Golden Frog Celebrates Five Years

In 2009, after nearly a decade of visiting Washington DC to fight for legislation to protect the online privacy of United States citizens, our founders came to the realization that we weren’t going to get any help from the government. So, instead of getting mad (well, maybe a little frustrated) our founders decided to get even – and Golden Frog was born on December 18, 2009.

As discussed in our Vision Paper: “Peace, Prosperity and the Case for the Open Internet“, Golden Frog has two primary goals:

1. Provide and maintain unrestricted access to a truly Open Internet experience around the world.
2. Make security easy so regular people (not just the technical elite) have access to encryption tools that provide a reasonable level of online privacy and security.

Golden Frog’s inception predates the Snowden leaks and the NSA scandal by four years. When this news broke it shocked most of the the technology community, unfortunately we were not surprised at all. We became aware of the use of Deep Packet Inspection to monitor, record and store network traffic in 2005, including AT&T’s now infamous Room 614A. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will argue on Friday before a federal court that the (NSA) is violating the Fourth Amendment by conducting Deep Packet Inspection in AT&T Room 614A. As longtime supporters of EFF, we hope they are victorious in protecting US citizens’ fundamental rights. Concurrent with the Room 614A discovery, network providers, such as AT&T, also updated their terms of service to allow for it to happen.

VyprVPN was developed to encrypt Internet connections (fixed, mobile and portable) and make it difficult for anyone performing Deep Packet Inspection to monitor, record or store the data sent from our VyprVPN service. To ensure maximum user privacy, Golden Frog:

• Is the only company handling your data
• Owns the servers
• Writes our own code
• Operates a zero knowledge DNS
• Runs our own network

We also headquartered Golden Frog in Meggen, Switzerland for maximum protection of users’ personal data online. Over the last 5 years, we worked hard to deliver great privacy services and products with VyprVPN, Dump Truck and Cyphr.

Today, the online privacy sector is robust with many startups and entrepreneurs offering services. We welcome the competition because it makes the online privacy community stronger! But we still treasure our role as “privacy veterans.” Today, on our fifth birthday, please allow us to share some of our highlights and milestones over the last half-decade that have made Golden Frog what it is today.

• December 18, 2009 – Golden Frog established and VyprVPN Beta launched
• July 14, 2010 – VyprVPN personal VPN launches in response to online privacy concerns
• September 21, 2010 – L2TP/IPsec added to VyprVPN
• October 13, 2010 – NAT Firewall feature available
• November 29, 2012 – VyprVPN mobile apps released for Android and iOS
• December 6, 2012 – Dump Truck secure online storage launched
• January 16, 2013 – VyprVPN for Mac launched
• March 11, 2013 – First SXSW Take Back Your Internet party
• March 17, 2013 – Golden Frog shares its vision for the future of the Internet
• March 29, 2013 –  Golden Frog signs letter to US Congress supporting mobile phone unlocking
• August 6, 2013 – VyprVPN for Business launched
• November 20, 2013 – 2.0 VyprVPN app launched
• January 28, 2014 –  New Chameleon™ technology defeats VPN blocking
• March 4, 2014 – Second annual Take Back Your Internet SXSW party & privacy panel
• May 15, 2014 – VyprDNS – Encrypted, Zero-Logging DNS launched
• June 25, 2014 – New “Give a Month, Get a Month” VyprVPN referral program
• July 9, 2014 – VPN Myths Busted – I am Anonymous When I Use a VPN – 7 Myths Debunked
• July 18, 2014 – Why Netflix speeds for Verizon users Are 10x faster when using VyprVPN
• July 21, 2014 – Golden Frog files comments with the FCC
• July 22, 2014 – reddit Chooses VyprVPN for Business to secure its employees online
• August 19, 2014 – Cyphr encrypted messaging app launched
• September 11, 2014 – Kill Switch made available in the VyprVPN desktop apps

700+ servers in 5 years – 47 locations, 38 countries, 5 continents