For many people, VPN has become ‘good manners’ in the network: bypassing blocking, anonymity and data protection. But is a regular single vpn-server enough?
Let's review the terms
VPN - virtual private network, i.e. virtual private network. The term, objectively speaking, is not very clear to the average user: some kind of network, also virtual-private network... In simple words, vpn is a server(s) to which we connect from our device via an encrypted channel (tunnel), and from this server we go further into the Internet for our business: website, messenger, instagram, etc. This means that our final destination (website/messenger/instagram) receives our connection not directly but through the vpn-server, i.e. the destination does not see more than the server: instead of our ip-address the target sees the vpn's ip-address. This provides anonymity, as well as bypassing national blocking (as a side effect in fact). In addition, the encrypted tunnel allows us to hide both our target (where we went) and the traffic itself (what we are doing there) from the eyes of the ISP/cellular operator/ SORM/special services. Well, that's pretty good.
DoubleVPN - as the name obviously suggests - is a chain of already two vpn servers (on the route between us and our destination). This means that we will change the ip-address twice, following to the destination, and that our traffic will also be encrypted twice, first time: from us to vpn1; second time: from vpn1 to vpn2.
What is the point?
Suppose we, being in Russia, go to the same Russian resource (avito, for example), using a single-server vpn: to vpn2. As you can see, in this case it is not so difficult to de-anonymize us:
one SORM request from the site "where did it come from?" - ip of our vpn
SORM-request from ISP "where did you go? - The ip of our vpn, aka
Literally, two requests narrow the search to a maximum of 10-20 customers, of which distinguish us directly - a simple matter of comparing indirect data (time, activity on the site, the frequency of visits - here we are and get caught).
Now let's do the same thing, but replace the regular vpn with double: And here we can't get away with just two lousy requests - the ip will be different. And then it is much harder to dig: interstate requests, different jurisdictions, different grounds, not every country has SORM analogues, and where they do exist, they do not always work on the same principles. And relations between countries today, to put it mildly, do not favor such processes.
Moreover, if doublevpn servers are located in different countries/jurisdictions, we get as many as three jurisdictions in the chain, which makes our de-anonymization practically futile. In practice, no one will do it until the amount of damage exceeds at least $50,000 - the entry threshold by Interpol standards (not to mention the fact that Interpol bureau in any country has no more than 50-100 employees: imagine their daily workload and you can easily assess the risks).
To summarize
DoubleVPN is a worthwhile thing, there is nothing to argue about. Additional level of anonymity (almost impenetrable) + additional layer of encryption (which will confuse all the cards, even with a thorough investigation). Someone will say: "but what about the speed? I heard it's very slow". Well, we invite you to test it for only $7/month, and make sure: 20-30-(and even)-70Mbps is an objective reality of our doublevpn's. While the world is full of rumors, we do our job.