NDSS 2026
MVPNalyzer: An Investigative Framework for Auditing the Security & Privacy of Mobile VPNs
Wayne Wang*, Aaron Ortwein*, Enrique Sobrados*, Robert Stanley, Piyush Kumar Sharma, Afsah Anwar, Roya Ensafi
Investigating the VPN ecosystem
The VPN industry is a multi-billion dollar market built on privacy claims that need to be continuously and independently verified. We build the tools to check them, and publish what we find.
60+
vulnerability disclosures
100+
articles and reports covering our work
Reports
PETS 2024
Attacking Connection Tracking Frameworks as used by Virtual Private Networks
Benjamin Mixon-Baca, Jeffrey Knockel, Diwen Xue, Tarun Ayyagari, Deepak Kumar, Roya Ensafi, Jedidiah R. Crandall
USENIX Security 2023
"All of them claim to be the best": A multi-perspective study of VPN users and VPN providers
Reethika Ramesh, Anjali Vyas, Roya Ensafi
USENIX Security 2022
OpenVPN is Open to VPN Fingerprinting
Diwen Xue, Reethika Ramesh, Arham Jain, Michalis Kallitsis, J. Alex Halderman, Jedidiah R. Crandall, Roya Ensafi
🏆 First Prize, 2022 Internet Defense Prize
🏆 Distinguished Paper Award, USENIX Security 2022
Consumer Reports
Security and Privacy of VPNs Running on Windows 10
Consumer Reports Digital Lab, with the VPNalyzer team
NDSS 2022
VPNalyzer: Systematic Investigation of the VPN Ecosystem
Reethika Ramesh, Leonid Evdokimov, Diwen Xue, Roya Ensafi
🏆 First place, CSAW '22 Applied Research Competition
Media
See all coverage →The Hacker News
Study of 281 Free Android VPN Apps Finds Traffic Leaks, Unencrypted Data, and Tracking
Michigan Engineering News
Mobile VPN security is not as strong as advertised
Consumer Reports
VPN Testing Reveals Poor Privacy and Security Practices, Hyperbolic Claims
TechXplore
A VPN can be one internet tool but often is not sufficient for all privacy needs
Consumer Reports
Should You Use a VPN?
Michigan CSE
MVPNalyzer reveals security and privacy risks in popular mobile VPNs
Tools
Desktop
VPNalyzer
Test your own VPN connection for leaks, misconfigurations, and missing security essentials.
Get the tool →Android
MVPNalyzer
Audit Android VPN apps at scale. Built for researchers, regulators, and developers running their own checks.
Source code (Coming Soon) →Team
Roya Ensafi
University of Michigan
Aaron Ortwein
University of Michigan
Richa Priyanka
University of Michigan
Afsah Anwar
University of New Mexico
Enrique Sobrados
University of New Mexico
Piyush Kumar Sharma
IIT Delhi
Diwen Xue
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Alumni
Reethika Ramesh
Palo Alto Networks
Wayne Wang
University of Michigan
Robert Stanley
UCLA
Anna Ablove
University of Michigan
Leonid Evdokimov
Independent
Anjali Vyas
Cornell University