With Double VPN, Double Encrypt Your Internet Traffic

If you’ve experienced using VPN, then it’s okay to say that you might have come across different features and functionality offered by it, and among them, Double VPN is no different. It’s one of the rare VPN functionality that’s not provided by many, but if they do, they make sure their users get to know about, and for that, they advertise it very well on their website, so the message reaches whoever visits the site.

If you’re not aware, then there’s no need to worry, as here we’ll explore this topic in detail. And, if you’re a VPN rookie who got no idea what we’re talking about, then I suggest going through this nice piece of the article: What is a VPN?

Now, let’s see what this Double VPN is all about, and does it gives you double protection in maintaining privacy and anonymity.

What’s Double VPN?

If you know about a VPN or gone through that mentioned article on VPN, then you might be aware of how a VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between you and your selected server, and then later on from that server, it goes to destination server (the website you’re visiting).

Here, the same concept is applied, but it happens twice. So, whenever you connect any website using a double VPN server, first, it will go to one VPN server. Then another VPN server and then finally reaches the destination server, which is your website. In other words, double VPN provides one more additional secure tunnel.

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To put it another way, Double VPN is a technology that lets you browse while maintaining your anonymity via the chain of different VPN servers. Let’s understand with an example:

Normal VPN Connection Without Double VPN

You >> your connection to VPN server >> Website you’re visiting (Destination server).

Double VPN Connection

You >> your connection to VPN server #1 >> your connection to VPN server #2 >> Website you’re visiting (Destination server).

How Double VPN Works?

Through Double VPN, your browsing activity remains hidden between two different VPN servers instead of one, also called as VPN server chaining. The working of Double VPN is:

  • First, your internet traffic will be encrypted on your device and will be redirected towards a VPN server (like normally happens in a VPN connection)
  • Once it reaches that VPN server, it will be encrypted once more.
  • This encrypted information will now be passed to another second VPN server, where it’ll also be decrypted.
  • Now, it’s passed to a destination server (the website you’re accessing).

Benefits of Double VPN

Below are some of the benefits you get using Double VPN:

IP Protection

Your IP address stays completely hidden. First, it’s changed by the first VPN server. So, the second VPN it connects with doesn’t have any information about it. The second VPN server sees you coming from the first VPN server, and then it goes to the destination website, which sees you coming from the second VPN server.

Privacy

No one can trace the website you’re visiting or any of your online activity, not even your ISP (Internet Service Provider). If someone tries, they’ll only see that you’re using a VPN service.

Double Encryption

All the information is protected using an extra encryption layer, which makes it twice hard or impossible to decipher it.

Improved Security

Your online activities security gets heightened, as your connection remains mixed between TCP as well as UDP protocols throughout the session.

Double VPN: Do I Need It?

You’re a Journalist or Political Activist

If you’re the journalist or a political activist who is advocating the freedom of speech, then keeping your identity hidden becomes a priority. Here, Double VPN can be useful to access the information securely and anonymously without being traced or harmed.

You’re Looking to Avoid Government Surveillance

If you’re traveling or belong to a country that puts heavy restrictions on internet usage and there’s a high possibility of being snooped by the government, then double VPN can prove as a handy tool. With the help of Double VPN, your internet activity can be encrypted twice, making it twice hard for snooping or tracking your internet activity.

You Want to Protect Your Information

If you’re communicating something confidential, whether it through chat, email, messages, then there’s a danger of being open to eavesdroppers. In that case, Double VPN can prove helpful, as it’ll encrypt your online activity twice, which means double protection.

Best VPN Providers for Double VPN

Double VPN is not something that can be expected by many. VPN providers are the registered companies, and they’re required to comply with the law, to maintain logs and records of the user activity, while making it undecipherable at the same time, to keep up with their word of no-logs policy.

Similarly, VPN providers who offer double VPN functionality, they are also required to make a separate system for tracking activities of users who use double VPN connections, while making it in such a way that it becomes indecipherable to third-parties.

Though some VPN providers do offer double VPN connection feature and they’re:

  • NordVPN
  • Surfshark VPN

1. NordVPN

NordVPN is one of the top-rated VPN providers of the VPN industry. It comes with good speed, different security features, and a huge pool of servers making NordVPN a perfect VPN solution for all types of users, whether it’s experienced or the new one.

NordVPN offers military-grade AES encryption, other features such as CyberSec for blocking malware, and malicious ads. SmartPlay mode, for video streaming and an automatic kill switch for keeping your location anonymous.

Simple to use and effective Double VPN feature is available for different platforms like macOS, Android, and Windows. It comes with other high-level internet privacy features like Onion over VPN, which makes it easier and secure to use Tor. Besides, we suggest going through our NordVPN review article so that you can get an idea about other important features offered by them.

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  • 5200+ servers in 62 countries
  • Use up to 6 devices
  • Next-generation Encryption
  • Double VPN Feature
  • Strict no-logs policy

2. Surfshark VPN

Compared to other VPN giants, Surfshark is one of the new VPN providers who has already proved itself, and like others, it’s also one of the top VPN solutions of today’s date despite being founded a few years earlier 2018. Along with good speed, it offers other exciting features such as smooth streaming, torrenting, and like any decent VPN provider, good anonymity.

Moreover, it includes 1000+ servers in more than 60 different locations around the globe. Also, it comes with other features such as IP & DNS leak protection, strict zero-log policy. Camouflage mode for protecting you from third-party monitoring, Cleanweb, an in-built ad blocker.

And, most importantly, Multihop, which works like double VPN. It helps you access through the chain of VPN servers without compromising with the speed. To know more about it, we recommend going through Sufrshark VPN review written by our experts, so you can get an idea, what are other important features offered by them.

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  • Connect unlimited Devices
  • AES-256-GCM encryption
  • IP & DNS leak protection
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Free Browser Extensions
  • Strict no-logs policy

What Are the Disadvantages of Double VPN?

One disadvantage that many users may face is that speed tends to get slower because of that extra server that your information passes through.

Moreover, it’s the resource-intensive feature for smaller devices like smartphones or laptops, which has to encrypt and decrypt all the data passed through that VPN tunnel, twice. So, low-powered devices might not be a good choice, and it’ll reduce the speed as well.

Lastly, VPN providers who offer Double VPN like NordVPN, doesn’t allow users like you and me to connect with the server location of our choice, because its static configurations, and you’ll have to select from the small list of servers which supports the Double VPN feature.

Summary

Double VPN indeed offers an additional level of anonymity and security for the users who needs it. Thought that’s also true that a single VPN connection is much better compared to that double VPN for most of the users, as a single VPN connection is more than enough for users with regular surfing habits.