpoint (usually the VPN service provider's site) regardless of whether the VPN tunnel itself is encrypted for the inter-node transport. The only secure VPN is where the participants have oversight at both ends of the entire data path or when the content is encrypted before it enters the tunnel.

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 computer magazines, VPN services are typically judged on connection speeds, privacy protection including privacy at signup and grade of encryption, server count and locations, interface usability, and cost. [1] [2] [3] [4] In order to determine the degree of privacy and anonymity, various computer magazines, such as PC World and PC Magazine , also take the provider's own guarantees and its reputation among news items into consideration. [1] [2] Recommendation websites for VPNs tend to be affiliated with or even owned by VPN service providers. [5]

VPN Use Cases

Criticism and limitations

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. [11] According to Consumer Reports, VPN service providers have poor privacy and security practices and also make hyperbolic claims. [12] The New York Times has advised users to reconsider whether a VPN service is worth their money. [13] VPN services are not sufficient for protection against browser fingerprinting. [14]

Common misconceptions

Legality

In March 2018, the use of unapproved VPN services was banned in China, as they can be used to circumvent the Great Firewall. [18] Operators received prison sentences and were penalized with fines. [19] [20] [21] [22] Russia banned various VPN service providers in 2021. [23]

Comparison of commercial virtual private network services

Privacy

PC Magazine recommends 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. [24] PC Magazine and TechRadar also suggest that users read the provider's logging policy before signing up for the service, [24] [3] because some providers collect information about their customers' VPN usage. [25] [26] PC World recommends that users avoid free services as a rule of thumb and said free services either sell their users' browsing data in aggregated form to researchers and marketers, or only offer a minimal amount of data transfer per month. [25]

ServiceBased in Logging [a] Anonymous payment and communication
TrafficDNS requestsTimestamps Bandwidth IP address
Atlas VPN United States NoNoNoNo (Premium), Yes (Free)NoSome
ExpressVPN British Virgin Islands [27] [28] [29] No [30] No [30] Yes [31] Yes [32] No [30] Some [29] [33] [28] [34]
Hotspot Shield United States Yes [b] Yes [36] Yes [36] Yes [36] Yes [36] [37] No
IPVanish United States No [38] No [38] No [38] No [38] No [38] No [39]
IVPN Gibraltar No [40] No [40] No [40] No [40] No [40] Some [41] [42]
Mullvad Sweden No [43] No [43] No [43] No [43] No [43] Yes [44] [45]
NordVPN Panama No [46] No [46] No [46] No [46] No [46] Some [47] [48]
PrivadoVPN Switzerland No [49] NoNoNo (Premium), Yes (Free)NoSome
Private Internet Access United States No [50] No [50] No [50] No [50] [51] No [50] Yes [52] [53] [54]
ProtonVPN Switzerland No [55] NoNo [55] NoNoSome
PureVPN Hong Kong No [56] No [57] No [58] Yes [59] No [c] Some [d] [63]
Surfshark Netherlands No [64] NoYesNoNoSome
TunnelBear Canada [65] [66] [67] No [68] No [68] [69] No [70] Yes [67] [70] No [68] Some [65] [71] [66]
Windscribe Canada No [72] NoNoYesNoYes

Notes

  1. ↑ As claimed by provider unless otherwise noted.
  2. ↑ Hotspot Shield claims to collect "anonymous, aggregate data about which websites you visit and which apps you use." [35]
  3. ↑ "We DO NOT keep any record of your browsing activities, connection logs, records of the VPN IPs assigned to you, your original IPs, your connection time, the history of your browsing, the sites you visited, your outgoing traffic, the content or data you accessed, or the DNS queries generated by you." [60] However, in 2017, PureVPN provided connection logs including IP addresses to the FBI for use in a criminal investigation. [61]
  4. ↑ Name and e-mail is required for every payment method. [62]

