Using kill switch on macOS devices with the T2 security chip

The Apple T2 security chip(new window) was designed to improve the security of macOS and can be found on some Mac computers(new window) that use Intel processors. Unfortunately, this chip is also responsible for a number of stability problems on macOS when our kill switch feature is enabled. 

Most notably, the macOS operating system may crash and restart when your device is coming out of sleep while the kill switch is enabled. This will not permanently damage your computer, but it does introduce the real risk of data loss.

It’s an Apple problem

With the release of macOS Catalina, Apple introduced an official kill switch feature for VPN users. However, when Proton VPN adopted this OS feature, it quickly became apparent that its use led to system crashes on macOS for devices equipped with the T2 Security Chip.

The issue affects Intel-based Macs equipped with the T2 chip regardless of the VPN protocol used, whether one of Proton’s custom protocol implementations (OpenVPN and WireGuard) or Apple’s native IKEv2 implementation. 

We have made Apple aware of the issue, but do not know when they are planning to fix the bug.

How the issue will affect you

In the meantime, if you have a Mac equipped with a T2 security chip, you will see a warning if you attempt to enable the kill switch. You can choose to proceed or leave the kill switch disabled.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause. and will continue to monitor the issue closely. Should Apple advise us of a way to mitigate this instability, we will quickly respond with the necessary update.