Techlore Talks IVPN Breaks Industry Silence on Logs, Audits & Affiliate Scams
Jul 24, 2025
Viktor Vescei, COO of IVPN with extensive experience in privacy-focused VPN operations, dives deep into the dark side of the VPN industry. He argues that true no-logs verification is impossible and that many audits are mere 'snapshots in time.' Viktor reveals that IVPN abandoned its affiliate program due to rampant misinformation and stresses the need for transparency in VPN marketing. He also discusses the evolving landscape of VPN use cases, the challenges of balancing privacy with streaming needs, and the importance of threat modeling.
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Career Pivot From Ads To Privacy
- Viktor left ad/ adult industry work because data tracking conflicted with his values.
- He joined IVPN to build privacy-first products and learned tech on the job.
Independence Beats Quick Exits
- IVPN turned down acquisition offers to preserve long-term privacy goals over short-term profit.
- Owner Nick remains sole shareholder to avoid VC pressure and reinvest profits into privacy work.
Compartmentalize VPN Use
- Compartmentalize streaming and sensitive activities with split tunneling or a separate browser.
- Use browser-specific routing or SOCKS5 proxies to keep banking outside the VPN tunnel.