A stealth VPN hides the fact that you’re using a VPN. A regular VPN will already provide some obfuscation and privacy: your ISP (or anyone snooping around) will only see your encrypted online traffic and that you’re connecting to a VPN server. What websites you’re visiting would remain a mystery to them. But with a stealth VPN, the fact that you’re using a VPN will be hidden from prying eyes.
Recommended by:
Hide your identity and browsing history with a stealth VPN
- Hide your online activities from ISPs and snoopers
- Obfuscate the fact that you’re using a VPN
- Protect your traffic with industry-leading encryption
- Relax with a 30-day money-back guarantee
What is a stealth VPN?
How does a stealth VPN work?
Under normal circumstances, a VPN encrypts your traffic so that it looks like unreadable garbage. However, there are ways to identify that it is VPN traffic. But when you connect using a stealth VPN protocol, the traffic is masked to look just like regular data. The actual details of how it’s done are secret, but Surfshark uses OpenVPN as our stealth protocol.
Why do I need a stealth VPN?
Online privacy is a thing of the past — if it ever existed in the first place. However, due to the advanced technology used in stealth VPNs, it is possible to hide even your VPN traffic. Surfshark uses several methods to ensure that you can become essentially invisible each time you establish a VPN connection.
Obfuscated VPN servers
Obfuscation is a method that makes sure outsiders (like your internet provider) who may be watching your traffic cannot tell that it’s actually VPN traffic. We call our stealth feature Camouflage mode because it disguises the VPN packets of data as something else.
Industry-leading encryption
We use top-of-the-class AES-256-GCM encryption to secure all the data that goes through the VPN tunnel. It makes sure your privacy is protected at all times, even if the snoopers use invasive (and resource-intensive) deep packet inspection.
Secure VPN protocols
VPN protocols do a lot of heavy lifting for a stealth VPN’s security. We offer secure Wireguard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2/IPsec protocols that ensure perfect forward secrecy. Together with encryption, they make sure your data is safe.
Dynamic MultiHop for extra privacy
Connecting via two VPN servers is more private than connecting via a single server. And with Surfshark’s Dynamic MultiHop, you can pair any of our servers for the Double VPN experience of your dreams.
Private DNS & leak protection
It’s important to use a private DNS for all-around privacy. When you use a stealth VPN, you get private DNS on each server. That’s not all — we offer leak protection when using the IPv4 stack to make sure you’re always protected.
No-activity-logs policy
All the stealth VPN technology would be useless if the VPN provider took your data. Only use a VPN like Surfshark that never tracks your online activities. We don't know what you're up to online; therefore, nobody else does!
When should I use a stealth VPN?
When you live in or travel to a restricted country
If you live in or plan to travel to countries that censor and restrict access to the internet and collect browsing data, you should protect your privacy with a stealth VPN.
When you’re worried about online privacy
It’s possible to escape government and corporate data collection by taking matters back into your own hands with a VPN.
When you want to protect your whole family
With Surfshark, it’s easy to make sure everyone in your household is safe and sound. You can add unlimited devices to one account and use them all at the same time if you want to!
Disclaimer: We prohibit using Surfshark services for any unlawful purposes as it is against our Terms of Service. Please be sure to act in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations of streaming service providers.
Does a stealth VPN make me untraceable?
A good reliable VPN provider will make it very hard to track you.
However, 100% anonymity is impossible online, and privacy requires a lot of effort on your side.
There is so much more to being anonymous than just using a VPN — for example, you would have to avoid registering for any services, do zero online shopping, and generally avoid anything that could put you online.
Here’s what you CAN do to improve your situation:
- Give out as little detail as possible on social media
- Be very cautious when filling out online forms
- Use a reliable VPN
How to easily set up a VPN
3 steps to secure your digital life
Sign in with your fresh account
Choose a country to connect to and use this account on multiple devices!
FAQ
What is a stealth mode VPN?
A stealth mode VPN is a VPN that hides the fact that you’re using a VPN. It is done by applying some clever encryption to the normal VPN data to make it look like normal internet traffic.
Is OpenVPN a stealth VPN?
It depends on the implementation. Surfshark uses OpenVPN — TCP and UDP — as your stealth VPN protocols.
Is there a free stealth VPN?
Technically yes, practically no. Free VPNs are sometimes unable or even unwilling to hide your IP address, DNS address, or other data from leaking, so having stealth VPN capabilities is largely beyond them.