all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited è una soluzione completa per la privacy"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Niente pubblicità. La prima regola è la privacy."],"People before profits":["Le persone prima dei profitti"],"Security through transparency":["Più sicurezza grazie alla trasparenza"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["Le migliori offerte di Proton Mail per il ${ BLACK_FRIDAY }"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["L'unico servizio di email al mondo supportato dalla community"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } ora","${ hours } ore"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["Restano ${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } e ${ secondsLeft }"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuto","${ minutes } minuti"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } secondo","${ seconds } secondi"],"Limited time offer":["Offerta a tempo limitato"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Crea indirizzi multipli"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Alias hide-my-email"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Annulla rapidamente l'iscrizione alle newsletter"],"Use your own domain name":["Utilizza il tuo nome di dominio"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Ne hanno parlato"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Scegli un'email cifrata per proteggere la tua privacy"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Offerta Black Friday di Proton Mail - sconti fino al 40%"]},"specialoffer:newmetadescription":{"Get up to 40% off Proton Mail subscriptions this Black Friday. Find great deals on our secure end-to-end encrypted email plans.":["Per questo Black Friday ti offriamo fino al 40% di sconto sugli abbonamenti a Proton Mail. Scopri le straordinarie offerte sui piani di abbonamento alla nostra email dotata di crittografia end-to-end."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Offerta di Proton Mail per il Black Friday | Fino al 40% di sconto sulla nostra email sicura"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Addebito di ${ TOTAL_SUM } per il primo anno"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*Addebito di ${ TOTAL_SUM } per i primi 2 anni"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["Garanzia soddisfatti o rimborsati di 30 giorni"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Addebito di ${ TOTAL_SUM } per i primi 2 anni"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Addebito di ${ TOTAL_SUM } per il primo anno"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Risparmi ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["−${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Adoro ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Il mio servizio email preferito"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Grazie Proton perché ci proteggi nell'universo complicato di internet."],"You get what you pay for. In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Ottieni quello per cui hai pagato. Nel caso di big tech, se non paghi niente, vieni usato. Ho smesso di usare Gmail e sono passata a @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Giorni"],"Hours":["Ore"],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["E altro ancora"],"Safe from trackers":["Protezione dai tracker"],"Stay organized":["Tieni tutto in ordine"],"Black Friday email deals":["Offerte email del Black Friday"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Non lo diciamo solo noi"],"Make your inbox yours":["Rendi la tua posta in arrivo davvero tua"],"Our story":["La nostra storia"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Trasferisci i tuoi dati da Google con un solo clic"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accedi a contenuti bloccati e naviga in modalità privata. Include oltre ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS } server in più di ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } Paesi, possibilità di connettere fino a 10 dispositivi, accesso a servizi di streaming in tutto il mondo, anti-malware, ad-blocker e altro ancora."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Condividi facilmente il tuo calendario con familiari, amici o colleghi e visualizza calendari esterni."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Include il supporto per 1 dominio email personalizzato, 10 indirizzi email, 10 alias hide-my-email, condivisione del calendario e altro ancora."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Include il supporto per 3 domini email personalizzati, 15 indirizzi email, alias hide-my-email illimitati, condivisione del calendario e altro ancora."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Gestisci fino a 25 calendari, app per dispositivi mobili, protezione con la crittografia end-to-end, importazione del calendario da Google in un solo clic e altro ancora."]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Scopri di più"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["Attenzione: stiamo riscontrando dei problemi con il servizio di ${ issues[0] }"],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["Stiamo riscontrando dei problemi con uno o più servizi."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["Al momento abbiamo dei problemi con il servizio di Proton VPN"],"Learn more":["Scopri di più"]},"steps":{"Step":["Passaggio"]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Suggerimenti"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Sottocategoria","Sottocategorie"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } minuto","${ readingTime } minuti"],"Category":["Categoria","Categorie"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Non hai trovato quello che cercavi?"],"General contact":["Contatti generali"],"Get help":["Ottieni supporto"],"Legal contact":["Contatti legali"],"Media contact":["Contatti per la stampa"],"Partnerships contact":["Contatti per collaborazioni"],"Reading":["Lettura"]},"Support Form Platform option":{"VPN for Android TV":["VPN per Android TV"],"VPN for Apple TV":["VPN per Apple TV"],"VPN for Chromebook":["VPN per Chromebook"]},"Support troubleshooting":{"App version":["Versione dell'app"],"Browser":["Browser"],"Check if this helps":["Verifica se questo ti è utile"],"Choose a product":["Scegli un prodotto"],"Did this solve your issue?":["Ha risolto il tuo problema?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away":["Ottieni assistenza più velocemente con pochi clic"],"How can we help?":["Come possiamo aiutarti?"],"No, contact support":["No, contatta il supporto"],"Please fill out one field after another":["Compila un campo dopo l'altro"],"Please make your selections":["Fai la tua selezione"],"Proton account":["Account Proton"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Grazie per il feedback"],"What can we help with?":["In cosa possiamo esserti di aiuto?"],"Yes":["Sì"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Query di ricerca"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Cerca"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Sto cercando"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Per una risoluzione più rapida, segnala il problema dall'app Bridge: Aiuto > Segnala un problema."],"Information":["Informazioni"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Sicurezza dell'account"],"Contacts":["Contatti"],"Custom email domain":["Dominio email personalizzato"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Consegna delle email e spam"],"Encryption":["Crittografia"],"Login and password":["Login e password"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Unione di alias e account"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migrazione a Proton"],"Notifications":["Notifiche"],"Other":["Altro"],"Plans and billing":["Piani e fatturazione"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Iscrizione"],"Storage":["Archiviazione"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Utenti, indirizzi e identità"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Seleziona un argomento"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Premi"],"Customers":["Clienti"],"Featured":["In evidenza"],"Go to testimonial source":["Vai alle testimonianze"],"Open source of award":["Apri la fonte del premio"],"Open source of quote":["Apri la fonte della citazione"],"Reviews":["Recensioni"],"Videos":["Video"],"Watch on TikTok":["Guarda su TikTok"],"Watch on YouTube":["Guarda su YouTube"]},"TestimonialCategory":{"Awards":["Premi"],"Customers":["Clienti"],"Featured":["In 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Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accedi a contenuti bloccati e naviga in modalità privata. 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As the world’s largest encrypted email provider(nuova finestra), people have frequently asked us what is the best VPN service. In this article, we discuss what to be aware of when choosing a VPN service, and our recommended VPN security requirements.
