We all know that VPNs are able to protect their users from monitoring by surveillance agencies, cybercriminals, and even hackers. But it turns out that hackers can benefit from VPNs just like regular people. They also want to stay anonymous and hide traces of their activities on the web. Hackers require high-quality services meaning that you can also take advantage of top-notch protection and privacy they provide. In this post, we review the best VPN for hackers that you may use as well.
Disclaimer: VPNTrends does not encourage any law violations. The use of VPNs and other anonymizers does not relieve you from responsibility for your actions.
Table of Contents
Why do Hackers need a VPN?
If you use an unprotected connection at home or on a public network, your Internet provider will know exactly what you do on the web – which sites you visited, files you downloaded, messages you sent or received, etc. Naturally, hackers want to avoid this inspection. Their goal is to do their thing unnoticed and not being caught by law enforcement.
So how can a VPN help to keep their identity secret? A distinctive feature of such services is encryption that protects the entire traffic passing through a device. The level and reliability of encryption may vary depending on a provider but the industry standard is an AES cipher with a key of at least 128-bit. This encryption algorithm is normally paired with OpenVPN protocol. Such a combination is considered to be impossible to break.
In theory, any encryption can be cracked using a brute force attack, the essence of which is to search for an encryption key by iterating through all possible combinations. But just so you know, AES-128 has 3.4 х 1038 possible combinations and it will take 1.02 x 1018 years, that is, a billion years, to crack such an algorithm with a supercomputer. It is clear that not every person has a supercomputer or a billion years to decrypt your traffic.
There is a catch, though. Encryption protects user privacy only when there are no other traces of your activity. Some VPN providers, unfortunately, reserve the right to register user data which are stored in logs. Some logs are relatively harmless and they contain information only about the connection (when the connection was established, how many bits were transmitted, etc.), while others can tell a lot about user browsing activities. An ideal VPN for hackers is a service that stores no logs.
Another way to make use of VPNs is to access geo-blocked websites that are originally blocked in your country. A VPN does this by masking your real IP with an IP of a VPN server you connect to. Together with military-grade encryption, you become fully anonymous online and your browsing data is always protected.
What to look for in a VPN for Hackers
As we have already noted, the best VPN for hackers should supply a combination of security features. A vast server park to let you change your IP address, zero-logging policy, and unbreakable encryption are the key factors. But a truly secure VPN will offer more than that. There must be a Kill Switch to stop the traffic if a VPN connection breaks (otherwise you will reveal unprotected data). A DNS and IP leak protection must be implemented as well since it will prevent to occasionally expose your real IP address and websites you visit. Ideally, a VPN provider should support anonymous payment methods, such as Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
The Best VPNs for Hackers
Our experts took all these factors into consideration and came up with a list of the best VPNs for hackers. Our recommended providers are:
- Provider
- User Rating
- Our Review
- Price
PureVPN- 4807 Votes
- $3.24 / month
ExpressVPN- 3795 Votes
- $6.67 / month
In these brief reviews, we highlighted the strong points of each service:
NordVPN
NordVPN is a privacy-focused VPN recognized as one of the best services for security-conscious people. It implements AES-256 cipher along with OpenVPN protocol for the best protection. But you can go one step further and encrypt your traffic twice if you opt for Double VPN servers. There are many other security options you can make use of (Obfuscated servers, Tor Over VPN, encrypted proxies, etc.). The service operates from Panama that doesn’t require collecting any intrusive user data. This allows NordVPN to carry out a rigid logless policy. NordVPN have more than 5,400 servers in 60 countries, which is among the largest server networks in the industry.
NordVPN offers competitive prices for its services, especially beneficial are annual plans (2-year subscription comes with a tremendous 72% discount). There are numerous payment methods in place, including Bitcoin. If you signed up for the service but it didn’t live up to your expectations, you can ask for a refund within 30 days.
PureVPN
One more VPN provider on our list with user safety in mind. It promises not to keep traffic logs and its registration in a privacy-friendly country implies that it doesn’t cooperate with any spy or surveillance alliances. PureVPN uses AES-256 encryption by default, and it supports major VPN protocols. The provider offers a large server network in 78 countries with more than 6,500 servers. Some of them are completed with Ozone-ready technology that adds even more protection from malware. Extra features are the area where PureVPN shines the most. You can opt for port forwarding, DDoS protection or dedicated IP address in addition to the standard package.
There are multiple options to pay for PureVPN subscription, including anonymous ones. The service is economically-priced, to begin with, but its 2-year plan is a real bargain. You can test it out and if something is not to your liking, you will have 31 days for a refund.
ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN offers excellent connection speeds and consistent performance throughout the network. Speaking of which, ExpressVPN runs more than 3,000 servers in 94 countries, all optimized to deliver the best VPN experience. The service uses 256-Bit AES encryption and supports OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, SSTP and PPTP security protocols. Perfect forward secrecy will change your encryption keys every 60 seconds, thus, enhancing your security even more. You can be sure that there are no DNS, WebRTC & IP leaks with ExpressVPN, and a Kill Switch will prevent your real IP from being exposed if the VPN connection drops. The service keeps minor connection logging which is considered totally safe for the users.
ExpressVPN is not the cheapest service around but given its security and performance, it is worth every cent. By the way, you can save a lot with its annual plan. The provider accepts anonymous payment methods such as Bitcoin and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if something doesn’t suit you.
Conclusion
A VPN is a great privacy-enhancing tool everyone is able to benefit from, not only hackers. A solid service will supply serious security features, a massive server network, and won’t keep its users logs. There are free VPNs as well but they are not a good match for security-paranoid individuals. Not only do such providers keep user logs but also don’t mind sharing them with the third-parties. Their security is nowhere near as good as that of reputable services. Free VPNs were even caught red-handed when inserting tracking codes into their apps or using clients’ devices for botnet attacks. So, if you really want to get the best VPN for hackers, don’t waste your time on free services. Try one of the providers we recommend and stay secure every time you go online.