![]() ![]() ![]() TunnelBear’s first security audit was completed in 2017, then they followed this up again in October 2018. There have been a few other VPN services that have undergone security audits, including ExpressVPN and also NordVPN, which we both discussed in the ExpressVPN vs NordVPN comparison. However, under those circumstances it would have allowed attackers to escalate app permissions to give them root access to a device, modify executables and bypass non-strict host matching. The more serious vulnerabilities would have required an attacker to have direct access to the device, and be logged in as a guest. To summarize, they discovered 2 “critical”, 5 “high”, 3 “medium”, 7 “low”, and a few “informational” issues – all of which were promptly fixed. Here is a brief summary of the findings:Ĭure53’s complete report is available on their website. TunnelBear is one of the few VPN providers to undergo a third-party security audit. It is important to remember to enable VigilantBear (the leak protection feature) to be protected against data leaks. The TunnelBear Mac OS client also did not have any leaks in my tests. I did not find any IP address leaks or DNS leaks with the TunnelBear client. ![]() Here you can see the leak test results when connected to a TunnelBear server in Norway: Everything worked well without any leaks to report. I ran both the Windows and Mac OS apps through a round of VPN tests to check for leaks and problems. This feature acts as a kill switch to block traffic when there is no active VPN connection and can be activated directly within the VPN application. TunnelBear offers a basic leak protection option which is called VigilantBear. If you compare WireGuard vs OpenVPN, the speeds are usually much better with WireGuard. This is a relatively new protocol that provides very fast speeds along with upgraded security and encryption over legacy protocols. No WireGuard support with TunnelBearĪt the time of this review, TunnelBear does not support the WireGuard VPN protocol. OpenVPN is open source, but it requires the use of a third-party client and is more CPU-intensive. IKEv2 can be used natively on various devices (no app required) and runs with less CPU, but it is also not open source. Both OpenVPN and IKEv2 are secure and reliable VPN protocols. The IKEv2 protocol can be used with iOS and Windows as well. TunnelBear offers good data encryption using the 256-bit AES OpenVPN for Windows, Mac OS, and Android. We discuss this topic more in our post on the best VPN for Chrome. There are also a few other VPNs that offer browser extensions, including VPN.ac, ExpressVPN, and also NordVPN and CyberGhost. In this case, you can simply control the desktop VPN client through the browser. ![]() In other cases, such as with ExpressVPN, the browser extension just extends the VPN desktop client into the browser for easier functionality. In some cases, such as with TunnelBear, the browser extension acts as an additional proxy for the browser itself, changing the IP address and DNS requests within the browser. Tunnelbear advertises quite heavily on YouTube and is likely to be very popular as a result.Many VPNs now offer browser extensions. It is for this reason you should try some of the companies that don't have a large brand awareness. One of the problems with using a very well known VPN provider is it is much more likely their IP Addresses will be blacklisted.Įither automatically due to high traffic originating from a few IP Addresses or manually by Proxy and VPN detection companies which many websites and game services now use to protect their players from automatic login attempts and resource mirroring. However, these days, 75% of mine have been. *Not all internet connectivity issues are due to TunnelBear. I want to like TunnelBear it's simple, has a nice interface and I'm a staunch supporter of privacy rights, but even my patience has run out with this program and I'd rather send my data to ISPs personally than put up with TunnelBear's inconveniences any longer. I looked into getting a refund, but none are offered. Running TunnelBear is so inconvenient that I have permanently disabled it. Random VPN disconnects (including mobile)Įvery one of these issues is solved only and immediately by disconnecting TunnelBear. Random internet disconnects* (including mobile) (including mobile, especially mobile)Ĭertain websites (ie streaming ones) won't load due to VPN useĬertain website elements (ie streaming ones) won't load due to VPN use I get redirected several times a day, seemingly randomly, to a Google page asking me to confirm whether I'm a robot or not, and no matter how many times I confirm it, the page just refreshes and asks me again. I paid for TunnelBear's VPN service a few months ago. ![]()
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