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VPN protocols define how your data is transmitted when using a VPN.
However, there are pros and cons to using WireGuard.
What is WireGuard?
WireGuard began its life in just 2016.
It was originally started by the security researcher Jason A. Donenfeld.
He saw shortcomings in existing VPN protocols that he didnt like.
Originally, Donenfeld was a vulnerability researcher.
In its first version, WireGuard was specifically made for Linux.
This is seen in its code with under 5,000 lines in total.
In comparison to other protocols such as OpenVPN or IKEv2, that is tiny.
By doing this, WireGuard has fewer bugs and security vulnerabilities.
It also means there is less CPU usage and therefore faster connection times.
This smaller amount of code is seen in newer VPN protocols like WireGuard or ExpressVPNs Lightway.
This is why WireGuard is often seen with some of thefastest VPNs.
WireGuard forgoes the standard 256-bit AES encryption.
That, on the face of it, sounds bad, but it is one of WireGuards strengths.
Instead, WireGuard uses more modern encryption protocols including Curve25519, ChaCha20, Poly1305 and BLAKE2.
These cryptography systems make WireGuard more secure and efficient and a frequent feature on some of themost secure VPNs.
Unlike a VPN protocol such asOpenVPN, WireGuard can run inside the Linux kernel.
This aids performance, making WireGuard faster and able to transmit more data overall.
Drawbacks of WireGuard
As mentioned above, simplicity, speed and security are WireGuard’s specialities.
This does mean it has some drawbacks in other areas.
Most noticeably, WireGuard lacks some features its competitors have, such as the ability to allocatedynamic IP addresses.
These are IP addresses that arent static but will change over time.
This is a system that encrypts VPN data using a new private key every session.
While this isnt found in all VPN protocols, it is becoming more common.
A final consideration of WireGuard is that it only supports UDP.
Most VPN providers offer both TCP and UDP.
WireGuard, like a lot of other VPN protocols, is very open about its problems.
It has a full page addressing them onits website.
However, that by no means makes it less secure than other VPN protocols.
NordVPN, one of the most popular VPNs around, has their ownNordlynx protocol.
This gets around WireGuard revealing a home IP address to the VPN server.
