- Obscura VPN just passed its first independent audit
- Leading audit firm, Cure53, couldn’t 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 audit has just proved that whatever it’s doing, it’s working. The VPN service passed the test with flying colors.
The report from Cure53 independently verified several aspects of Obscura VPN, including its innovative two-party VPN protocol, and found “no major security vulnerabilities.”
This successful audit could bring Obscura VPN closer to making it onto our ranking of the best VPNs, although its limited availability may remain a roadblock for some users.
“No major security vulnerabilities”
On the surface, every VPN can seem as trustworthy as the next one. 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 up even when verified by third-party auditors.
The audit was carried out by a team of Cure53 researchers, a leading audit firm. It’s a comprehensive test, covering 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 the test, Cure53 spotted two low-impact vulnerabilities within the Obscura VPN service. Both have been fixed since. A few more miscellaneous issues have been spotted, but most were either promptly fixed or deemed to be false positives.
Overall, the research team only had good things to say about Obscura. An excerpt from the audit reads: “Obscura is a well-engineered 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 verifies our 2-Party Relay design’s best-in-class privacy guarantees, and attests to our diligent engineering practices. Our users deserve an open and private internet with no compromises, 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 get-go, as it promised to never be able to track your browsing data.
Some of the most private VPNs don’t keep any 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 managed independently by two different providers. Its partner is Mullvad VPN, which also highly values anonymity. To keep your data fully hidden, Obscura encrypts your internet connection via the WireGuard protocol and then sends it on 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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