- NordVPN hacked?
News of that went a couple years ago,
but can a VPN be hacked
and how exactly can hacking a VPN affect a user like you?
I'll be answering this questions
while overseeing the case of NordVPN hacked in 2018.
What can the case of this breach tell us about VPN security?
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Now, as you may have guessed, can a VPN be hacked?
It's an easy question to answer.
Yes, it can be,
but it's unlikely to be a direct hack.
Going the route of brute forcing through the VPN encryption
is often pointless.
That said, there are multiple vulnerabilities
a VPN could have.
Going after one of those, a hacker might even succeed.
NordVPN hacked is a prime example of a VPN vulnerability
which relates to their third-party servers.
When misconfigured or not properly protected,
a physical VPN server can become an easy target
for skilled hackers.
That's exactly what happened when a single NordVPN server
in a Finnish-based data center was breached.
How was NordVPN hacked?
It happened due to a vulnerability
that led to hackers accessing the server.
Due to NordVPN's, no-logs policy,
no personal data or credentials were leaked.
Following the breach,
NordVPN introduced new security measures,
including diskless RAM-only servers,
thorough security audits, and a bug bounty program.
Is NordVPN secure after these improvements?
I'd say so.
The amount of changes NordVPN implemented
shows their dedication
to preventing any future breaches or hacks.
For me, that's a good reason enough to use NordVPN.
You can also change new NordVPN security measures.
These are some links for NordVPN discounts
in the description.
Check them out if you want.
However, not every VPN
can afford high level security improvements,
especially when it concerns the crucial part of the VPN.
Rather than compromising a server,
hackers can attack the connection directly.
Can a VPN connection be hacked?
Usually not, but it's possible that some VPNs
still use older tunneling protocols with vulnerabilities
since protocols are used to create a secure connection.
Any weakness in them is critical.
Right now there are multiple VPN protocols in use.
Protocol PPTP is currently outdated and heavily vulnerable.
L2TP and SSTP are also susceptible
to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Do VPNs really work with these protocols?
Yeah, but definitely not as good
as with the newer protocols.
For instance, IKEv2, OpenVPN, and WireGuard
are newer, reliable protocols.
There are also proprietary protocols
such as NordVPN's NordLynx or ExpressVPN's Lightway.
Are VPNs safe with these protocols?
Yes, due to the high level of encryption
that they bring to the table.
Just like an outdated tunneling protocol
can endanger your security,
an outdated encryption cipher
could lead to getting a VPN hacked.
A VPN connection with outdated encryption can be hacked
even via brute force.
That's because the new hacking methods
already know how to deal with them.
Can a VPN be hacked even with an advanced encryption cipher?
Typically, starting with the 128-bit key length,
it's really hard to break through the encryption.
In cases of AES-256 AND ChaCha20,
it's borderline impossible.
Not a single VPN was hacked
while using these 256-bit encryption ciphers.
Though, quite often,
hackers don't even have to try hacking the connection,
it might already be leaking.
IP leaks can happen
if your VPN doesn't encrypt any IPv6 requests
from your browser.
IPv4 leaks can also happen
with less reliable providers,
but they are generally rarer.
DNS leaks occur
when your ISP ends up managing your DNS requests
instead of VPN service
and WebRTC leaks occur
because your VPN is not rerouting WebRTC requests.
Can a VPN prevent hacking through this route?
Most reputable VPNs are aware of these leaks
and include leak protection as well as a kill switch.
It's a crucial feature
that prevents any kind of leaks
that could appear on network break
or connection instability.
At the end of the day, what is the most secure VPN?
I think that a VPN that ticks all these boxes
is the one you are looking for.
Answering how secure is a VPN
depends on its security features
and the ones you see listed on the screen
are the ones I consider the most important.
So, if you are interested in VPNs
that have all the necessary security elements,
I'll leave the links for them in the description below.
You will be able to get them with exclusive discounts.
Hope this video was useful.
Just leave a comment if you have any questions.
Thanks for watching
and I'll see you soon with more VPN content.
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