In a world becoming ever more digital, a VPN is as important as a good antivirus. Useful for more than just overcoming geographical restrictions and providing unrestricted access to streaming platforms, they are crucial to hide your IP address and secure your connection thanks to military-grade encryption and connection protocols. The latter are some of the most important features hiding under the hood of any VPN, responsible for the overall speed and safety of every connection.
While nowadays we’re rightfully acquainted with the likes of OpenVPN and IPSec – the industry standard in terms of security – the natural evolution of technology opens new horizons every day. That’s where WireGuard steps in, a new VPN protocol created by security researcher Jason A. Donenfeld that’s already being pointed to as the future of the VPN sector.
While it was first implemented in March 2020, the earliest traces of WireGuard’s code immediately started to draw attention when they appeared in June 2016. Originally written for the Linux kernel, WireGuard is now available across all the major platforms including Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Thanks to its light design, WireGuard’s main features are simplicity, safety, and speed.
With 400,000 lines in its code base, complexity is one of OpenVPN’s disadvantages. The same is true for IPSec, at 600,000 lines. Although there’s no denying that these two are industry leaders when it comes to security, the more code used, the greater the chance of a vulnerability. In turn, WireGuard is 100 times smaller with only 4,000 lines of code.
In other words, the essence of WireGuard not only drastically reduces any space for attacks, but it also makes it easier to be correctly deployed by developers, as well as being audited for maintenance and to find bugs.
This doesn’t mean that security is compromised, though. On the contrary, WireGuard uses advanced cryptography methods praised by high-tier VPN providers.
NordVPN has already managed to conquer the market by being one of the most reputable and trustworthy services ever made. Among its vast arsenal of features, the close attention given to security is one of the major highlights, thanks to the presence of an automatic kill switch, protection against DNS leaks, ads and malware, and even double VPN servers.
Speaking of which, these are only some of NordVPN's special servers that compose a global network filled with unusual locations, P2P countries, support for Onion over VPN, and more. NordVPN has a handful of different subscriptions in the form of simple apps for all kinds of devices and user types.
For as little as $3.09 per month, users can enjoy all the perks of having a secure and high-speed VPN. Plus, a generous refund policy allows you to get your money back if you decide NordVPN isn't for you during the first 30 days.
Part of the London Trust Media group, Private Internet Access (PIA) has long been a benchmark VPN solution. The service has undergone diverse changes to keep up with competitors since its launch in 2010, ensuring its high quality hasn't changed.
The Private Internet Access VPN allows users to browse the internet anonymously using several encryption and privacy tools to guarantee total security on unlimited devices. Suitable for users of any ability, Private Internet Access offers an abundance of servers in over 90 countries and even reserves special servers for streaming. Plus, the service's platform has a unique and simplified design, making its extensive customization as easy as pie.
The VPN service rewards committed clients who opt for longer plans while also letting newcomers get a risk-free taster of the product with its 7-day free trial (on the mobile app) and 30-day money-back guarantee.
There's a very good reason why Mullvad is one of the most frequently recommended VPN services out there right now, it's because simply – it's one of the best. Few VPNs offer so much in the way of personal privacy as it does. Which is no surprise, Mullvad has for a long time been one of the pioneers of the industry. Mullvad is based out of Sweden and has over a decade of experience having launched back in March 2009. Mullvad, which is the Swedish word for mole, was an early adopter of OpenVPN and WireGuard and the service is updated regularly to integrate all the latest innovations. Unfortunately, there is no free trial but Mullvad offers a 30-day money-back guarantee in the unlikely event that you're not completely satisfied with the service.
In addition to its great simplicity, WireGuard doesn’t ease up on security and it’s even considered by many VPN providers as the revolutionary future of the industry.
For the more hardcore users, the state-of-the-art cryptography that characterizes WireGuard includes a curve25519 key exchange, ChaCha20 encryption, Poly1305 for data authentication, SipHash for hashtable keys, and BLAKE2s for hashing. Also, while working exclusively over UDP, it supports both IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses, plus multiple network topologies including point-to-point, star, and mesh. For those interested in learning more, WireGuard’s website goes into even greater detail about the cryptography used.
However, WireGuard is still currently under heavy development and there’s a downside to it in terms of anonymity. The protocol requires the use of a local static IP address since it’s unable to assign these dynamically to everyone connected to a server. This means the user’s identity must be stored on the server and linked to an internal IP address assigned by the VPN. Fortunately, this has already been addressed in different ways by the few VPN providers that offer WireGuard.
Although WireGuard is still not as popular as OpenVPN or other protocols, some VPN companies spotted its potential early on and have already incorporated it into their software.
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