This is usually the case with free providers, which is why we never recommend them. If your provider keeps logs of the websites you visit, online services you use, and the web searches you make, you shouldn’t take it lightly. There is no need whatsoever for a VPN to spy on your online activity, though. While this isn’t that big a deal from their perspective, it could represent a deal-breaker to users looking for a secure and 100% anonymous browsing experience. The only reason why a VPN provider would need your actual IP address is to find out where their service is being used. As explained, this data is collected anonymously and is typically bundled with similar data collected from other users in order to derive usage and performance statistics. There is usually no need to worry about the first two categories of information – service-specific and connection-specific. Activity-specific information: Extensive information about your browsing activity which can include the addresses of websites you visit while using the service, as well as your search history.IP-specific information: This information reveals the IP address from which you connected to the service and can be used to pinpoint your exact physical location.Connection-specific information: Anonymous information that shows the dates, times, and length of your browsing sessions and the volume of incoming and outgoing traffic per session.Service-specific information: Anonymous information about the VPN server you use to surf the web, your device’s operating system (OS), and the version of the VPN client that you’re using.The amount and type of data providers keep in user logs varies, but it typically falls into one or more of the following four categories: Though you might not expect them to collect information about their users – after all, the purpose of a VPN is to provide anonymity on the internet – most VPN providers still do that. What is a logging policy and why does it matter?Įvery app developer wants to know how their app is being used, who is using it, and how to improve its performance to attract even more users. What privacy and security elements do we test for? The Bad: It does not use its own DNS servers. Moreover, it applies the highly secure AES-256 encryption, and features a kill switch. It also uses its own Hydra Catapult protocol, which is much faster than OpenVPN. The Good: Hotspot Shield has a very clear zero-log policy and does not track anything you do online.

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