Your IP address could also leak if the VPN connection suddenly drops, at least in theory. You can also enable Hotspot Shield's kill switch from the Settings menu (Image credit: Hotspot Shield) Fortunately, testing Hotspot Shield's clients and browser attachments at IPLeak and DNSLeakTest didn't reveal any issues, with the service protecting us from snoopers at all times. Client implementation is also important, especially when it comes to blocking DNS and WebRTC leaks which might give away your real identity. Privacy isn't just about the low-level technicalities. These corporate customers need to understand Catapult Hydra to properly implement it themselves, and Hotspot Shield says the protocol has been 'evaluated by 3rd party security experts from more than 60% of the world’s largest security companies that use our SDK to provide VPN services to their users.'
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The company points out that Catapult Hydra is used by 'the majority of large cybersecurity companies that offer VPN services from within their apps, such as McAfee, Bitdefender, Cheetah Mobile and many others.' In addition, 'carriers such as Telefonica and KDDI also use Catapult Hydra to provide VPN services and Wi-Fi security to their customers.'Īs a result, though the code isn't publicly available, that doesn't mean its functionality hasn't been reviewed. That doesn't mean you must take Hotspot Shield's claims entirely on trust, though. OpenVPN is open source and any developer can look at the code, figure out how it works, perhaps find problems or suggest improvements – something which isn't possible here.
One problem with proprietary technologies like Catapult Hydra is there's no easy way to see what else is going on. Which, for non-encryption geeks, is more than enough to keep you safe. Catapult Hydra's focus is on improving performance, and the encryption side of the protocol uses much the same standards as everyone else.įor example, the Hotspot Shield website reports that Catapult Hydra is based on TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.2, with AES-256 and AES-128 encryption, 2048-bit RSA certificates for server authentication and keys exchanged via Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDHE) for perfect forward secrecy (keys last for only one session, with new ones generated next time). This isn't as worrying as it might sound. Hotspot Shield is more difficult to assess, because although it now supports the standard IKEv2 protocol, the service mostly relies on its proprietary Catapult Hydra technology. This can be hugely complicated, but just seeing that a service supports a secure protocol like OpenVPN can give you reassuring feedback about its safety. Understanding a VPN's security usually starts by looking at its protocol support, encryption and authentication details. Hotspot Shield allows you to choose your preferred VPN protocol from its Settings menu (Image credit: Hotspot Shield) Privacy
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