The Adguard VPN is excellent, I have three multi-year licenses. I also have three lifetime licenses to Adguard Adblocker. Have run it on Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows. I have long found Adguard to be the best adblocker running, have tried most, but none work as well as Adguard which has fewer issues and it blocks more ads. The combination have issues with Sophos, but not with Kaspersky or Bitdefender.
I did stop using full client and just used the browser extension for Adblocker, but only because full-client has issues with one phone being voip and ethernet routing through the phone (plug the phone line into the computer directly and all work fine.) Both the extension and full-client are excellent and with Brave as your brower and the Adguard extension the AdBlock Tester result is 100%. That combination also does the best of any other browser when tested using the EFF’s coveryourtracks test (some extensions caused a reduction in score here, and thus were removed. Other browsers don’t even come close to Brave, and I tried/tested them all.)
Unfortunately, due to the situation in Ukraine, I have removed both AdGuard adblocker and AdGuard VPN from Brave and my iOS/Windows devices. I also switched from Kaspersky to BitDefender…and re-initialized all my devices. While I have indeed read the Adguard comments on the situation and their position, and sympathize, I simply don’t find the risk acceptable as unlikely as it might be that the Russian government will force them to comply with any shady directives. I have instead purchased ProtonVPN Plus and use SecureCore. It’s slower than AdGuard with Secure Core (understandable, it’s doing an extra hop, it’s about the same with SecureCore turned off) and it does not block as many ad’s as Adguard, but Proton’s model and attention to security are unparalleled IMO.
All that said, no device is completely secure no matter what applications you use or don’t use. If you are comfortable with Adguard and their position use it. It’s an excellent product and the company and their support team is outstanding. I will continue to monitor how Adguard tries to address the concerns I and others have.
From their website.
I think Adguard Home is open source, you could have a look at that and run it at home. Partially solving the problem.
Edit: in my opinion ‘hacking’ Adguard doesn’t make sense, I shouldn’t worry too much.
Changes the software used, where it is installed, and on what. But it does not address the fundamental concern related to where Adguard development personnel live, under what government’s rules and regulations, and who has access to the source code. I applaud Adguard Home for being open source, though I find no record of that source code having been audited. Even if referenced, audits are done periodically not constantly, and just one breach or bug can be a critical issue.
I have decided that in today’s geo-political environment, with hackers in most countries actively looking to exploit both companies and users in targeted organizations or regions, to try and minimize the opportunities where feasible. I do recognize as long as I have a device that connects to the internet, no matter the vendor, every device is unique and trackable. Perhaps not to the average hacker, but certainly to those supported by or associated with governments.
Ultimately, to me, both Kaspersky (operated by a holding company in the United Kingdom) and Adguard (headquarters in Cyprus) make excellent products. Both organizations have made products that have incredible insight into your activites when installed, and both companies have active relationships with, and offices in, Russia.
Kaspersky and Adguard are not unique in this regard, the same situation applies in virtually all countries, further complicated by a company wanting to do business in another country where new rules further complicate the scenario. Thus I recognize that most all products have similar potential issues, either with who their parent company is, where they build their devices/applications.
I have decided not too use either product, for now anyway, as a personal choice as neither has aleviated my concerns in this regard. As I said, if you are comfortable running either product I encourage you to do so. I loved using both, and thought they were the best available, but both have issues (for me) in their ongoing relationship with Russia. While it’s probably unfair to penalize either because of that, such is the price they might pay with some based on that countries government’s actions. People use many different solutions that have similar issues, so it’s not like most people are going to care. Some do though, and thus don’t patronize Facebook, TikTok, or similar products with similar issues. Profits, or lack thereof, drive a companies business model in multiple ways but customers can impact that model based on whether they do care…or not.
I feel so sorry for you.
Don’t. I am perfectly happy with the choices I have made, and hope you have the same option to make your own decisions in this regard.
VPN providers, if you elect to use one, have the same insight into your traffic that your ISP does if you don’t use one. Personally, I trust Proton with my internet traffic more than I do my ISP or most browser/extension developers…especially with Secure Core enabled.