Overview
Golden Frog touts their Chameleon technology, available in the VyprVPN apps on the Windows, Mac, and Android platforms, as technology that will bypass restrictive networks, whether from governments, corporations, or ISPs. It does this by encrypting the underlying data using the OpenVPN protocol. OpenVPN has a history of being very secure—even against the NSA—but being tough to set up, needing third party software. OpenVPN is also not mobile friendly. The proprietary Chamelon technology from VyprVPN is intended to convey the benefits of the OpenVPN protocol in an easier manner, and with it being available in Android marks a definite step forward in mobile VPN with real security.
If you are a user who lives in a country known for policing internet content—China, Russia, India, or pretty much anywhere in the Middle East—you have experienced content blocking. And all around the world, it’s not difficult to find users who’ve experienced VPN blocking outright, or bandwidth throttling that reduces speed to a crawl.
For instance, China has been able to identify and block encrypted communication, using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) targeting mostly Western content like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, file sharing sites. This has made using VPN alone largely ineffective against the “Great Firewall” of China over the last few years. And there is a growing list of countries that routinely block Internet content and more government entities that keep tabs on the supposedly secure VPN activities of their citizens. Those wishing to bypass censorship from anywhere in the world may find Golden Frog’s VyprVPN just the ticket to an unrestricted internet experience.
There is no extra charge for Chameleon, as it is included with both VyprVPN Pro and VyprVPN Premier accounts. There is no iOS version due to Apple restrictions on VPN.
Interested users can receive a complimentary 3-day VyprVPN trial.
Advantages
- Encrypts OpenVPN packet metadata to foil Deep Packet Inspection
- Uses secure OpenVPN protocol for the encryption
- Avoids bandwidth throttling by firewalls
- Avoids government censorship—proven effective in China
- Android platform
- Uses ephemeral key changes for security
Disadvantages
- Not available on iOS yet
- 3rdparty software, so lack of transparency
- No variable protocol, like with SlickVPN, to control security level