Windscribe is a leading internet security and privacy company. Our goal is to transform the internet with easy to use yet powerful tools, that allow anyone to circumvent censorship, access geographically restricted content, and minimize their exposure to marketers, criminals and surveillance dragnets. Our well-received applications have appeared on Lifehacker, Techradar and CNET. Do you want to help to do something about internet tracking and surveillance? If so, why not join us in our downtown Toronto office. Windscribe launched in April 2016 and has already accumulated 25 million users. Being entirely self-funded and profitable, we’re not preoccupied with appeasing stakeholders or struggling to survive without yet another VC round. You will spend your time building products that millions of people use every day to browse the web privately, the way it was meant to be.

Windscribe

This interview series celebrates all the phenomenal . Congratulations! Well-Deserved, Champion.The HackerNoon community is excited to learn more about you! Startups of the Year Winners share the link to your winning city award here [example: ] https://hackernoon.com/startups/north-america/north-america-toronto-canada What does it mean for you to win this title? To us, it highlights that people recognize the need for a VPN in the privacy space that takes privacy seriously - and that you can do this while still maintaining a sense of humor. We’ve been working tirelessly to ensure connectivity in many challenging regions lately. Be it politics, censorship, or dictatorial aggression – we will power through with smiles on our faces. What sets you apart from the competition? I briefly mentioned our sense of humor, and that really does have an impact on all aspects of Windscribe. I think that shows. We get a ton of feedback from people saying that they love our VPN not just because it works well; it’s because of how we communicate with our community. We have the largest VPN community at discord.gg/VPN. We get fan mail from people around the world saying how certain jokes made their day - it’s great, our user base is so awesome. It makes us more approachable and that allows us to cater to their needs better than anyone else. We genuinely love this business and what it does for others. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? Our team is awesome: super smart people, from around the world, that get along and are genuinely concerned with privacy. Obviously, there are a lot of VPN companies out there, but we don’t cut corners, we don’t waste money on advertising or affiliate marketing, and we have rigid ethical standards (sometimes to the detriment of our revenue, but to the relief of our consciousness). We have the largest physical network out of any of our competitors. We are entirely self-funded so no one can force us to abandon our ethics. We are open about our ownership and our location - basically, there is a face behind the company, instead of a series of hidden shell companies. We spend a lot on talent, infrastructure, and researching the best solutions to online privacy issues. We take our mission very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? Eating chili cheese dogs and letting shit slide? Enjoying having a good posture, unburdened by sitting and typing for 11 hours a day? Yelling at the moon for not being the sun? Teaching my dog how to drive? There is so much I could be doing. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? We have a ton of internal metrics. Speed, reliability, and ability for quick turnaround on new features. To roll out fixes, find solutions for censorship, and ensure we respond to any issue within hours. Tell us how your startup is changing the world. At the risk of sounding like we are pitching to a bunch of out-of-touch San Francisco VCs - we are changing the world by helping people who are isolated in countries with restricted internet the means to stay connected and informed about the world around them. We help journalists, protestors, and activists to champion their cause. We provide a means of communication between loved ones. We allow those in countries with only state-approved media a glimpse at the truth of issues that affect them from sources they may not traditionally have access to. We fight for an open internet and privacy for all. We’re also kind of funny, so there’s that, too. How do you or your company intend to embrace the responsibility of this title in 2024? I think if we’re able to maintain and improve on the level of service and reliability of our network, we’ll be able to make Windscribers proud. We often have cat-and-mouse-like antics with those who attempt to censor their citizens. They will often try to find a way to block us which requires us to then find ways to circumvent their censorship. Luckily our circumvent censorship feature, something we’re very proud of, works incredibly well to this extent. Our team knows what to look for, how to adapt, and how to overcome these challenges. What goals are you looking forward to accomplishing in 2024? We want to continue to grow both of our companies, Windscribe and Control D, internally and externally. It feels genuinely great knowing that we can help more and more people access information in traditionally “closed-off” parts of the world and manage their knowledge on their own terms - and do so with an international team of people who care about it just as much, and in some cases, even more than I can (some of our employees live in heavily censored countries). Pretty cliché answer, I know - we just want to keep growing. Which trend(s) are you most excited about in 2024? Share your reasons. Broccoli-style haircuts. Their rise in popularity has given us much to laugh at. But we will be much more excited once that trend dies like the man-bun trend before it. What will come after? Who knows. In the realm of technology, the list is really endless: rocketry and space exploration, AI, increasingly more useful and easier-to-access online educational content… there is a lot of interesting technology being worked on - so we are permanently excited to see what awaits the world. 