What is WireGuard?

The name itself is a bit of an issue for me: “WireGuard” implies a certain level of control and monitoring that is a tad reminiscent of George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984”. And even if you don#t have an issue with that, while WireGuard promises to be faster and easier to use than traditional VPN protocols like OpenVPN, it also has other significant drawbacks that cannot be ignored.

First and foremost, WireGuard has some weaknesses that are frankly quite difficult to ignore. For example, it doesn’t support IPv6, which is becoming increasingly important in a world where IPv4 addresses are becoming scarcer and close to running out.

WireGuard doesn’t block deep-packet inspection

Additionally, WireGuard doesn’t block deep-packet inspection, making it unsuitable for use in certain situations, such as trying to bypass the Great Firewall of China. However, obfuscation tunnels can be supported as a layer on top of WireGuard’s architecture easily enough. Here’s a video explaining how to do it:

WireGuard also lacks some important features that are standard in other VPN protocols, such as support for obfuscation and port forwarding.

What else do I need to know?

WireGuard has clearly been designed to be very lightweight and efficient, and don’t forget it’s fully open source too.

All of this helps to improve its speed & security even further. In contrast to other VPN protocols like OpenVPN, which use more complex and resource-intensive algorithms, WireGuard uses state-of-the-art cryptography that’s both simpler and faster. In short, this means that it can process data more quickly, which results in faster connection speeds for VPN users like you.

However, the fact that WireGuard only supports UDP can also be a downside in some situations – because UDP doesn’t have built-in error correction or flow control, it can sometimes be less reliable than other protocols in situations where packets may be lost or dropped. This can result in a lower connection quality.

Is WireGuard Secure?

Yes, in fact WireGuard is one of the safest protocols – some even go as far as calling it ultra-safe. It safeguards your data from prying eyes with the help of cutting-edge cryptography and simplified coding. It’s one of the most secure VPN protocols out there, keeping your online activities hidden from prying eyes.

What’s more, WireGuard’s security is enhanced by its ease of use in comparison to the rather cluttered OpenVPN, which requires a more sophisticated setup and is more prone to errors and misconfigurations. For newbies and others new to VPNs, compared to OpenVPN at least, it’s a doddle. 🙂

How fast is WireGuard?

A comparison test showed that under typical settings, WireGuard’s raw speed was around 15% faster than OpenVPN’s.

Things got more interesting once WireGuard was switched over to use the slower TCP option – here, WireGuard was twice as quick. In almost every use case, when compared to OpenVPN, WireGuard is faster and has a smaller impact on battery life too. Both protocols are open-source and have minimal security flaws, however WireGuard is preferred by most users nowadays because of its superiority in efficiency and a better feature-set.

WireGuard vs IKEv2

WireGuard and IPSec/IKEv2 are two rapid VPN technologies available today. IPSec also known as IKEv2 is a more well-established protocol, but WireGuard is built right into the Linux kernel and makes use of state-of-the-art cryptographic primitives. In some cases, IPSec/IKEv2 was shown to be faster than WireGuard, however this was not the case in others.

While WireGuard requires additional files to be installed, IKEv2 is supported by the majority of devices out of the box. WireGuard, on the other hand, has an advantage due to its cutting-edge cryptography libraries. In most situations, IKEv2 may be expected to be quick and light on the CPU.

Check out our WireGuard vs. OpenVPN comparison too.

Who owns WireGuard?

It’s owned and developd by Jason A. Donenfeld.

Donenfeld – already well-known in Linux circles – dreamed of an alternative to the more involved VPN protocols like OpenVPN and IPSec. He set out to design a Virtual Private Network (VPN) protocol that would be both user-friendly and secure.

When WireGuard was finally released, it went through an extensive development process and numerous revisions. A notable step forward for the protocol came when it was incorporated into the Linux kernel for the first time in 2019.

Since then, WireGuard has seen massive growth in use by VPN users, programmers, and businesses alike. Many VPN services already use it, and it’s been accepted by industry heavyweights like Google, Cloudflare, and Mozilla.

As it’s open source, and therefore anyone can download and edit the code, this perhaps explains why it hasn’t ever been sold to a larger company. To this day is still maintained by a small team of volunteers, developers and geeks. Original backers Mullvad and IVPN, though they don’t have any control or say in how WireGuard is run, still use it.

WireGuard has only been around for a short period of time, yet it has had a significant influence on the VPN industry. Many users and developers choose it because of its cutting-edge design and emphasis on simplicity and security.

So should I use WireGuard?

One thing is for sure here: WireGuard is a truly ground-breaking piece of tech. There’s no denying its advantages: it outperforms previous protocols in terms of speed, ease of use, and safety. However, there are costs and benefits to everything.

• WireGuard is the best option if you want the latest and greatest in security technology. Most of the top VPNs use it already.
  It has excellent cryptographic primitives and a leaner codebase than older, more cumbersome programmes, making it more secure. That said, it’s far from ideal. There are many unanswered questions because WireGuard is so new and hasn’t yet gained widespread adoption.
• On the one hand, you have a technology that promises to be more secure than anything before it, while also being significantly more efficient.
  In a nutshell, we have cutting-edge innovation that hasn’t been put through its paces yet.

The final decision I leave up to you. But one thing is certain: be vigilant and cautious with all technological advances, and always question the motives of those who seek to exploit our personal information for their own gain.