Technical features

ServiceLeak ProtectionProtocols Obfuscation / Censorship AvoidanceNetwork NeutralityServer
First-party DNS servers IPv6 supported / blocked Offers kill switch Offers OpenVPN Offers WireGuard Supports multihopSupports TCP port 443 Supports Obfsproxy Offers SOCKSLinux supportSupports SSL tunnelSupports SSH tunnelBlocks SMTP (authent.)Blocks P2PDedicated or virtual Diskless
Atlas VPN YesYesYesNoYesYesNoNoNoYesSomeNoDedicatedNo
Avast SecureLine YesYesYesYesNoNoNoNoSome [73] Dedicated [74] No
ExpressVPN Yes [27] YesYesYes [27] NoNoYes [27] Yes [75] No [28] Both [76] [77] Yes
Hotspot Shield NoNoYesNoNoNoNo?
IPVanish Yes [78] Yes [79] YesYes [39] Yes [80] NoYes [81] Yes [82] Yes [39] Yes [83] NoNoNo [39] No [39] DedicatedNo
IVPN Yes [84] No [85] YesYesBeta [86] Yes; OpenVPNYesYesYes [87] Yes [88] No [89] No [90] Dedicated [91]
Mullvad Yes [92] Yes [92] YesYes [92] Yes [93] Yes; WireGuard [94] and SOCKS5Yes [92] No [95] Yes [96] [92] Yes [97] YesYes [92] No [92] No [92] Dedicated [98] Yes [99]
NordVPN Yes [100] No [101] YesYes [102] Yes; NordLynx based on WireGuard [103] Yes; OpenVPN [104] and SOCKS5Yes [105] Yes [106] Yes [107] YesNo [108] DedicatedYes
PrivadoVPN YesYesYesYesYes [109] YesYesNo
Private Internet Access Yes [110] Yes [111] YesYes [112] Yes [113] Yes [114] Yes [115] NoYes [116] Yes [117] Some [a] No [119] Dedicated [120] Yes [121]
ProtonVPN YesNoYesYesYes [122] YesYesNoNoYes [123] YesYesSome [b] Dedicated
PureVPN YesYesYesYes [125] NoNoOnly through SSTP [126] NoNoYes [127] NoSome [128] Both [129] [77] No
Surfshark YesNoYesYesYesYes (WG, OVPN, IKEv2)YesNoNoYesSomeNoBothYes
TunnelBear Yes [69] YesYesYes [130] [66] NoNoNoYes [131] [67] YesYesNo [132] Some [133]
Windscribe YesYesYesYesYes [134] YesYesNoNo [135] Yes

(via Stealth protocol)

NoNoNoDedicated [c] Yes [137] Yes

Notes

  1. ↑ The support team may be willing to whitelist your email provider's SMTP server upon request. [118]
  2. ↑ Only on free plan. [124]
  3. ↑ With the exception of one virtual server located in Antartica. [136]

Encryption

ServiceData encryptionHandshake encryptionData authentication
Default providedStrongest providedWeakest providedStrongest providedWeakest providedStrongest provided
Atlas VPN ChaCha20-Poly1305 / AES-256 [a] ChaCha20-Poly13052048-bit Diffie–Hellman ECP521 SHA-384
Avast SecureLine AES-256
ExpressVPN AES-256 CA-4096
Hotspot Shield AES-128 [138] TLS 1.2 ECDHE PFS [138] HMAC [139]
IPVanish AES-256 [140] RSA-2048 [140] SHA-256 [140]
IVPN AES-256 [84] RSA-4096 [84]
Mullvad AES-256 (GCM) [92] AES-256 [92] RSA-4096 [92] SHA-512 [92]
NordVPN AES-256 [141] AES-256 (CBC) [141] 2048-bit Diffie-Hellman [141]
Private Internet Access AES-128 (CBC) [142] AES-256 [142] ECC-256k1 [142] RSA-4096 [142] SHA-1 [142] SHA-256 [142]
PrivadoVPN AES-256
ProtonVPN AES-256RSA-4096HMAC with SHA-384
PureVPN AES-256
SaferVPN AES-256 [143] 2048bit SSL/TLS [143] SHA-256 [143]
TunnelBear AES-128 (CBC) [b] AES-256 (CBC) [130] 1548 bit Diffie–Hellman [c] 4096 bit Diffie–Hellman [130] SHA-1 [d] SHA-256 [130]
Surfshark AES-256AES-256 (CBC)2048-bit Diffie–Hellman
Windscribe AES-256 [144] RSA-4096 [144] SHA-512

