Support Center / General information / How private is WireGuard?

How private is WireGuard?

WireGuard® is a new VPN protocol that is lightweight, fast, and secure. By default, there are some potential privacy issues with WireGuard, but Proton VPN’s implementation of the protocol uses unique technical solutions to safeguard your privacy.

Which implementation of WireGuard does Proton VPN use?

Proton VPN uses a specially modified version of the WireGuard implementation built into the Linux kernel. Our modifications are designed to enhance performance and privacy while maintaining full compatibility.

Do you store the IP addresses of users on your servers?

No matter which VPN protocol you use, we do not store your IP address. Our WireGuard implementation follows our strict no-logs policy, which has been verified by independent experts.

Do you keep logs of WireGuard sessions?

No. Despite claims made by other VPN providers, WireGuard does not necessarily create logs, and we do not store any IP addresses on our servers.

The misconception that WireGuard inevitably generates logs is probably based on the fact that, by default, it requires a static (and therefore identifiable) connection between the VPN app and the VPN server. To get around this, we hardcoded our apps to begin every WireGuard VPN connection using the same internal IP address (10.2.0.2).

To allow more than two people to be connected to the same VPN server at the same time on WireGuard, we use double network address translation (NAT) to dynamically provision sessions.

This means when your app connects to one of our VPN servers via WireGuard, the first NAT will rewrite the 10.2.0.2 IP address to a random but unique internal IP address that is assigned to your session. From this point on, WireGuard works like any other VPN: The second NAT rewrites your session IP address again to the VPN server’s public IP address before it connects to your desired website.

How double NAT prtects your privacy when using WireGuard

This technological innovation is how we are uniquely able to provide the publicly audited security and performance of WireGuard, without privacy trade-offs.

TL:DR

When you connect to our VPN server via WireGuard, your device can only see the IP address 10.2.0.2, and the website you visit can only see the public IP address of our VPN server. Your true IP address remains secure and private, just as it would with OpenVPN.

Does WireGuard benefit from Proton VPN’s VPN Accelerator technology?

Yes. Our unique VPN Accelerator technology can improve speed performance by over 400% and is particularly effective over large distances. It is free to all Proton VPN users, available in all Proton VPN apps, and works with all supported VPN protocols, including WireGuard.

Secure
your internet

Get Proton VPN
Get Proton VPN

For customer support inquiries, please submit the following form for the fastest response:
Support Form

For all other inquiries:
contact@protonvpn.com


-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: OpenPGP.js v4.10.10
Comment: https://openpgpjs.org
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=ueTT
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

You can also Tweet to us:
@ProtonVPN