Independent auditors confirm top VPN never logs your data

Independent auditors have confirmed that one of the best VPN providers doesn't log your data, offering "the highest standards of security and privacy."

Security experts at Securitum inspected Proton VPN's server and file configurations to ensure data related to users' activities is never logged or stored as stated in its privacy policy. After thorough analysis, no traces of user logs were detected.

While offering open-source apps across all platforms, Proton VPN regularly puts its security and privacy features under independent scrutiny. This is the third time, in fact, the popular VPN provider has proved its no-logs claims with an external audit since 2022.

Proton VPN's third no-log audit

Auditors spent six days - between July 3 to 5, 2024 - to verify the technical aspects of the Proton VPN server and file implementation, while assessing the company's operating procedures.

Among others, auditors looked at whether or not Proton VPN tracks your activity on its servers or logs any metadata, including DNS traffic. They also checked if the provider monitors what users do when connected to Proton's network, such as the websites they visit or the servers they connect to. They also verified the company's way of preventing any unauthorized configuration change.

"During the audit, it was confirmed that the Proton VPN product complies with the No-Log policy and offers the highest standards of security and privacy," reads the Securitum's report.

Put simply, the audit confirmed Proton VPN does not engage in any practices that could end up compromising your privacy. This means that its VPN apps never log metadata or your VPN activity. At the same time, auditors verified that all changes and additional features have been developed to maximize user security and privacy.

Commenting on the result, Andy Yen, founder and CEO at Proton, wrote in an official announcement: "At Proton, we believe that all claims should be investigated and verified, including our own. Going forward, we will continue to perform regular security audits and publish the results so you can read an independent security professional's report before you entrust us with your data."

Why do you want a no-log VPN?

A strict no-logs policy, even better if regularly independently audited, should be among your top priorities when signing up for a new VPN service. That's especially crucial if boosting your online privacy is the main reason you're using a virtual private network.

While some logs of basic data like the number of users connecting to the same server and the email address associated with a user's account are inevitable, a no-log VPN guarantees that no personal information or usage data linked to you or your activities is ever collected.

Let's say that, for instance, a malicious hacker or government manages to acquire data coming from a VPN network. With a no-log VPN, none of your sensitive information will be leaked simply because the details won't exist. 

The importance of this feature has already been proved in some instances. In 2019, Proton was unable to help authorities identify a user as they didn't store any identifiable information. More recently, Swedish authorities were left empty-handed after an inconclusive police raid on Mullvad's servers last year.

As mentioned earlier, Proton's commitment to users' privacy and security goes even further. All its apps are fully open-source, in fact, meaning that anyone can check its coding for bugs and vulnerabilities.

"As an organization founded by scientists who met at CERN, we believe in peer review and transparency," said Yen, while inviting all security researchers to support Proton's security through its bug bounty program.