The VPN server technology that is at the core of ExpressVPN infrastructure has been independently audited by PwC in another move by the VPN provider to increase trust and transparency in the industry.

(Ed: ExpressVPN is our number one VPN provider. Check out who else is in our best VPN buyers guide)

PwC’s security audit professionals examined ExpressVPN’s servers and code to confirm compliance with the company's published privacy policy, including its policy of not collecting activity logs or connection logs and to certify that its TrustedServer technology works as described.

A step in the right direction

The audit validates key security components rather than examining only the privacy-policy compliance. Other VPN providers that have carried out independent audits in the past couple of years include Tunnelbear (prior to its acquisition by McAfee), Mullvad, Surfshark, NordVPN and VyprVPN.

The first three were audited by German penetration testing specialist Cure53 and focused on the security aspect of their setup while the last two used PwC, the same consultancy firm that audited ExpressVPN. Most importantly, the audits focused on the no-logging policy rather than looking at the infrastructure holistically as ExpressVPN did.

Audit as a unique selling point?

Audits can be intrusive, expensive and time consuming. But they can also be very powerful marketing tools to differentiate yourself from the rest of the competition which is probably why ExpressVPN has jumped on the bandwagon at a latter stage but with more details.

It is worth noting that four out of these six VPN providers (ExpressVPN, Mullvad, TunnelBear and VyprVPN) are also members of the Center for Demoracy and Technology which has published a document related to the signals of trustworthy VPNs which is a basic template for auditing VPN providers.

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