Notes

  1. ↑ ChaCha20-Poly1305 for all devices except for Windows, which does not support it and therefore uses AES-256
  2. ↑ Only on iOS 8 and earlier. All other supported devices and operating systems use AES-256 (CBC). [130]
  3. ↑ iOS 9 and later use 2048 bit. iOS 8 and earlier use 1548 bit. All other supported devices and operating systems use 4096 bit. [130]
  4. ↑ iOS 8 and earlier use SHA-1. All other supported devices and operating systems use SHA-256. [130]

Definitions

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

Anonymous payment method
Whether the service offers at least one payment method that does not require personal information. Even if a service accepts a cryptocurrency like bitcoin, it might still require that the customer hands over personally identifiable information (PII) like their full name and address.
Bandwidth
Whether the users' bandwidth is logged while using the service, according to the service's privacy policy.
Diskless
Whether the service's server hardware is connected to hard drives, according to the service provider. If the servers are diskless, the service provider should be unable to log any usage data.
First-party DNS servers
Whether the service provides its own domain name system (DNS) servers.
Kill switch
Whether the service has the ability to immediately sever your connection to the Internet in the event that the VPN connection fails. This prevents a user IP address leak. [145]
Logging
Whether the service stores information about their users' connection or activity on the network, according to the service's privacy policy or terms of service. If logging isn't mentioned in those sections but denied somewhere else on the website, the particular table cell will be marked as "No" in yellow and include an explanatory note.
Privacy Impact Score
An indicator of a website's usage of potentially privacy intrusive technologies such as third-party or permanent cookies, canvas trackers etc. [146] The score can be in the range from 0 to 100, where 0 is minimal privacy impact (best) and 100 is the biggest privacy impact (worst) relative to other web sites. [146] The score also has a simplified letter and colour presentation from A to F where A is "No cookies" and F is "Score above three standard deviations from the average". [146] The metric is developed by WebCookies.org. [146]
Obfuscation
Whether the service provides a method of obfuscating the VPN traffic so that it's not as easily detected and blocked by national governments or corporations. [147] [148]
Offers WireGuard
Whether the service provider offers the WireGuard tunneling protocol.
SSL rating
The service's website's overall SSL server rating according to Qualys SSL Labs' SSL Server Test tool.
Supports Obfsproxy
Whether the service has an implementation of the Tor subproject Obfsproxy. [147] [148]

