PSA: Do NOT use VPN-Secure (vpnsecure.me) - Warrant Canary tripped

VPN Forum
1

Lots of people are grabbing VPNs this Black Friday / Cyber Monday. Many potential buyers flock to avenues such as StackSocial where they are served Lifetime VPN deals. VPN-Secure is one such VPN offering a lifetime deal: https://stacksocial.com/sales/vpn-secure-online-privacy-subscriptions

Be warned, DO NOT use this VPN service. Their warrant canary has tripped, meaning that they have been trying to warn their users that they are under a gag order. This is how their warrant canary looked when it was live: https://web.archive.org/web/20181212185629/https://www.vpnsecure.me/files/canary.txt

Notice how it states “If there is no statement, please proceed with caution”. The link https://www.vpnsecure.me/files/canary.txt is now dead - meaning the canary has tripped and that VPN-Secure is compromised.

Kudos to the VPN-Secure team for having a warrant canary in place and doing everything in their power to alert their users!

2

Good to know. Sucks for there business though.

3

How did you found out about this?

4

I have this. Should I just delete it from my computer is that all I can do?

5

Cam someone explain what this means?

6

WTF. They’re still out there advertising NO LOGS?

7

I came across this 3 year old post. As of today, https://www.vpnsecure.me/files/canary.txt shows the following. Does that mean they are no longer under a gag order or other legal pressure?

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----------BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Statement VPNSecure has not been silenced by legal and or anti-democratic law. Last updated Wed 29 Oct 2018 20:55:18 EDT

If there is no statement, please proceed with caution


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.14 (GNU/Linux)

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJb1wKfAAoJEMdR087hY+2tKLkIAJeewQuA4dcInqP9uxrILhl2
pqxpb2U2HX0G28tro6J6gn2hqqKGu9Hd4WxTYWjIISJLfy9XSYDNcUeyVCkv9hbV
7FuROWZBeSaaufWjopUJHQj6X5DeeJwUPwggkoKN5zNL3FuMiKm8rqYlRzn5rhTf
F5R3nmNAnwJhcD/fwKLfo2Rd9WFtySqR0W/2vxoZLxQsfzGjYGHaQSePDTa39pmd
VCUxOTaMZawhEnPTOJ0K8FQGaciaqjJueqRiTI5RylwXSjlm5TBCpjaHq1+nHZ9W
OifjNFaaSkaZVDlscN/y9tHKw1I57RNXoCkGjIK7j+nrOk+Ld+DlWLVGYD3Hulo=
=y6b+
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Hash: SHA1
8

Is this VPN even usable now?

9

Looks like the iOS app is not longer supported , anyone else having this issue ?

10

True, they valued honesty and trust - and paid a heavy price for it. Sad.

11

I go over Canary Watch periodically. This Black Friday sale, I was on StackSocial seeing if I could land a great deal and hopped onto Canary Watch for a quick background check.

https://canarywatch.org/vpnsecure/

12

Just don’t use it anymore.

13

A gag order means that a government agency can order the company not to reveal the fact that the said company is now having to cooperate with the government agency (for a VPN, cooperation would mean having to log, etc.)

Warrant canaries are designed to get past this issue. As long as the canary is being updated (and hence “alive”), we know that everything is okay. When the canary stops being updated / is removed, it is the company’s attempt at letting you know that something is amiss. This does not violate the law or the gag order because the company isn’t “telling” its customers they were compromised - it is just a passive hint. Hope this helps!

14

From what I remember a gag order is that the govt wants them to say smth but at the same time to shut the fuck up about it

15

They are probably compelled to. (Legally bound to.)

16

I was checking in on vpnsecure myself because it’s been awhile since I updated their app and saw that their canary watch had been reinstated. Their service had become somewhat flaky in recent years with shifting server addresses and connection timeouts so was actually half-expecting to see that they’d gone under. Guess I will keep googling until I can get more positive resolution of this question.

17

I mean, it is usable… It connects you to the internet and stuff, and they regularly update the servers list in your account page. So, it is usable in that sense

18

Thanks for this info. It seems the site is longer maintained? I’m kind of confused by the notice.

19

Thanks for this information

20

It says last checked in 2015. Has it been like this for that long?