Stop mass surveillance and browse freely by using a VPN. Keep your data encrypted, your IP hidden and your location changed!
With no protection, your online presence is exposed! Here’s how to surf the web anonymously and keep others from tracking you.
By using a VPN:
- your data is encrypted
- you IP hidden
- you location is changed
App Profile
| Name | CyberGhost VPN |
| Type | VPN Service |
| Developer | CyberGhost |
| Official Download Page | Download CyberGhost VPN |
| Operating System | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, ChromeOS | License Price | $2.70 on Sale |
CyberGhost VPN Review – Foreword
Developed by the CyberGhost company under Romanian jurisdiction, CyberGhost VPN is one of the best VPN services on the market. This company has been on the VPN market for 9 years now, and appropriately their software is called CyberGhost VPN 7. The tool offers private tunneling with 256-bit encryption, OpenVPN, IPSec, PPTP and L2TP security protocols, among others and DNS Leak protection. The CyberGhost client works with Netflix, TOR, and torrenting services without losing much speed. Users can access geo-restricted services such as YouTube and browse the Internet freely. The strict No Logging policy provides privacy and protection from middle-man attacks. CyberGhost VPN can be run simultaneously on seven different devices and offers acceptable pricing.
We at SensorsTechForum, tested CyberGhost VPN on two computer machines – one with Windows 8.1 and another with Windows 10. Premium subscription was used on both machines. The Windows 10 one is a desktop computer and the other, a laptop, both equipped with 8 GB of RAM memory and dual core processors. The Internet speeds reached without any VPN being installed are around 100 Mbps (megabits per second) for Download and around 40 Mbps for Upload. The review is completely unbiased.
CyberGhost VPN Review – Protection (Security, Privacy, Logging)
CyberGhost VPN offers a wide range of connection features regarding protection. Not only your traffic will be encrypted, while you are accessing the Internet, but the following connection features are available to be switched on:
More specifically, the options are for:
- Turning off advertisements, such as banners, pop-ups and video ads
- Filtering and blocking harmful websites and malicious content
- Blocking all attempts for online tracking and keeping your digital footprint private
- Forcing the Secure extension of the HTTP protocol making websites open in HTTPS
- Keeping Data usage low by compressing images and other elements
CyberGhost VPN puts a 256-bit encryption on your traffic, from your computer system, inside the CyberGhost network and to whatever your destination is when the tunnel is switched on. That encoding works regardless of the software you use and keeps you secure from data sniffing such as Deep Packet Inspection. The safety level can be compared with secure banking pages that feature the HTTPS protocol. In fact, enabling the Force HTTPS option mentioned above makes websites to procure their secure versions to your browser.
The protocols which CyberGhost VPN covers are the following ones:
- CyberGhost Client (OpenVPN and extended functionality)
- L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol)
- IPSec (IP Security Protocol)
- OpenELEC (OpenVPN, PPTP)
- VU+ Solo2 (OpenVPN)
- Synology NAS (PPTP)
With enhancing the protection with the specific connection features and securing your traffic via encryption and the select best security protocols used in the VPN business, CyberGhost keeps its clients as safe as they can be.
CyberGhost VPN ensures privacy by giving its users a logless service with no DNS leaks. DNS Leak Protection is proven and we tested for DNS leaks, IPv4 address leaks, IPv6 address leaks, and WebRTC leaks – no leaking was found. CyberGhost has servers in 89 countries and absolutely all of them had no DNS leaks, when the client was switched on each of those servers. On top of the DNS leak protection, there is also an option to turn off all IPv6 connections, both incoming and outgoing. These two features prevent from middle-man attacks and provide privacy to the highest level possible.
However, we noticed that you have to be careful in how you set your browsers, as they may override some settings of the VPN. Turn off the Browser’s inherent proxy settings and the predictability when writing text in search bars. That should be enough for the VPN to do everything else. Be aware that websites run cookies and some of them may extract different information about the computer system – mainly the screen resolution and hardware data, such as how many cores the processor has, what is its architecture and similar.
CyberGhost VPN Review – Speeds (Torrenting, Streaming, Browsing)
In terms of speed, CyberGhost VPN is quite speedy, no matter for what purpose one might need it for. Primarily optimized for downloads, CyberGhost provides a powerhouse in Torrenting, browsing content online, watching Netflix and reaching other streaming media services. We tested with an online tool, what the speed would be in the same country:
Not much of a loss in the download speed, which was a peasant surprise. Know that testing the speed solely on online tests is not enough. The results vary a lot, depending to which VPN’s server you are connected to, and to the server you are trying to reach via the test tool. Slower speeds will logically be shown on locations further away from the actual one as the VPN is meant to mask that. You have to test how the VPN performs and how fast it is in actuality. Here, the drop from 100 Mbps to 84 Mbps is more than ideal and will fit with the clients’ requirements regardless if they are running a business or not.
As with every Virtual Private Network, there is a bit of delay when loading Web pages. With the CyberGhost client enabled the delay is also a fact, but it is within the five seconds range, on average. All pages load and show all of their content. Regardless of the CyberGhost server being used and for what it is optimized for, your web browsing will remain enjoyable.