References

  1. 1 2 Paul, Ian (2 January 2018). "Best VPN services of 2018: Reviews and buying advice". PC World. How we tested. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 Eddy, Max (15 January 2018). "The Best VPN Services of 2018". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. It's important to keep a few things in mind when evaluating which VPN service is right for you: reputation, performance, type of encryption used, transparency, ease of use, support, and extra features.
  3. 1 2 Athow, Desire (13 January 2018). "The best VPN services for 2018". TechRadar. How to test a VPN. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. 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).
  4. ↑ Athow, Desire (13 January 2018). "The best VPN services for 2018". TechRadar. How to choose a VPN: Here are 6 tips. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "Investigating the VPN Recommendation Ecosystem" (PDF). IEEE Security.
  6. ↑ Smith (2023). "Unlocking Streaming Libraries: How VPNs Bypass Geo-Restrictions". TechPrivacy Journal.
  7. ↑ "What Is Geo-Blocking and How to Bypass It in 2024?". 01net. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  8. ↑ updated, Krishi Chowdhary last (13 February 2021). "Why you need to use a VPN on public Wi-Fi". Tom's Guide. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  9. ↑ Overville2 (30 August 2024). "What is a VPN and why it's important". r/VPN. Retrieved 20 November 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ Chiara Castro (26 January 2024). "Data privacy: top VPN helps journalists and activists to stay safe online". TechRadar. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  11. ↑ Perta, Vasile C.; Barbera, Marco V.; Tyson, Gareth; Haddadi, Hamed; Mei, Alessandro (1 April 2015). "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. doi:10.1515/popets-2015-0006. hdl: 10044/1/56834 . ISSN   2299-0984. S2CID   3468680.
  12. ↑ Grauer, Yael (30 September 2022). "VPN Testing Reveals Poor Privacy and Security Practices, Hyperbolic Claims". Consumer Reports . Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  13. ↑ Chen, Brian X. (6 October 2021). "It's Time to Stop Paying for a VPN". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  14. ↑ "You Tossed Your Cookies But They're Still Tracking You; Here's How to Hide Your Browser Fingerprint". PCMAG. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  15. 1 2 3 O'sullivan, Fergus (27 September 2021). "VPN Myths Debunked: What VPNs Can and Cannot Do". How-To Geek. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  16. ↑ "Understanding and Circumventing Network Censorship". 25 April 2020. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  17. ↑ "Techsplanations: Part 5, Virtual Private Networks". 16 October 2018. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  18. ↑ "Businesses, consumers uncertain ahead of China VPN ban". Reuters. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  19. ↑ "Man jailed for 5½ years, fined US$76,000 for selling VPN in China". South China Morning Post. 21 December 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  20. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin. "Chinese man arrested after making $1.6 million from selling VPN services". ZDNet. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  21. ↑ "Using a VPN to watch porn gets a man punished in China". South China Morning Post. 30 July 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  22. ↑ ""翻墙"网民受罚 中国进一步强化网络管控" [Internet User Fined for Scaling Great Firewall - China strengthens Internet Control]. BBC News 中文 (in Simplified Chinese). 11 January 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  23. ↑ "Russians' demand for VPNs skyrockets after Meta block". Reuters. 14 March 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  24. 1 2 Eddy, Max (15 January 2018). "The Best VPN Services of 2018". PC Magazine. Can You Trust Your VPN Service?. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018.
  25. 1 2 Paul, Ian (2 January 2018). "Best VPN services of 2018: Reviews and buying advice". What to look for in a VPN. PC World. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018.
  26. ↑ Krebs, Brian (17 March 2017). "Post-FCC Privacy Rules, Should You VPN?". Krebs on Security. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018.
  27. 1 2 3 4 Eddy, Max (12 May 2017). "ExpressVPN". PC Magazine . Archived from the original on 14 May 2017.
  28. 1 2 3 Williams, Mike (23 October 2017). "ExpressVPN review". TechRadar . Archived from the original on 4 January 2018.
  29. 1 2 Paul, Ian (20 September 2017). "ExpressVPN review: A good service with no public leadership". PCWorld . Archived from the original on 4 January 2018.
  30. 1 2 3 ExpressVPN. "ExpressVPN Privacy Policy". Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018. We do not collect logs of your activity, including no logging of browsing history, traffic destination, data content, or DNS queries. We also never store connection logs, meaning no logs of your IP address, your outgoing VPN IP address, connection timestamp, or session duration.
