- Obscura VPN just passed its first independent audit
- Leading audit firm Cure53 could not find any major security vulnerabilities
- Obscura VPN is a new service based on an innovative multi-hop VPN system
Obscura VPN is still pretty new, but its first independent audit just proved that whatever it does, it’s working. The VPN service passed the test with flying colors.
Cure53’s report independently verified several aspects of Obscura VPN, including its innovative two-party VPN protocol, and found “no major security vulnerabilities.”
This successful audit could bring Obscura VPN closer to being in our ranking of the best VPNs, although its limited availability may still be a hurdle for some users.
“There are no major security vulnerabilities”
At first glance, each VPN may seem as reliable as the next. However, the reality is often different, which is why VPN audits are so important. Obscura VPN is still a new player in the VPN market, but it just completed its first independent audit, proving that its claims can hold up even when verified by third-party auditors.
The audit was conducted by a team of researchers from Cure53, a leading audit firm. It’s a comprehensive test that covers the Obscura macOS app, but also its network extension and protocol design. Cure53 performed a penetration test and audited the source code of Obscura VPN for 20 days.
During testing, Cure53 detected two low-impact vulnerabilities within the Obscura VPN service. Both have since been fixed. A few more issues were detected, but most were quickly fixed or considered false positives.
Overall, the research team had only good things to say about Obscura. An excerpt from the audit says: “Obscura is a well-designed privacy solution with no significant security vulnerabilities within its defined threat model.”
This is a big win for Obscura. Carl Dong, its founder, told TechRadar: “Cure53’s report independently verifies the best privacy guarantees of our two-party relay design and attests to our diligent engineering practices. Our users deserve an open and private Internet without compromises, and at Obscura, we work every day to make this a reality.”
What makes Obscura VPN unique?
Obscura has been around for a short time and is currently only available on macOS and iOS. Launched on February 11, 2025, the VPN stood out from the start as it promised to never be able to track your browsing data.
Some of the most private VPNs don’t keep any logs of your browsing activity, but some can still see it; the data is simply never recorded. Security breaches can still put users at risk.
Obscura offers a multi-hop VPN connection managed independently by two different providers. Its partner is Mullvad VPN, which also highly values anonymity. To keep your data completely hidden, Obscura encrypts your Internet connection using the WireGuard protocol and then sends it to Mullvad’s outbound servers. Mullvad is the VPN provider that actually connects you to the Internet.
This completely independent outbound hop means that no VPN provider gets the information about who you are. and your browsing history at the same time.
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