Many VPN companies are trustworthy for the most part, but there are some that aren’t as transparent and don’t provide a 100% no-logs policy guarantee. The one thing to really watch out for are the “free” VPNs. They have to make their money somehow, so who knows what kinds of underhanded tactics they might try and use. How do you know which ones you can really rely on? What do the most trusted VPN providers offer to make them stand out from the other?
Here are a few features and protocols to look for when comparing various services:
1. Strong, military grade encryption. Only choose a company that encrypts its network traffic with AES-256, uses HMAC with SHA384 for message authentication, and uses 4096-bit RSA with key exchange. If you don’t fully understand what this means, just know that it is VERY strong encryption and it’s guaranteed to keep your network traffic completely private and protected.
2. As for the strong protocols, look for VPN protocols that are known to be absolutely secure, such as IKEv2 / IPSec and OpenVPN. The provider should be transparent about its protocols, and have a long and consistent track record in security.
More Trusted VPN Providers Tips
3. When many people evaluate the trustworthiness of a VPN, they often forget about the actual physical location of the hardware involved. There is actual hardware when it comes to VPN services. When doing research on trusted VPN providers, take the time to read about its physical security and where its infrastructure resides. The best places to have the hardware are secure former military bases and underground data centers. You don’t have to know the exact location, but at least have an idea of what kind of secure facility the physical infrastructure is kept in.
4. There should be DNS-Leak prevention. Not only must your browsing traffic be protected, but your DNS queries should be as well. The ideal VPN service will NOT rely on third-party DNS providers, but will route the DNS-queries through the encrypted tunnel, and make sure that your activity will not be exposed by any leaks from DNS-queries.
5. The “Kill Switch” is a plus. While it’s not necessarily something all users need, it’s still good to have for those who are involved in torrenting and other such activities. This kind of application will automatically block all network traffic in the event that you suddenly lose connection with the virtual private network server. You won’t have to worry about your privacy being compromised by your true IPS address getting exposed.
These are all features you’ll find with only the most trusted VPN providers. If there is one that offers all of these as well as affordable rates, it is ProtonVPN. Discount pricing is sometimes available, depending on which subscription plan / level of service you choose.