VPNs make big privacy claims, but not all providers can back them up. It takes an audit to add veracity to important features like no logging and working kill switches, and ExpressVPN has just endured its 23rd self-inflicted assessment of its VPN service.
Commissioning independent cybersecurity experts KPGM to scrutinize its VPN, the audit focused on the ExpressVPN TrustedServer system. These are driveless servers, meaning that there is literally no hard disk drive, no SSD, no optical drive – nothing. Instead, they run purely on RAM, with a code block for the OS and VPN framework. So, when a server is rebooted, all data is lost.
While you might think that a VPN’s audit status isn’t particularly relevant to which gaming VPN you use, it really is. Privacy for accessing specific servers, as well as defense against targeted attacks from other players, are both very important. All top VPNs use auditing on a semi-regular basis, at least annually, making it a very important tool for ensuring the provider’s security.
“Independent assurance isn’t just a checkbox for us – it’s fundamental in our efforts towards trust and transparency,” says ExpressVPN’s chief information security officer, Aaron Engel. We’ve long considered ExpressVPN to be one of the best VPNs around, and once again, an audit backs this assertion.
Engel added: “Having KPMG evaluate our technologies and assess our privacy protections again demonstrates our unwavering commitment to maintaining the highest standards of user privacy protection.” The audit results mark each test as “no exceptions noted,” which is good news for privacy.
Alongside the audit, ExpressVPN has also confirmed the launch of new VPN servers in every US state. It now boasts 62 server locations in the USA, a huge increase from 24, and more than competitor NordVPN, which only has 22 locations in 12 states.
This has advantages both to the VPN provider and its customers. More servers mean the load is spread, which increases speed. In some cases, they’re closer to where users are located, again improving speed. ExpressVPN has added servers to popular areas such as Los Angeles and New Jersey, too.
Not all states have physical servers; however, virtual location servers – those with an IP address and locale information relating to a specific location – work in the same way. More US-based servers aren’t particularly useful for anyone outside the US, but sports fans can take advantage of these new VPN servers to avoid localized region-blocking of events.
It’s why we recommend choosing ExpressVPN, which remains a top choice for gaming. While it’s a bit pricier than some of the other options on our list, our 2023 ExpressVPN review awarded it a 9/10 score, saying that the provider is “the best on the market right now.”
In other VPN news, BulletVPN recently shut down, leaving plenty of lifetime subscriptions dead in the water, while ProtonVPN is suing Apple over the company’s monopolization of the App Store.
