Does hide.me Support VPN Cascading (Multihop)?

Last modified: July 20, 2022

VPN Cascading is supported and the security benefits can be invaluable.

The theory behind VPN cascading is the reverse of what happened with the Yahoo breach in 2014 in which a cascading effect was used to gain access to data higher up the chain, with information gained from less well-guarded data.

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Who is VPN Cascading For?

It is worth noting that VPN Cascading is aimed at those that really need the utmost security when online; because the disadvantages of it can weigh rather heavy on your usual everyday browsing experience.

• Freedom Seekers
• Journalists
• Downloaders
• E-Commerce Websites
• Financial Institutions

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How does VPN Cascading Work?

VPN Cascading involves you connecting to two or more VPN servers at any one time. When connecting to just one VPN server, there is a secure tunnel created between you and the server. This tunnel is there to keep any prying eyes away from your private information.

When connecting to a second VPN server, you then create another secure tunnel within the current secure tunnel. You don’t have to stop at two. In theory, you can connect to as many as you wish, but don’t expect it to be usable.

These VPN connections can be any number of different protocols and encryption methods. This is usually encouraged to make sure that anybody trying to intercept your current secure tunnel has to adapt to a number of different encryption methods in order to get to plain text information.

The advantages are pretty easy to see, layering tunnel within tunnel makes it an almost impossible task for any nefarious individual to gain access to your browsing data.

Add on to that the multitude of different types of encryption and authentication, anyone wanting to gain access to your private information is going to have a very hard time.

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The disadvantages of VPN Cascading

There are a number of disadvantages that make VPN Cascading somewhat unusable for everyday browsing. When you connect to just one VPN server, depending on the protocol and distance from the server, you are already taking somewhat of a hit on latency and overall internet speed.

This hit only increases depending on how far away the servers are from your physical location.

When you introduce many different hops for your information to take, the latency increases hugely, and your internet speed will suffer a similar fate. Not to mention the overhead that occurs from encryption and authentication.

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Using VPN Cascading to Improve Connection Performance

On the flip side of the disadvantages, one of VPN Cascading biggest weaknesses can sometimes become its biggest strength.

VPN servers are located all around the world and it isn’t uncommon to have a really poor latency when connecting to one on that is physically far away from you. By connecting to a VPN server closer that you have a better latency with, it can act as a middleman between you and the farther server.

This, in turn, can reduce latency and make what was once a server that was nigh on unusable, somewhat useful. This is something that is only achievable with VPN Cascading.

This method can be useful for those that require the ability to appear as though you are from another country, with as little impact to your internet capabilities as possible.

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How to setup VPN Cascading?

Since our VPN client app only supports one active connection at a time, you will need to set up the second VPN connection manually. To do so, please click here and follow the instructions.

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Conclusion

The use of VPN Cascading will only become more prevalent, especially with internet speeds rapidly growing around the world. With this increase in speed, the overhead introduced by VPN cascading could become negligible.

As it currently stands, VPN Cascading may be somewhat of a niche amongst privacy conscious users. This is mainly due to technological constraints, but that will change with time.

From a security standpoint, VPN Cascading is the ultimate when it comes to VPNs. The amount of work that is needed to break through at least two different secure VPN tunnels is enormous.

Even as new, more sophisticated encryption methods come about, VPN Cascading will always be a viable and simple solution to increase your security online.