2023 had been another crazy year, especially in tech, with layoffs and the Generative AI takeover! Which trend are you most concerned about? Be as brief or as detailed as you like. Honestly, AI has been really helpful to our teams. We have adopted it to help teams do more in less time — it eases the burden/annoyance of repetitive and lower-priority tasks, giving everyone more time to work on engaging problems. As for the layoffs, we haven’t had to lay anyone off, which is a blessing. We know it really sucks being let go from a company, but at the same time, this market has allowed us to scoop up a ton of really high-level talent. We have been hiring like crazy, and are still hiring more. Come and apply! Share your biggest success so far and/or your biggest failure so far. We have a company filled with very smart people who all get along to work on problems that affect people directly (censorship, access to information, etc). The team is our biggest success. We also are close to having 69 million users, which is numerologically important to us because funny sex number. My dog didn’t poop in the office this week either. Really, it’s a string of one success after another. Biggest failure? Can’t remember, overshadowed by too much success (see previous sentence). Any words of wisdom you’d like to share with us? At a time when the world is increasing its interconnectivity, it is becoming harder and harder to safeguard one’s own privacy. The main word of “wisdom” (I’ll leave it to you to decide whether it is wise), is that everyone should pay close attention to their online privacy and protect it fiercely, as it is becoming a commodity for companies, governments, and various groups to exploit citizens, and profit off of them both monetarily and psychologically. Take your privacy seriously because no one else will. Other than that… never judge a group of people by the way their government acts. Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated this year to be crowned the best startup in their city. See our global winners announcement . here Companies that blog more get 67% more leads - Jumpstart your company’s blogging journey by purchasing our . Business Blogging Package The 2023 Startups Of The Year is sponsored by: . . The winners will get a free .Tech Domain, a HackerNoon NFT, and a Tech Company News Page. TECH Domains

Meet Windscribe, Winner of the Startups of the Year in Toronto

DailyBeast calls it Techradar calls it Dig around a little more and you’ll see a lot more praise. “the online privacy tool you should already be using.” “one of the best free VPNs around.” has only been around since July 2015, but in the last two years it’s become one of the most acclaimed VPNs around. Windscribe Clearly there’s a lot of good buzz , and it’s coming in at the right time. about Windscribe Its summer 2017, and online security has never been more important. From the Snowden leaks in 2013 to the Russia-Trump stories that dominate the news, cyber security has become an increasingly relevant topic to the climax that is right now. And if you think cyber security is a big deal for nations, you’d better believe it’s a big deal for you — an individual that is not armed with powerful intelligence agencies for protection. Sure, you may not have a foreign head of state breathing down your neck…but then again you might. There is a host of parties interested in your data, and even if they’re not, there’s a plethora of reasons to keep your information well protected. So it’s natural that lately, a lot of people are trying to find affordable ways they can be safer online. is one such option that has, as we can see, been met with a good reception. Windscribe But does really measure up to the hype it’s been getting lately? Let’s find out. Windscribe Windscribe VPN Cons Okay, cons first. Luckily there’s actually not too much to say here — all the cons are pretty minor. The 45 locations offered on the unlimited service sounds a lot better than the 8 you get for free and will suffice for most, but that’s still a big chunk of the globe getting left out — Africa and South America mostly. Customer support leaves a bit wanting, with no livechat or phone support, and there could be more documentation on their site. Finally, you’ll be dealing with average speeds. It’s not a big deal to me, but for some users, the paid version warrants better. Average speeds, a less than comprehensive customer support, and limited locations are the main downsides to . Windscribe Windscribe VPN Pros Alright, let’s talk about the good stuff. I’ll start off with something unusual — have personality. For example — on the download page, where Windscribe shows the option for mobile devices, there’s an option for Blackberry…with the caption below it reading “just kidding.” Windscribe’s services Part of this personality is honesty. doesn’t really oversell itself in my opinion, so you won’t worry about the features you get being exaggerated in usefulness or power, and the company seems to go out of its way to respect its users’ privacy (example: they don’t store activity logs). Windscribe I think the bandwidth allowance is a significant plus. If you use a free VPN you’d normally