What is a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a tool to secure your internet connection by masking your device’s IP address and encrypting your traffic. When your computer connects to a VPN, all your online activity passes through the Virtual Private Network, which in theory can shield you from surveillance or prevent your identity from being revealed.
Why use a VPN?
The primary use cases for a VPN service are the following:
Prevent your internet browsing from being monitored
Bypass censorship – VPNs allow you to access content that might be blocked in your country by the government or the content provider
Provide higher connection security when connecting to the internet from insecure locations (public wifi hotspot for example)
Whether or not a VPN service can actually accomplish this however depends significantly on the service in question. In fact, the vast majority of VPN services suffer from one or more security problems, which is why great care must be taken when selecting the best VPN service.
VPN Security Problems
About a year ago, we started to analyze VPN services more deeply in response from user inquiries. As we dug deeper however, we found numerous security and privacy flaws with most existing VPN services. This actually was the impetus that drove us to start working on VPN (more about this later). Below is a summary of the main VPN security issues.
VPN Security Vulnerabilities
Using pre-shared keys – A number of mainstream commercial VPNs have their preshared keys (PSKs) posted online; these include PureVPN and IPVPN(nuova finestra) . If an attacker knows the PSKs for a VPN service and has access to the network a user is using, the attacker can stage a man in the middle attack and decrypt all of the user’s traffic.
Insecure protocols and encryption – Many VPN services use PPTP protocol as a basic way to tunnel and encapsulate data packets. However, PPTP is fundamentally insecure due to using short length encryption keys and password hashes that can be easily cracked by a well resourced state actor. L2TP/IPSec is another popular VPN protocol. However, the NSA has already succeeded in tampering with it(nuova finestra). Furthermore, many VPN services which use more secure protocols such as OpenVPN remain vulnerable because of the use of insecure ciphers.
No Forward Secrecy – Most VPN services do not require use of Perfect Forward Secrecy ciphers, so VPN network traffic can be saved, and decrypted later if the encryption keys or algorithms are compromised.
DNS Leakage – Whenever a web connection is made, a computer will first translate a domain name into an IP address. This lookup is done via DNS servers. Thus, DNS lookup records(nuova finestra) also contain a log of all websites visited. While VPN services usually will protect web traffic, many do not protect DNS lookups, meaning that user’s browsing history can still be reconstructed from DNS lookups.
Methods of VPN Compromise
Even if a VPN service is not vulnerable to the internal problems listed above, they can still be compromised externally. Common problems that can lead to a VPN service being compromised include the following:
Jurisdiction – VPN providers are subject to the laws of the country that they operate in, and these laws (like the Investigatory Powers Act(nuova finestra) in the UK and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in the US) can force VPN providers to compromise their users. This means VPN providers with significant US and UK presence are compromised by default. These include HideMyAss (UK), VyperVPN (operated from the US), Strong VPN (US), HotSpot Shield (US), IP Vanish (US) and many others.
Compromised servers – VPN providers cannot maintain physical control and supervision over all servers, especially servers in countries that are not privacy friendly. This creates opportunities for state actors to compromise VPN exit servers, sometimes with the collusion (forced or not) of the companies providing servers to VPN operators. In a typical VPN setup, compromise of the exit server completely compromises the browsing activity of VPN users.
Correlation Attacks – Even if the exit server itself is not compromised, network based correlation attacks can still compromise a user. By seeing who is connecting to an VPN exit server at a given instant, and what sites the VPN exit server is connecting to, a user’s browsing can be reconstructed. Such an attack is easily within reach of most state actors as they can request assistance from ISPs.
What is the best VPN service?
It is clear that it’s not easy to build a VPN service that adequately protects users. In particular, some of the methods of VPN compromise are extremely difficult to defend against. Proton Mail’s mission has always been to protect freedom online, and to provide security and privacy to everyone. Today we protect diverse groups ranging from journalists and activists, to business professionals.
Having a secure VPN is an important part of this, which is why we are also developing Proton VPN(nuova finestra). With the Proton VPN project, we hope to bring to the public a secure and trustworthy free VPN service(nuova finestra) which addresses many of the security shortcomings which impact existing VPN services.
We believe that Proton VPN is able to meet a much higher standard for VPN security(nuova finestra), and the only VPN service which properly addresses all the shortfalls mentioned above. Most importantly, it meets the important conditions for VPN trust(nuova finestra).
Is it safe to use a VPN service?
If privacy is your only objective, the best VPN actually isn’t a VPN at all, but a free software known as Tor. Proton Mail has actually recently rolled out improved support for encrypted email with Tor(nuova finestra) through our new onion site. While Tor does provide a great deal of anonymity and security, there are still many reasons why you might still want to use a VPN service.
For one, Tor’s privacy comes at the cost of performance, and Tor is notoriously slow compared to the best VPN services out there. Furthermore, Tor is now increasingly being targeted by state actors(nuova finestra), so a trusted VPN service could be safer. VPN also has strong use cases for bypassing censorship and content blocks, or for obtaining better security from insecure locations like public wifi hotspots.