Opera and its VPN: a really safe solution?

The need for have a VPN is increasing (more now with teleworking), since they provide you with an encrypted communication channel and will make you more anonymous by hiding your real IP. Also, existing services usually provide a lot of privacy, without logs of what you do. However, these services are paid (they exist for free, but they are not reliable at all), and that is where the Opera web browser can be an interesting alternative.

This Web navigator It is not as widely used as Chrome or Firefox, but it maintains a good number of users. Also, it is available for Linux natively and works quite well in general. Since version Opera 40, the free VPN service of this browser was also implemented, so that it would work on GNU / Linux distros.

In this sector it is often said that when something is free (freeware), the product is you. And they are usually quite successful. Generally, outside of the world of free and open source software, when programs and services are offered for free, it is usually because they make a profit by selling your data.

For all those who consider using the Free Opera VPN, to say that it can be interesting to encrypt the traffic and get a more secure channel than surfing normally. In addition, this service provides a bit more trust than other free VPN services whose providers are even more unknown and untrustworthy.

But, if it is an alternative if you don't want to pay for a VPN, it does not mean that it is a good alternative. In fact, if you are looking for a higher degree of protection, you better choose to pay for a VPN service. They are usually not expensive, and you will have greater confidence. The reason is that with the Opera service, the traffic will go through the servers of this company, therefore, it could be a double-edged sword:

• If HTTPS is used, the server of this VPN will not know the data being transferred, but it will know with HTTP.
• In terms of connections, the server will know from which ISP you are connected and which sites you are using. Whereas the ISP will only know that you are connected to the VPN server. That is, you have simply changed your server data ...
• Opera's servers are not in legal "havens" like other paid VPNs, but rather their servers are hosted in Canada, which implies.
• It will only protect traffic from the browser, and it will not protect traffic from other apps that connect to the network, as a paid VPN would.

In short, keep in mind that Opera's VPN is free, easy to activate from the browser itself, but it is nothing more than a proxy to channel data through their servers ...