Proton VPN

Short description: VPN service operated by Proton Technologies AG

Proton VPN

Developer(s)| Proton AG
Type| Virtual private network
Website| protonvpn.com

Proton VPN is a VPN service operated by the Swiss company Proton AG, the company behind the email service Proton Mail.[1] According to its official website, Proton VPN and Proton Mail share the same management team, offices, and technical resources, and are operated from Proton's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland .

## Contents

* 1 Company
* 2 Features
* 3 Reception
* 4 See also
* 5 References

## Company

Proton AG, the company behind Proton VPN and the email service Proton Mail, is supported by FONGIT (the Fondation Genevoise pour l'Innovation Technologique, a non-profit foundation financed by the Swiss Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation)[2] and the European Commission.[3]

## Features

As of 28 May 2022, Proton VPN has a total of 1,786 servers, sited in 63 different nations.[2]

All servers are owned and operated by Proton VPN through the company's network.[4] Its service is available for Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS, and also has a command-line tool[5] for Linux and can be implemented using the IPSEC protocol.[6] Proton VPN can also be installed on a Wireless Router.

Proton VPN utilizes OpenVPN (UDP/TCP) and the IKEv2 protocol, with AES-256 encryption. The company claims to not keep logs and claims to protect users from WebRTC and DNS leaks.

In January 2020, Proton VPN released its source code on all platforms[7] and had SEC Consult conduct an independent security audit.[8] In July 2021, Proton VPN added WireGuard protocol as beta version.

## Reception

In a September 2019 review by TechRadar, Proton VPN received four-and-a-half out of five stars. The review read, "Proton VPN's network is small, and we had some performance issues during testing. Still, speeds are generally better than average, the apps are well-designed and we have to applaud any genuine VPN which offers a free, unlimited bandwidth plan."[4] A November 2018 review of the free version by the same TechRadar writer concluded: "If you can live with a choice of only three locations, Proton VPN's free plan is an excellent choice – there are no bandwidth limits, decent speeds, a privacy policy you can believe (probably) and clients for desktops and mobile devices. It's well worth checking out, if only as a backup for your existing VPN service."[9]

A February 2019 PC Magazine UK review rated Proton VPN at 4 out of 5, saying "When we first reviewed Proton VPN, it was a young service looking to expand. It certainly has done that, and the service is definitely better now. It's still unclear if the company will be able to scale up to match its competitors, given its exacting standards for physical security. But that's a worry for the future. Right now, Proton VPN is an excellent service at an unbeatable range of prices."[10]

The non-profit organization Privacy Guides, formerly called PrivacyTools,[11] has developed a comprehensive list of VPN Provider Criteria in order to objectively recommend VPNs. (As of October 2019), only three VPNs had fulfilled those criteria. Proton VPN is the second of those three recommended VPN services.[12]

## See also

* Comparison of virtual private network services
* Internet privacy
* Encryption
* Secure communication

## References

1. ↑ "ProtonVPN review: Underground data centers, one-click multi-hop, and more make for a great choice" (in en). 2018-09-04. https://www.pcworld.com/article/3296746/protonvpn-vpn-review.html.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "ProtonVPN - About Us" (in en). https://protonvpn.com/about.
3. ↑ European Commission. "CORDIS European Commission". ProtonSuite Project H2020. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/791727/it.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Williams, Mike (17 September 2019). "ProtonVPN review". https://www.techradar.com/reviews/protonvpn.
5. ↑ Freeware, Brian Nadel 2018-11-16T20:00:00Z. "ProtonVPN Free Review" (in en). https://www.tomsguide.com/us/protonvpn-free,review-5509.html.
6. ↑ Latinoamérica, Linux (2021-04-28). "VPN gratis en Linux Debian con ProtonVPN" (in es-AR). https://linux.lat/vpn-gratis-en-linux-debian-con-protonvpn/.
7. ↑ "ProtonVPN goes open-source: What this means for your privacy". https://www.tomsguide.com/news/protonvpn-open-source.
8. ↑ Osborne, Charlie. "ProtonVPN apps handed to open source community in transparency push" (in en). https://www.zdnet.com/article/protonvpn-apps-handed-to-open-source-community-in-transparency-security-push/.
9. ↑ Williams, Mike (16 November 2018). "ProtonVPN Free review". https://www.techradar.com/reviews/protonvpn-free.
10. ↑ Max Eddy (28 February 2019). "ProtonVPN". https://uk.pcmag.com/review/360665/protonvpn. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
11. ↑ "The Future of PrivacyTools". https://blog.privacytools.io/the-future-of-privacytools/.
12. ↑ "VPN Services" (in en). Privacy Guides. August 2019. https://www.privacyguides.org/providers/vpn.

* v
* t
* e

Virtual private networking

Communications protocol|

* SSTP
* IPsec
* L2TP
* L2TPv3
* PPTP
* Split tunneling
* SSL/TLS
* (Opportunistic: tcpcrypt)

Free software|

* Cloudvpn
* FreeLAN
* FreeS/WAN
* Libreswan
* n2n
* OpenConnect
* OpenIKED
* Openswan
* OpenVPN
* Social VPN
* SoftEther VPN
* strongSwan
* tcpcrypt
* tinc
* VTun
* WireGuard
* Shadowsocks

Vendor-driven protocols|

* Layer 2 Forwarding Protocol
* DirectAccess

Proprietary software|

* Avast SecureLine VPN
* Check Point VPN-1
* Cisco Systems VPN Client
* LogMeIn Hamachi
* Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway
* Hola
* Tunnelbear
* NordVPN
* SaferVPN
* ExpressVPN
* ProtonVPN
* PureVPN
* VPN.ht
* Private Internet Access

Risk vectors|

* Content-control software
* Deep content inspection
* Deep packet inspection
* IP address blocking
* Network enumeration
* Stateful firewall
* TCP reset attack
* VPN blocking

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