Surfing The Web Securely Is Made Simple With Surfeasy
The more our lives become digitized the harder it becomes for us to see when our basic rights to privacy are being violated. SurfEasy delivers accessible solutions that help put the user back in the driver's seat of their online privacy. We asked them a few questions about why and how they do their work, and here's what we found. Share
Please layout the story behind SurfEasy.
We launched SurfEasy in 2011 with our first product, the Private Browser, which was a unique USB based web browser and VPN solution all in one. We created it in response to the widespread need for simply, easy-to-use security solutions; it was one of the first online privacy tools for the mass market. The success of the Private Browser gave us the drive and means we needed to move even further into the privacy arena
From there, we launched our VPN—made for both mobile and desktop. The SurfEasy VPN quickly became our best-selling product and we focused our attentions on it. Our user base quickly grew to millions around the globe.
Today, in addition to our own products, the SurfEasy Private Network powers data encryption solutions for a number of tech partners, and is natively integrated into products like the Opera Desktop Browser. We've remained steadfastly at the front of privacy technology and pride ourselves on making online security accessible to all.
What measures are being taken at SurfEasy to prevent outsiders as well as employees from looking at your users' data?
SurfEasy has grown over the years and now engineers VPN solutions for some of the largest internet companies. We currently power web browsers, internet security companies and OEMs. These companies choose SurfEasy because of our great reputation, so it's important to us that we preserve it. We go through several diligence processes with our partners to validate our compliance with our privacy policy. Our promise to our partners and to our users is that we do not log anything that is not required to provide our core service. Our privacy policy outlines the details, but essentially we do not log any data that could be used to link our users' identities to their online activities. This means that there is nothing on hand that could be examined by outsiders, and no information for our employees to see either.
What is your most popular server location and why?
Our largest customer base and the most popular server location for our services is the United States. This popularity is likely due to a combination of factors. Some customers choose to connect to the US region because it offers relatively unrestricted internet access. Additionally, our Optimized connection often routes users to the US by default as it typically delivers the fastest service.
What do you think about the new security features implemented on smartphone operating systems, such as iOS 10, google VPN and others?
Security and privacy requires a multi-pronged approach and a VPN alone is certainly not the entire solution. Device security should form a huge part of this approach, so it's great to see smartphone manufacturers and OS providers take this on. Like us, both have a duty to continue to enhance the security within their own systems.
What can businesses (such as cafes and libraries) do to secure their public WiFi connections? Should this be an obligatory practice?
This is a difficult one for most small (or large) businesses who provide public WiFi access. The most secure solutions are often the least convenient for the end user—and even if the WiFi network is secured in the sense that others on the network cannot see your usage, the end user is still left to wonder if the WiFi operator itself is trustworthy. How many times have you been at an airport and seen multiple free WiFi hotspots and been left to figure which one is legit?
We created SurfEasy for this very reason. It's much better to use one trustworthy VPN that puts your security back into your hands than to gamble on hundreds of unknown WiFi hotspots and ISPs.