Provided you have a moderately good computer setup that supports it, streaming in High Definition is really no issue with CyberGhost VPN. You can watch Netflix and other geo-restricted streaming services without a hitch. From the below screenshot, you can see the speed which the Netflix optimized server of CyberGhost VPN reaches on the Netflix speed test:
Note that this is almost the same Upload speed that we usually reach when connecting to Netflix without a VPN.
When it comes down to downloading torrents, a person would want that to happen as fast as possible. CyberGhost VPN does exceedingly well in these circumstances as well, providing very close Download speeds compared to the ones offered by the current Internet Service Provider being used. Upload speeds being measured are definitely lower, but VPN users care most for the Downloads, so that is pretty much covered. Download speeds vary across servers, but they all start slow and within a minute they are high and keep increasing.
Austria, France, Romania, Macedonia, Poland, Turkey, Norway, Germany and a few more countries were tested for both Torrenting and browsing. Netflix and YouTube were tested as streaming services and watching movies as well as TV series on them is satisfying in terms of access, quality and buffer speeds. Overall, CyberGhost VPN does a splendid job in keeping its clients satisfied by giving them a speedy and reliable service.
CyberGhost VPN Review – Servers (Availability, Load, Variety)
CyberGhost VPN offers 6,208 servers which are constantly online. Over 89 countries are supported with a lot of server variety provided. With over 40,000 people using the VPN services of CyberGhost simultaneously, we have not encountered more than 60% load on any given server, over twelve hours of continued testing. The reason for that may be the smart allocation for the best server per computer system and/or the community trying to cleverly divide the load, while securing a better speed for themselves, as well.
The below screenshot shows a part of the available servers made just for streaming:
Streaming services such as YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Globo and others can be accessed and used without restriction to your heart’s desire. Netflix is accessed via servers in Canada and the United States, which gives you options to choose from.
Other geographically restricted services can be reached – that said in numbers is over 400 media services available via the VPN’s servers. CyberGhost is pleasurable to use when watching your favourite movies, TV shows, TV series, live streams, gaming recordings, demos or listening to radio stations. You just have to be smart and try servers best suited for each action, labeled “Optimized For“. These special servers are usually the best option you have at your disposal.
CyberGhost VPN also features servers that are used primarily for Torrenting. By clicking on the arrow on the right of any given location, it can be seen that there are dozens of servers at the same location available. And that applies for all types of servers. A person can clearly see what variety CyberGhost provides, in terms of servers, by browsing through the program’s interface.
Here is a screenshot of the “Torrenting” servers section:
Despite torrenting not being the main reason for people to use a VPN, the feature is being more sought after than ever before, on a global scale. Countries such as China for example are always seeking for a way to access content forbidden by their country’s laws, but those cases are few when the bigger picture is presented.
Companies and big businesses care more for security and little for torrenting. The home user might be looking only for this availability, however, governments can still ask ISPs to hand over the data of users of what websites are being accessed. CyberGhost VPN provides good availability of torrenting servers worldwide, although they are not so many in number compared to all other servers. Still, the stability of the connection is there and the speeds are quite good on a global level.
No downtime was observed over the two days of rigorous testing of CyberGhost. We also couldn’t find any negativity regardless the servers’ connectivity on the Internet, which speaks volumes.
What We Like
We enjoyed a lot of features of CyberGhost VPN, which in our opinion are big advantages:
- It is very easy to set up and use.
- No DNS leaks.
- All IPv6 connections can be turned off.
- Good browsing speeds.
- Free Trial available.
- Excellent SSL rating.
- Other connection features adding to privacy.
- Great Customer support.
- No logging.
What Is Missing
The software is great, but the company should always strive towards improvement, and we have noticed several areas that can be better:
- More advanced settings for tech-savvy users to configure.
- More servers. Torrenting servers could be more, and more country locations could be added to the server list.
- Torrent speed. The speed for downloading torrents is quite good, but it could be a little faster.
Conclusion
This is one of the most effective VPN services we have tested. It offers the OpenVPN, IPSec, PPTP and L2TP security protocols, encryption and other connection features to enhance privacy. With its service, the program is perfectly capable of providing a sustainable and secure VPN service, while also giving access to geo-restricted content without much loss in terms of speed.
Disclaimer! Keep in mind, that no VPN service provides complete security and privacy, but just adds one layer of protection in that direction. In addition, a VPN is held by a company. The company may change its policies or provide data to governments if National Security might be at stake. Using a VPN does not make you free of any rules and regulations – you have to abide by the laws of the country you reside in, the country hosting the VPN service and probably some others. You are not completely anonymous by simply setting and using a VPN.
Tsetso Mihailov
Tsetso Mihailov is a tech-geek and loves everything that is tech-related, while observing the latest news surrounding technologies. He has worked in IT before, as a system administrator and a computer repair technician. Dealing with malware since his teens, he is determined to spread word about the latest threats revolving around computer security.
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The top VPN product in the market
I was looking for a VPN for very long time and after learning the whole VPN thing i can tell you that this one is the best one by far !