expect some bandwidth restrictions, but 10GB a month for is in my opinion pretty sizeable. Windscribe’s free version It’s easy to use and smoothly integrates with your typical internet use, so ease of use is another strong suit. Aside from modest speeds, it runs just fine, so I wouldn’t really say there’s anything so wrong with the performance. It’s feature-packed, and with good features too. P2P, a strong firewall, great privacy options, the secure link generator, and other things I’ll mention form comprehensive package that works lightly with your device and browser, and a lot of the features are available for free. Overall, plenty of pros: honest service, a decent bandwidth allowance, a streamlined interface, and a lot of features with decent performance — something that makes it good for the money. Windscribe offers Windscribe VPN’s Pricing structure is very simple, and affordable whether you’re going for the free version or the paid version. You can view their pricing page here. Windscribe’s pricing The first tier is “Limited,” which is free. However, you can only use it for one device, and only for 8 locations. The bandwidth is 10GB a month, there are no OpenVPN configurations, and firewall, P2P, and adblock services are provided. The second tier is “Unlimited,” and can be purchased on either a monthly or yearly basis. The monthly version costs $9 a month, whereas the yearly version costs $90 total, which breaks down to $7.50 a month. The Unlimited tier allows for unlimited devices as opposed to one, and instead of a 10GB monthly allowance or 8 locations, you get unlimited bandwidth and 46 locations. Plus, you get OpenVPN Configs, as well as the firewall, P2P and adblock services you’d get for free. I appreciate — they don’t complicate things too much. You won’t really need to spend time researching the “right deal,” you just need to think about what you want. Windscribe’s pricing And if you really need to take that extra step, you’re still getting a lot for a decent price. Windscribe VPN’s Features and Options Okay, let’s talk about the features and the options you get when you make an account. Right off the bat, has a lot of different versions for different platforms. You can download it for your computer — PC, Mac, or Linux — and your browser, for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera (sorry IE and Safari!). Windscribe You can of course download it for your phone as well, assuming you have an iPhone or android, for your router, and they have three config generator options. I suppose there could be more options, but realistically, it’s nice to see that covers all your bases. Windscribe You can use the browser extensions and the desktop applications alone, but you’d probably be best off just using both together (and as will tell you, you might as well, since it doesn’t cost extra). Windscribe I thought (also known as Secure.link generator) was pretty nifty. It’s a neat service that basically allows you to enter in a link and make a report card for the site as well as a “secure” shortened URL for you to use. Windscribe’s secure link generator P2P is included, as mentioned, for even the free version, and you get adblock too — something that isn’t strictly necessary for a VPN service, but which is an attractive asset nonetheless. There’s a nifty thing called cruise control for the browser extension that is unique to . It essentially connects you to the best server that is closest to you. You can toggle it on or off and select a different location from a drop down menu within the extension. Windscribe Adding to this feature is something for the desktop software called Double Hop, which, when used with the browser extension, lets you connect to a second location to further hide your traffic — though this will of course slow things down a bit. The desktop app has a good firewall put in place, a nice step to make sure your real IP address isn’t seen. You can, of course, toggle the firewall modes as you want. What’s more, you get a neat feature called “Privacy Options” for the desktop version, which lets you select between a few different choices: ad-blocker, Anti-social, Untraceable, and Split Personality. Respectively, these block ads, remove social trackers, remove known ad beacons and trackers that can track across multiple visited sites, and rotate your browser’s user agent each time you restart your browser. Obviously I can go on, but in the interest of being concise, let’s just say that features are something does well. It’s not loaded with unnecessary functions to look cool or techy, but it has everything you’ll need and a little more, and it’s all very streamlined on top of that. Windscribe Windscribe VPN’s Customer Support isn’t anything great, to be honest. It’s not bad, it’s just pretty average. Windscribe’s customer support I think you probably won’t need much customer support, because using it is pretty self-explanatory. If you don’t know what a button or a feature is, there’s often a handy explanation that will pop up just by hovering your cursor over said confusing object. Their website does have a bunch of set-up guides for each you can download (per browser, per operating system, etc.). Windscribe package The thing is, the guides for the operating systems and browsers are YouTube videos. The other formats have written and illustrated set up guides, but overall these guides feel a bit skimpy. Maybe it’s because ’s targeted demographic is already knowledgeable enough so they don’t need to be coddled — still, I think some stuff is lacking. Windscribe Aside from some simple setup guides, there’s an FAQ section and a “submit ticket” option, which is basically a form