  31. ↑ ExpressVPN. "ExpressVPN Privacy Policy". Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018. We collect information about whether you have successfully established a VPN connection on a particular day (but not a specific time of the day).
  32. ↑ ExpressVPN. "ExpressVPN Privacy Policy". Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018. We may know, for example, that our customer John had connected to our New York VPN location on Tuesday and had transferred an aggregate of 823 MB of data across a 24-hour period.
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  34. ↑ ExpressVPN. "Buy VPN with Bitcoin, PayPal, Credit Card / ExpressVPN". 3. Select your preferred method of payment. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018. Continue below to buy VPN with Bitcoin.
  35. ↑ "AnchorFree Hotspot Shield Privacy Policy". When you launch Hotspot Shield. 29 November 2017. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017. When you use Hotspot Shield to access the internet, we collect only anonymous, aggregate data about which websites you visit and which apps you use.
  36. 1 2 3 4 "AnchorFree Hotspot Shield Privacy Policy". When you visit our websites. 29 November 2017. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Your IP address may be collected when you visit our websites.
  37. ↑ "AnchorFree Hotspot Shield Privacy Policy". When you launch Hotspot Shield. 29 November 2017. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. We collect your IP address [...]. We may also use your IP address to derive your approximate location [...]. Your true IP address is stored only for the duration of your VPN session and is cleared after your session is closed.
  38. 1 2 3 4 5 "Privacy Policy - IPVanish VPN". www.ipvanish.com. 27 July 2021.
  39. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Best VPN Service Provider with Fast, Secure VPN Access". www.ipvanish.com.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 IVPN. "IVPN Privacy Policy". What information is logged when customers connect to our network?. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. We do not store any connection logs whatsoever. In addition we do not log bandwidth usage, session data or requests to our DNS servers.
  41. ↑ IVPN. "IVPN Pricing". What payment types do you accept?. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. We accept all major credit cards, Paypal, Bitcoin and cash. However paying with cash is only available when purchasing an annual subscription.
  42. ↑ IVPN. "How do I send a secure PGP encrypted email to IVPN?". Archived from the original on 26 March 2018.
  43. 1 2 3 4 5 "No-logging data policy - Guides / Mullvad". What we don't log. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. We log nothing whatsoever that can be connected to a numbered account's activity: no logging of traffic; DNS requests; connections, including when one is made, when it disconnects, for how long, or any kind of timestamp; IP addresses; user bandwidth [or] account activity except total simultaneous connections [...] and the payment information detailed in this post.
  44. ↑ "No-logging data policy - Guides / Mullvad". How Mullvad handles payment information. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Mullvad accepts Bitcoin, cash, bank wire, credit card, PayPal, and Swish.
  45. ↑ "Mullvad client - Settings - Guides / Mullvad". Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017. You do have the option of sending an encrypted email to us using PGP. Mullvad's PGP key is found on our website.
  46. 1 2 3 4 5 NordVPN (28 October 2017). "Terms of Service". Logging policy.
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  49. ↑ "Privacy Policy PrivadoVPN". privadovpn.com.
  50. 1 2 3 4 5 "Privacy Policy, VPN Network Services / Private Internet Access". 11 August 2016. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2017. PrivateInternetAccess.com does not collect or log any traffic or use of its Virtual Private Network ("VPN") or Proxy.
  51. ↑ "Do you impose any limitations on usage or bandwidth when using your service? / Private Internet Access". 28 November 2017. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017. We do not impose any restrictions or limitations on usage and/or bandwidth consumption.
  52. ↑ "We accept all kinds of payment methods... including all major gift cards!".
  53. ↑ "What methods of payment do you accept for account purchases? / Private Internet Access". 22 April 2017. Archived from the original on 26 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  54. ↑ "Private Internet Access Management Team".
  55. 1 2 "Proton VPN - Privacy Policy | Proton VPN". 4 February 2024. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  56. ↑ "PureVPN's Privacy Policy". 15 January 2016. None of the following records are stored by PureVPN' ... Browsing activity ... Browsing history ... Sites visited ... Content or data accessed
  57. ↑ "PureVPN's Privacy Policy". 15 January 2016. None of the following records are stored by PureVPN' ... DNS queries generated by the user
  58. ↑ "PureVPN's Privacy Policy". 30 July 2018. None of the following records are stored by PureVPN' ... Connection timestamps
