StrongVPN, which is owned by Strong Technology LLC, has been around since 2005. It is an independent subsidiary of StackPath LLC, a web services company based in Dallas, Texas in the United States. StackPath also owns IPVanish, another popular VPN service.
The company has been in the IT industry for over 20 years. It began selling computers before upgrading into dial-up internet services and dedicated servers.
So is StrongVPN safe? Well, StrongVPN has most of the security features you need in a good VPN service including a no-log policy but we wouldn’t recommend it as the safest VPN available today.
Here are a few reasons why:
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StrongVPN Jurisdiction
StrongVPN is based in Texas, USA. This is not good news for users of the VPN because the US is not a privacy-friendly location for VPN services. For a start, the president of the United States recently signed an anti-piracy bill into law, which now allows your ISP to collect and share or sell your data.
It is also common knowledge that the FBI, NSA, and other US intelligence agencies employ extremely invasive tactics to spy on people, especially in telecommunications and on the Internet.
Lastly, the US is the last place you’d want your VPN to be located in because the country is a leading member of the Five-Eyes Intelligence Alliance or basically a spy network of countries that have agreed to collect and share information about their citizens.
If you have concerns about the government getting their hands on your browsing data either via a court order or legal request, then you may need to look for other alternatives besides StrongVPN.
Privacy and Logging Policy
StrongVPN has a lengthy 1600-word long Privacy Policy statement on its website that basically states the following:
- That they are a no-log VPN service which means they don’t track, collect, or store their customers’ data.
- That the only personal data they collect is your email address and payment information that you provide when signing up for their service.
- That they never sell your information to third parties.
- And they use cookies on their site to understand their website’s functionality and aggregate activity.
StrongVPN has a typical Privacy Policy found on most VPN websites that don’t go into great detail. Keep in mind that this is a US-based company where you don’t expect to have as much privacy and protection as you would in other countries.
StronVPN Security Features
StrongVPN has, nevertheless, a few cool security features such as the following:
Reliable Protocol and Encryption
The VPN provider uses leading protocols including L2TP, SSTP, IKEv2, IPSec, and both TCP and UDP OpenVPN protocols. For encryption, StrongVPN uses OpenVPN’s AES-256-CBC channel encryption, SHA 256 authentication, Hellman RSA key, and Perfect Forward Secrecy. Suffice to say that these are the best and most unbreakable levels of encryption available today.
Kill Switch
Strong VPN has a kill switch feature that acts as a fail-safe when the VPN goes down suddenly. The kill switch protects your real IP address from getting exposed when switching servers or when the VPN suddenly drops due to technical reasons, leaving your connection exposed to prying eyes. It works by “killing” your Internet connection the instant you lose your VPN connection.
Best Alternatives for Privacy
StrongVPN is a relatively safe VPN but given its jurisdiction in the US, you could fare better with other more secure VPNs.
If you want to experience the highest level of safety when using VPNs, we highly recommend the following alternatives:
- Provider
- User Rating
- Our Review
- Price
PureVPN- 4807 Votes
- $3.24 / month
ExpressVPN- 3795 Votes
- $6.67 / month
Conclusion
Is StrongVPN safe? Yes, it is a relatively safe VPN service but with a few shortcomings. For maximum safety, we highly recommend the alternative options such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN and PureVPN.