Are P2P VPNs Safe?
A P2P VPN keeps your online activities hidden. This guarantees that no one—including your internet service provider (ISP), applications, websites, or government organizations—will have access to your data. For example, if you are worried that a hacker employed by a rival company will intercept communications sent to or from your organization’s network, using a P2P VPN can make that nearly impossible. The bad actor, if they intercept anything at all, will merely get jumbled, illegible text that contains no indication of what it was before the encryption.
Also, a VPN adds an extra degree of security. It safeguards users' identities and what they do, including the files they download, within a peer-to-peer network. This makes it extremely difficult to trace any activity back to a user. For example, if you work on an IT team’s threat investigation unit, you may use a P2P VPN when looking into the activities of threat actors. In this way, you can conceal your true identity, instead of using a company IP address that a hacker may be able to spot right away.
However, a P2P VPN can only protect data from compromise. It does not protect users against harmful files. A peer-to-peer network may expose users to someone who may send them malicious files, which can cause serious problems.
For instance, your VPN will not shield users from malicious software if they download a file that has been purposefully mislabeled, such as a virus. Also, if a downloaded file contains any other harmful software that can be executed on a computer, a P2P VPN will not identify and discard it. In other words, a VPN protects data, but it will not protect your organization from malicious data.
Best VPNs for P2P Traffic
There is more than one P2P VPN solution that can encrypt data and maintain users' online privacy. Some of the most popular options include:
- NordVPN
- Surfshark
- ExpressVPN
All three of these services support P2P architecture. They also offer regular VPNs, and users can subscribe to either for relatively low monthly fees. Even though NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN are often used by individuals, they have business tiers as well.