  59. ↑ "PureVPN's Privacy Policy". 21 April 2021. We keep track of the total bandwidth consumed by a user to make sure everybody is getting the highest speeds and the best possible experience from our product.
  60. ↑ "PureVPN's Privacy Policy". 30 July 2018. Archived from the original on 30 July 2018. From here on forward, we do not keep any records of anything that could associate any specific activity to a specific user.
  61. ↑ U.S.A. v. Lin, p. 22(D. Mass.10/03/2017)("Further, records from PureVPN show that the same email accounts - Lin's gmail account and the teleportfx gmail account - were accessed from the same WANSecurity IP address. Significantly, PureVPN was able to determine that their service was accessed by the same customer from two originating IP addresses: the RCN IP address from the home Lin was living in at the time, and the software company where Lin was employed at the time."), Text.
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  63. ↑ "PureVPN's Privacy Policy". 15 January 2016. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Since we are huge believers in anonymity, we have included Bitcoin and Gift Cards – 100% anonymous payment methods – in the payment methods accepted by us.
  64. ↑ "Surfshark Privacy Policy". Surfshark.
  65. 1 2 Paul, Ian (16 June 2017). "TunnelBear review: If you can stand the puns, TunnelBear is a speedy VPN". PCWorld . Archived from the original on 10 January 2018.
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  69. 1 2 "TunnelBear DNS: Protecting Your Privacy and Mauling DNS Leaks". 22 June 2017. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. 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.
  70. 1 2 "A Privacy Policy You Can Actually Understand". 1.5 Operational Data. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Understanding how much data people are using is a critical metric for TunnelBear. [...] We felt that overall usage would respect individual user privacy (i.e. no login timestamps [...]) [...].
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  100. ↑ NordVPN (15 June 2017). "Use DNS Leak Test & Quickly Identify DNS Requests Exposure!". How can it affect you?.
  101. ↑ NordVPN. "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)". Do you support IPv6?. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. No, but we are planning to add the support of IPv6 in 2018.
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  103. ↑ Eddy, Max (14 August 2019). "The VPN Industry Is on the Cusp of a Major Breakthrough". PCMag . Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  104. ↑ NordVPN (14 June 2017). "Extra Security With Double VPN". What is Double VPN & how does it work?.
  105. ↑ NordVPN. "What is OpenVPN?" . Retrieved 14 March 2018. For OpenVPN TCP connections - port 443.
  106. ↑ NordVPN. "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)". Do you offer socks5 proxies?. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Yes, we do support Socks5 proxies as well as HTTP proxies (1 HTTP and Socks5 proxy at each of our VPN server destinations).
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  111. ↑ "Client Support Area / Private Internet Access VPN Service". IPv6 Leak Protection. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017. IPv6 leak protection disables IPv6 traffic while on the VPN. This includes 6to4 and Teredo tunneled IPv6 traffic.
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  113. ↑ "WireGuard on PIA is out of beta and available to use on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS". 10 April 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
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  117. ↑ "Stats on 89 Linux VPN Providers Across 16 Linux Distributions" . Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  118. ↑ "Why can't I send email when on the VPN? / Private Internet Access". 31 October 2017. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2017. Any VPN provider that does not retain logs must block outgoing SMTP traffic due to rampant spam associated with usage of VPN services. With that said, we can whitelist (allow) any outgoing email server that a) require authentication, and b) is correctly setup so as not to be an open relay.
  119. ↑ "How a VPN Tunnel Works / Private Internet Access VPN Service". Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. In addition, any blocked software by your ISP including P2P and other various software applications will be unblocked and unrestricted on our systems.
  120. ↑ Private Internet Access™ is default secure from this vulnerability since we use real bare metal servers.
  121. ↑ "PIA's NextGen Servers – How Colocated Servers Improve Our Infrastructure". Private Internet Access. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
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  128. ↑ "PureVPN P2P File Sharing - Break P2P barriers anonymously!". 8 July 2014. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Furthermore, we have blocked P2P on some of our servers as per changing Global Web Policy. We don't allow p2p/filesharing where it's illegal by law named United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canada, Australia etc.
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