Everything You Need to Know About Double VPN

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What is Double VPN?

 

There is a popular phrase: “In this world only the paranoid survive”, so, let’s talk about one more layer of security – Double VPN. Here at Seed4.Me, we are grateful for the help in preparing this article to tech blogger Tim Mocan and his colleagues from ProPrivacy project. Here is an easy-to-understand guide to double VPNs from Tim, you will find below every single thing you need to know about what double VPN connection is and how it works.

Everything You Need to Know About Double VPN Connections

Whether you’re new to VPNs or a seasoned user, you’ve likely heard about double VPNs at one point or another.

I’m not going to lie – it’s a pretty complex topic, and there aren’t many guides on the web that clearly show what you’re dealing with. So, I’m going to do my best to offer you a simple explanation that’s easy to scan and understand.

 

What Is a Double VPN Connection?

The name is a bit misleading since it might make you think you’re using two VPNs at the same time – like having a client from for example Seed4Me VPN and one from another VPN company running simultaneously.

It’s easy to see why one might think that, but that’s not the case.

A double VPN connection is when you use two VPN servers simultaneously, and route your traffic through both of them.

 

Here’s How It Works

A normal VPN connection goes something like this:

  • • The client encrypts your requests, and sends them to the server;
  • • The server decrypts them, and forwards them to the web;
  • • When the server receives the content, it encrypts it, and sends it to the client;
  • • The client then decrypts the data for you.

Now, with a double VPN connection, the process is similar.

However, the first VPN server (VPN 1) doesn’t send the requests to the web. Instead, it decrypts the data, re-encrypts it, and redirects it to a second VPN server (VPN 2).

How Double VPN connection works?

That second server (VPN 2) is the one that forwards your requests to the web. It then encrypts the info, sends it to the first server, which will decrypt it, re-encrypt it, and finally send it to the client on your device.

 

Does Double VPN Equal Double Encryption?

Well, yes and no.

No in the sense that a double VPN connection doesn’t double the encryption cipher.

So, if the VPN uses AES-256 encryption, you won’t magically get AES-512 encryption with a double VPN.

But I also said yes.

Technically, a double VPN will “double” your encryption by adding another layer of it, doubling the security of the VPN tunnel.

Hide yourself into the Matrix.

 

Double VPN Connections Aren’t the Limit

You don’t have to reserve yourself to only sending your connection through two VPN servers.

In fact, you can actually chain your traffic through multiple VPN servers – three, four, five, or how many you want to.

But when you do that, it’s no longer called a double VPN connection. It’s either:

  • • VPN chaining
  • • VPN cascading
  • • A multi-hop VPN

How Is a Double VPN Connection Better Than a Normal One?

Here’s a quick overview of the benefits you get with a double VPN connection:

  • • The second VPN server won’t know your real IP address. Only the first one will. But if the provider stores 0 logs, that’s not a problem.
  • • Also, if the second server is somehow compromised, there’s no way for someone to trace the traffic back to you.
  • • You can tweak server connections to alternate between TCP and UDP for better security.
  • • You become less susceptible to traffic correlation attacks – basically cyber attacks that involve correlation between the incoming and outgoing traffic on VPN servers. Previously, they weren’t such a huge concern, but – nowadays – they can actually use machine learning, and they can be successful against Tor too, proofs are here (it’s a PDF whitepaper). So, it’s a nice security precaution if you’re very worried about your privacy.
  • • Like we already mentioned, you get an extra layer of encryption (or more – depending on how many servers you use).

Do Double VPNs Have Any Drawbacks? (Pros and Cons)

Well, not many. In fact, there’s only one I can think of – the speed.

Normally, a VPN will slow down your original ISP speeds by a bit depending on certain factors – like what encryption you use, how far the VPN server is from you, how strong your CPU is, how well the provider optimized their servers for speed, and so on.

Since you’ll be forcing your connection to go through two different servers, it’s pretty obvious your speeds will go down significantly more.

Now I’m not saying all your web browsing is going to be full of lag, but you should expect some slowdowns.

For example, if you have a connection speed of 100 Mbps, it’s pretty normal for it to slow down to around 15-25 Mbps if you chain it through two VPN servers.

Obviously, if you’re going for a multi-hop VPN connection, your speeds might go down even more.

Double VPN Pros and Cons

There Is a Fix — Sort Of

There is one thing you can do to prevent too much speed loss – only use VPN servers that are geographically close to you.

So if you’re in Italy, only use servers in Italy, Slovenia, Austria, France, Croatia, or Switzerland.

That way, your connection’s data packets don’t need to travel too far until they reach their destination, so you get faster speeds.

If you have the option to use VPN servers located in different cities in your country – even better!

Some people might recommend you just upgrade your ISP speeds, but that’s going to be pretty expensive.

If you can afford it, though – go for it!

 

Who Is a Double VPN Good for?

Pretty much anyone who wants high-end privacy and security, but here are some specific scenarios:

  • • Journalists and political activists that fight for free speech.
  • • People that need to protect confidential sources (like whistleblowers).
  • • Anyone that lives in a country that heavily censors and monitors the web – like China, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, or Iran.

 

Looking for a Provider to Set up Double VPN Connections?

There aren’t a lot of popular VPN providers that offer built-in options to run double VPN connections. At Seed4.Me VPN we have only plans to add Double VPN option for our customers. At this moment if you want to route the connections through multiple providers, there’s a ton of research to go through.

So, to save a lot of time and effort, just take a look at these VPNs. The project has all the info you need to make a really informed decision.

 

Got Any Questions?

Feel free to contact us – support@seed4.me. Also, if you think some relevant info is missing, go ahead and share it with us, we will be glad to publish your opinion here.

 

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