ProtonVPN has made WireGuard the default protocol for all of its customers.
WireGuard is an open-source VPN protocol that’s widely praised for being faster, easier to configure, and more secure than similar technologies. Its developers say it was designed to be “a general purpose VPN for running on embedded interfaces and supercomputers alike, fit for many different circumstances,” and that it’s “currently under heavy development.”
The protocol has proven quite popular: It’s built into the Linux kernel; it’s already been adopted by VPN providers such as NordVPN, Malwarebytes Privacy, and Mozilla VPN, among others; and in 2019 our tests showed it was poised to be the future of VPNs. It’s available on a variety of platforms, too, from Windows and macOS to iOS and Android.
Now it will join OpenVPN and KVEv2 on the list of protocols supported by ProtonVPN. The service’s customers aren’t necessarily going to be forced to use WireGuard—the so-called Smart Protocol feature will still attempt to choose the most appropriate protocol for a given situation—but it will be enabled by default in future versions of ProtonVPN.
“This allows you to enjoy faster speeds, instant secure connections, better performance, and much-needed battery life for your devices,” ProtonVPN says, “while continuing to protect your privacy and security with our award-winning VPN.”
For those who need a VPN, it’s important to remember the privacy afforded by one is limited by the service provider. ProtonVPN’s association with the privacy-focused email service ProtonMail could actually be a detriment, rather than a boon, due to criticism of the company in response to its compliance with an order to log users’ IP addresses.
That wasn’t unusual—even privacy-focused companies are expected to obey local regulations. Switzerland is widely considered to offer more privacy protections than other countries, but when it does decide that information needs to be collected, there’s little a company like Proton Technologies can do to protect ProtonMail and ProtonVPN customers.
Still, for anyone who acknowledges the risks of using any VPN service, ProtonVPN’s decision to implement WireGuard should be welcome news. It’s a reliable protocol that manages the seemingly impossible by making VPNs both faster and more secure than they would be if they were set up using competitive solutions.
