To unlock AES-256 encryption using today’s computers, it would take longer than the age of the universe by orders of magnitude. If that doesn’t mean much to you - here’s some context. All network traffic is protected by AES-256, key exchange is done with 4096-bit RSA, and HMAC with SHA384 is used for message authentication. While it wasn’t 100 percent, I did notice a much more manageable load - particularly on sites notoriously choked with ads.įYI: ProtonVPN uses some of the highest encryption standards around. Everyone hates annoying pop-ups and sites clogged with targeted advertisements, and this feature helps eliminate them. The next feature is a little easier - the ad blocker.

So consider only turning this on when you really want privacy, or if you’re doing something higher risk than everyday browsing like paying your taxes or transferring money.

You’re going to have to go to Switzerland before you go to Facebook. That said, with Secure Core engaged, you might experience some noticeable slowdowns in your speeds, which is understandable. Seriously - Proton’s data center in Iceland is located in a former military base. Additionally, the physical locations of these servers are extremely secure. In fact, this is really similar to the multi-hop feature I saw when I reviewed Surfshark however, Proton’s Secure Core takes it a step further by only routing traffic through servers in countries with strong privacy protections like Sweden, Switzerland, and Iceland. ProtonVPN’s Secure Core network, though, significantly decreases the likelihood of such an attack, since the threat will only be able to trace the traffic back to the secure network it originated from, instead of tracing it back to you. Features like Secure Core can help prevent this from happening. Did You Know: Some countries’ internet access is so restricted that they can actually recognize VPN protocol traffic and terminate your connection.

Is proton free vpn safe