- Obscura VPN has just passed its first independent audit
- The leading audit firm, Cure53, could not find any major security vulnerability
- Obscura VPN is a new service built on an innovative multi-hop VPN system
Obscura VPN is still fairly new, but its first independent review has just proven that whatever it does, it works. The VPN service passed the test with flying colours.
The report by Cure53 independently verified several aspects of Obscura VPN, including its innovative two-party VPN protocol, and found “no major security vulnerabilities.”
This successful review could bring Obscura VPN closer to entering our ranking of the best VPNs, although its limited availability may remain a roadblock for some users.
“No major security vulnerabilities”
On the surface, any VPN can seem as trustworthy 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 has just completed its first independent audit, which proves that its claims can hold even when verified by third-party auditors.
The audit was conducted by a team of Cure53 researchers, a leading audit firm. It’s a comprehensive test that covers the Obscura macOS app, but also its network extension and its protocol design. Cure53 ran a penetration test and audited the Obscura VPN source code over the course of 20 days.
During testing, Cure53 discovered two weak vulnerabilities in the Obscura VPN service. Both have since been fixed. A few more different issues were discovered, but most were either fixed immediately or deemed false positives.
Overall, the research team had only good things to say about Obscura. An excerpt from the review reads: “Obscura is a well-developed privacy solution with no major security vulnerabilities within its defined threat model.”
This is a huge win for Obscura. Carl Dong, its founder, told TechRadar: “The report from Cure53 independently confirms our 2-Party Relay design’s best-in-class privacy guarantees and is testament to our diligent engineering practices. Our users deserve an open and private Internet without compromise, and at Obscura we work every day to make this a reality.”
What makes Obscura VPN unique?
Obscura has only been around for a short time and is only available on macOS and iOS right now. Having 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 keep no logs of your browsing activity, but some of them can still see it; the data is just never logged. Security breaches can still put users at risk.
Obscura offers a multi-hop VPN connection that is managed independently by two different providers. Its partner is Mullvad VPN, which also values anonymity. To keep your data completely hidden, Obscura encrypts your internet connection via the WireGuard protocol and then forwards it to Mullvad’s exit servers. Mullvad is the VPN provider that actually connects you to the Internet.
This fully independent exit hop means that no single VPN provider gets the information about who you are and your browsing history at the same time.
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