We’re also not huge fans of proprietary VPN protocols, even if this one is based on well-known tools. The reality is that there are other VPN services that log far less data, and still have acceptable speeds. Aura’s privacy policy leaves a lot to be desired, however, if your primary concern is privacy or gaining as much anonymity as you can realistically get online. Hotspot Shield is the best option if your only concern is super VPN speeds for streaming, gaming, and so on. Aura says it does this “to monitor, support, and optimize our VPN services, as well as enforce free app usage limits.” Conclusion Finally, the company also collects the duration of your sessions and bandwidth consumption. Aura says it uses a hash because it does not “require users to register an account to use some of our products and need a way to distinguish between different users and carry out the activities above.” Your IP address is also kept (in an encrypted state) during your VPN session and then deleted. In addition to the domains, Hotspot Shield also creates a hash based on your device attributes and uses that to measure bandwidth use, provide support, analytics, and so on. Currently the package includes the VPN, antivirus, a spam call blocker for mobile, and a password manager. Aura, like previous-owner Pango, sells Hotspot Shield bundled with other security-focused software. Hotspot Shield hasn’t changed that much since our last review in 2019, and it looks pretty much the same as it did then.

It’s time to take another look at our reigning speed champion, Hotstpot Shield, which is currently owned by a company named Aura.

Data authentication: All supported cipher suites perform authenticated encryption using an AEAD model.

Data encryption: AES-GCM (128- and 256-bit) and ChaCha-poly1305 supported.

VPN protocol: Standard TLS1.2 / DTLS1.2 tunnel using OpenSSL 1.1 library.

The company says this data is not tied to your personal activity, but this is still not the VPN that privacy-conscious users are looking for. We don’t like the privacy policy, because the VPN still logs a lot of information.

It also has a great desktop app, 85 country choices, and a network of nearly 2,000 servers. Hotspot Shield is a high-quality VPN with the fastest speeds around bar none.

Domain visits are recorded, though not tied to you.

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