Virtual and private networks or VPNs are cybersecurity products. Today, many private corporations provide a VPN service against a monthly fee to protect individuals on the internet. Thus, a VPN is crucial for your online safety and privacy. However, like other digital products, a VPN is also prone to failure. We are not talking about the conceptual flaws of the service, as we have already covered that, proving that VPNs aren’t foolproof. But as software, VPN can face glitches, bugs, and stability issues and thus fail.
Although severe, a VPN failure can lead to user jeopardy. Hence, to answer if a VPN can truly yield and die or not, we have prepared this article. Besides giving you a yes or no answer, we want to figure out what to do to avoid such issues, and how to mitigate the damage that was already done. Let’s start.
Can a VPN fail?
Yes, VPNs are digital products that can experience failure. It is software that allows user clients to tunnel through a network and connect to a VPN server. Hence, a VPN can embolden users’ privacy and online security needs. However, a VPN is not the penultimate of cybersecurity. It is prone to failures such as crashes, improper connection, unauthorized access, overcrowded servers, and the inability to establish a VPN tunnel. When it works, it is one of the best online security tools, but a connection failure can be a user nightmare. Thus, a working VPN is essential to your online safety.
But as we have already expressed, it is a service before it is a network. As a digital service that works in the shape of software, there are numerous reasons behind a VPN failure. Thus, to answer questions like is VPN able to fail, we have to accept that it can. From human error to buggy execution and glitchy source codes, the software can malfunction at any given time. The same holds for a VPN service. Before we talk about corporate VPNs, as they are purely communication networks, we have to address the consumer ones.
We know that VPNs are a service that aims to improve a user’s privacy and security by employing protocols and tunneling. But sometimes, they can fail due to such protocols or tunneling execution. We also know that encryption is a salient point of a VPN, and sadly a weak encryption execution can lead to a faulty VPN. Sometimes users tend to forget their password and ID, and sometimes they don’t employ the optimal settings. To conclude, human error can also contribute to failure.
Why does a VPN fail?
Having deduced that a VPN is not indifferent to failures, let us try to understand the reasons behind it:
The VPN connection got rejected
The rejection of a connection is the most common reason behind VPN failure. It can stem from unauthorized access and faulty security protocols. Overcrowding of a particular server can also result in denial. Similarly, human error, internet connection, subscription status, VPN blocking, firewalls, and antivirus software can all cause a VPN connection refusal. Hence, the user has to ensure whether the Routing and Remote Access service is running properly; Only afterward can the user try pinging the VPN server to verify the basic TCP/IP connectivity.
Accepting an unauthorized connection
Yet another reason why a VPN fails is the unauthorized access being granted. Although it is highly uncommon, it is more severe. Someone else can gain access to your VPN account, and prevent you from accessing it. Today, the security of operating platforms and VPN clients is impossible to penetrate. But a malicious party with your credentials can easily cause irreparable harm. Similarly, for corporate VPNs, the security is focused on external threats. If someone with access tries to mess up the internal network, a VPN can’t prevent it.
Inability to reach locations beyond the VPN server or establish a tunnel
The VPN experiences service limitations as it can never extend beyond the network. The origin is the client, and the exit is the server. Afterward, the network isn’t liable to the VPN. Hence, if a problem occurs after leaving the server, a VPN can’t deal with it. Thus, it gets limited by scope and fails to perform. At times, due to improper handling of keys or handshake exchange, security protocols fail to integrate a tunnel between the server and the client. A VPN without tunneling is nothing.
What to do if a VPN fails?
As VPN failure is common, users also have numerous remedies available to counter it. Hence, a user can take the following activities when the VPN failure occurs:
- Change your VPN vendor — The straightforward method is to replace the previous service with a new one. Also, a new vendor might perform better. Our recommendation is to go with VPNs like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, CyberGhost VPN, or any we reviewed positively.
- Reboot your device — The device can also cause VPN failure. Ensure device stability by rebooting it and clearing temporary cache files.
- Check your VPN subscription — A user might have turned off the auto-renewal of a VPN subscription, leading to an expired plan. Hence, check your VPN subscription and ensure that you can avail of VPN service.
- Migrate to a wired connection — A wireless connection can lead to many issues, and one is certainly the VPN failing. Hence, bypass your router and use the Ethernet for the best results.
- Prevent your firewall and antivirus from blocking the VPN service — As this suggests, a firewall or antivirus can mark your VPN software as a potential threat. Either whitelist your VPN client or shut down the firewall. We don’t recommend turning the latter off, however.
- Change the target VPN server — If the designated server suffers from overcrowding, it will lead to VPN bandwidth issues. Hence, the optimal solution is to choose another server to connect to.
- Use obfuscation technology — A country or ISP can also practice VPN blocking. You could rely on VPN obfuscation add-ons like SOCKS5 proxy or Tor, and overcome such issues.
- Use the latest security protocols and encryption — Relying on obsolete protocols like the PPTP will get you nowhere. Either use the WireGuard or the stable OpenVPN with UDP and TCP. Also, always go for the latest AES 256-bit encryption. Hackers love the older 128-bit model.
- Always use the latest VPN clients — If you want to prevent bugs or glitches in your VPN service, keep your VPN client up to date.