From WIRED

VPN Kill Switches, Leak Tests, and No-Log Audits: What the Best VPNs of 2026 Actually Proved

By WIRED Staff

WIRED's engineers put six leading VPNs through a gauntlet beyond marketing claims: WireGuard vs. OpenVPN handshake latency under packet loss, DNS/IPv6 leak detection using Wireshark captures, kill-switch behavior during sudden interface drops, and whether each provider's no-log policy survived a real court subpoena or independent audit by a Big Four firm. We expose which 'no-log' VPNs still collect connection timestamps, how split-tunneling can silently expose your real IP to certain apps, and why pairing a VPN with disposable email identities closes the last gap advertisers exploit.