HMAC SHA (see below) is still required to authenticate the TLS connection, but AES-GCM is more efficient (and therefore faster) at authenticating data than SHA. For the purposes of learning how Proton VPN works, you just need to know about AES-GCMĪlthough equally secure, the more modern AES-GCM is an authenticated encryption with associated data (AEAD) cipher that can authenticate data in addition to securing it. When used as part of the OpenVPN encryption suite, AES can be used in AES-CBC (Cipher Block Chaining) or AES-GCM (Galois/Counter Mode) modes. AES has a maximum key size of 256 bits (AES-256), with the US government deeming AES-256 sufficient to secure “top secret” information. It’s certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and used by the United States government to secure classified data. The technologies used by most modern implementations of OpenVPN (including Proton VPN’s) are: AESĪdvanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric-key cipher used to encrypt and decrypt the data transmitted over your VPN connection. OpenVPN uses several cryptographic technologies to keep your data safe and has no known vulnerabilities.
Proton VPN supports OpenVPN on all our apps: Performance can’t currently match that of WireGuard (although work is being done to improve on this).Although WireGuard is faster, more lightweight, and more efficient, it cannot match OpenVPN’s battle-tested track record. WireGuard®, a more recent and secure VPN protocol, hadn’t been developed yet in 2013. These strongly indicated that, as long as you don’t use pre-shared keys, OpenVPN was the only commonly used VPN protocol at the time that the NSA couldn’t crack. However, it’s still widely regarded as being secure, a perception strengthened by documents released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013. Initially released in 2001, OpenVPN is beginning to show its age in terms of speed, performance, and efficiency. This article will be most helpful if you already understand how a VPN works.
In this article, we take an in-depth look at how OpenVPN works, how it keeps the Proton VPN community secure, and how it compares to other VPN protocols. OpenVPN also has the advantage of being supported on a huge range of platforms and devices.Ĭlosed-source implementations of OpenVPN exist, but there is also a free and open-source Community Edition. OpenVPN is a VPN protocol that has no known weaknesses and is effective at bypassing certain online censorship methods. A VPN protocol is the set of instructions that your VPN app uses to set up, secure, and govern your connection to a VPN server.
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