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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Surfshark has launched a brand new VPN protocol that guarantees higher safety and barrier-breaking speeds.
- As an alternative of sharing a tunnel with different consumer site visitors, Dausos supplies every consumer with their very own tunnel.
- Preliminary exams reveal promise, but it surely is not fairly there, but, when it comes to efficiency in comparison with WireGuard.
Surfshark has unveiled Dausos, a brand new digital non-public community (VPN) protocol designed to enhance consumer-grade VPN speeds and safety.
What’s Dausos?
Named after the Lithuanian phrase for heaven and as a nod to ascendence, Dausos is Surfshark’s proprietary VPN protocol, which the corporate hopes will set it other than the likes of WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 as a purpose-built protocol designed for client VPN use.
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The corporate says that whereas many protocols utilized by VPN networks at this time weren’t initially designed for client use — and have been as a substitute merely tailored to be match for function — Dausos has been particularly constructed for this job.
What makes it completely different?
In response to Surfshark, Dausos makes use of AEGIS-256X2 as a substitute of the extensively used AES-GCM, however the important thing distinction is that it supplies a separate, devoted site visitors tunnel for every consumer. Usually, you’d share these tunnels with different VPN consumer site visitors, however by forging particular person paths, the hope is that Dausos creates a cleaner, extra streamlined expertise and reduces the potential danger of site visitors contamination or publicity.
In a Reddit thread, Karolis Kačiulis, Main System Engineer at Surfshark, mentioned:
“When users share a tunnel, one user’s traffic load can interfere with another’s, meaning your packets get handled slower because the server is busy processing other users’ packets. With Dausos, each user gets a dedicated tunnel, so that problem goes away.”
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Surfshark says this protocol might present as much as 30% sooner speeds than different protocols, together with WireGuard — the protocol Surfshark, together with most different VPN suppliers — makes use of by default.
Moreover, using AEGIS-256X2 encryption is a safety enchancment and might also assist shield in opposition to future assaults as a post-quantum resolution.
Backing Dausos claims
Introducing any new main encryption know-how or protocol all the time carries dangers, so to again up its claims, Surfshark engaged impartial auditor Cure53 to conduct an evaluation.
“With no findings rated at Critical or High severity within the actual Dausos protocol itself, the audit results reflect a stable and resilient platform,” the evaluation (.PDF) reads. “The Surfshark team demonstrated a significant commitment to security by remediating the majority of the findings immediately following the testing phase.”
This does not imply it has all been honest winds, nonetheless, as upon launch, some testers discovered Dausos didn’t carry out properly with residential connections. Nonetheless, Surfshark quickly developed and deployed a repair, which seems to have resolved the difficulty.
Set up, testing, and remaining ideas
For the time being, Dausos is barely obtainable on macOS, though Surfshark plans to roll out the protocol to different platforms sooner or later.
To check out the brand new protocol, guarantee your app is updated with the newest model. Nevertheless, it will not seem underneath your VPN’s protocol choice tab if in case you have downloaded the Surfshark app instantly from the VPN supplier’s web site. As an alternative, go to the Apple App Retailer and obtain the Dausos app, which is in beta.
I examined the brand new protocol in opposition to my preliminary unprotected connection and WireGuard, and located it labored properly throughout the board for shopping the Web and streaming on each Netflix and YouTube, so it appears the preliminary teething points have been ironed out.
Everytime you use a VPN, you’re introducing a intermediary between your system and a web-based service, and so it’s best to anticipate a drop in speeds — though when your preliminary connection is comparatively quick, it’s possible you’ll not discover the distinction.
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I discovered that Surfshark with WireGuard enabled lowered obtain speeds by 35.54% and add speeds by 6.30%. In contrast with Dausos, obtain speeds decreased by 38.25% and add speeds decreased by 4.88%.
Total, WireGuard nonetheless carried out higher for obtain speeds, whereas Dausos edged forward in add velocity retention. (As connection and environmental components all differ, take into account this solely a snapshot of what it’s possible you’ll anticipate — as your expertise might be fully completely different.)
Backside line
Dausos has potential, and given the marginal efficiency variations in comparison with WireGuard, I might suggest attempting it out, particularly since we’re more likely to see enhancements because the beta protocol continues to be refined. And if it entices you additional, it is good to know that it’s free and obtainable to all Surfshark subscribers.
Will it ever change into open supply so the VPN and safety trade can profit as a complete? When this query was posed to Kačiulis, he mentioned that it’s not doable in the course of the early launch part — however Surfshark “see[s] the benefits of it and it’s something we’re actively discussing.”
“We’ll keep you updated as we continue to evaluate our open-source strategy,” the engineer added.