that you can use to send a message to the support team. I’ve heard that they respond fairly quickly to these tickets, and that the staff are very competent and helpful. However, I think more can be done — there’s no livechat, no phone number to call. Sure, the available options will take care of a lot, but for some users the lack of a livechat or customer service number will look shabby. Otherwise, the customer support is pretty refreshing though — it’s not too detailed, but it’s spunky and answers the vast majority of the problems customers would ask about. The whole website is tinged with humor and — most importantly — honesty. So overall the customer support isn’t a strong suit and there are a couple things lacking, but overall I don’t think the flaws are too serious. Ease of Use I liked how painless installation was. I’m neither the least knowledgeable nor most knowledgeable guy when it comes to technology, so I sometimes get a slight anxiety when I download things — what if I’m installing weird add-ons? What am I agreeing to? No such problems here. My internet isn’t even that fast, but the browser extension was quick and easy, and the desktop software similarly so (note: I’ve been using the extension for Firefox and the desktop app for Windows 7). You don’t even need an email to make your account, but beware — you’ll be limited to 2GB a month instead of 10, and you can’t reset your password (however, you can always add one later). Anyway, overall I found it integrates smoothly with the browsing experience, and your desktop experience won’t be bothered by annoying notifications. I particularly liked how efficient the browser extension was. The icon in the browser, when clicked on, opens a very simple control panel. Windscribe It shows how many GBs you have left, as well as the secure.link generator I mentioned, which is super easy to use. If you click a button on the side of the control panel, you can access a more detailed menu that can direct you to your account settings, privacy settings, a help page, and so on. The main function of a VPN is of course to protect your privacy — but takes extra steps to be unobtrusive in your day to day use, so there’s a big plus. Windscribe Because it’s so light and compact I feel it’s super handy for on-and-off VPN usage. What I mean is, if you’re not trying to use a VPN for all your browsing — if, for example, you just want to stream Netflix quickly most of the time — is great for that moment when you suddenly need more privacy than before — when you leave home and go onto a public network like a café’s wifi, or an airport’s. Windscribe Windscribe VPN’s Performance Overall, has a pretty solid performance. Windscribe This is fairly typical to say about Windscribe, but it’s not super-fast. Still, you’ll get the job done just fine. I found it fine for casual browsing, like emails and mostly text-laden pages. YouTube videos were slower than I would have liked, but hey — what can you do? Otherwise, I thought it was so handy being able to make secure links from website URLs as I wanted, and it was barely intrusive to the browsing experience. Additionally, just as any good VPN should, does its own part in protecting your privacy aside from the tools it gives you. What I mean by that is they don’t store any permanent access logs or employ anything to monitor their users. Windscribe The firewall, I assume, holds up well, as there doesn’t seem to be a notable amount of complaints about this.Though you can’t see it, these things qualify as good performance for sure: dedication to behind-the-scenes user privacy. Aside from behind the scenes performance, your day to day usage should be just fine. I found it very simple and clean to use, and it never interfered with what I wanted to do on the internet while remaining fast for accessing features I wanted to try playing with. It doesn’t feel like there’s much to comment upon here, but let’s go with no news is good news. We don’t really notice when things go smoothly, and the same is true for . But rest assured, it does indeed run smoothly. Windscribe Windscribe’s Average Speed I have tested windscribe’s speed before installed and then later installed. I got to see different results which you can see in below screenshots. Conclusion So to wrap everything up, is definitely a solid service. If you’re worried about it being overhyped, you can just try it out for free. Windscribe . See Windscribe’s plans & pricing here Yeah, there are some drawbacks, but I don’t see them as severe enough to outweigh all the positives that come with …especially since a lot of the benefits are available for free! Windscribe Originally published at hostingpill.com on August 9, 2017.

Is Windscribe VPN Good to Use?

Toronto, Canada, January 29th, 2024/Cyberwire/--In an era where online threats no longer discriminate by business size, Control D, powered by Windscribe VPN's robust security expertise, announced today the launch of 'Control D for Organizations'. This modern DNS service democratizes cybersecurity, making it accessible to businesses of every size, from budding start-ups to late stage SMBs and MSPs. Leveraging the strength of the world's largest physical VPN network, Control D is bringing unmatched expertise in navigating cybersecurity challenges and global surveillance into the hands of businesses that traditionally lacked these advanced protections. Control D for Organizations is geared at companies, schools, and NGOs of all sizes offering simplicity for smaller teams and highly specific and advanced controls for larger organizations. Control D is packed with an arsenal of tools designed to secure and empower diverse teams: Malware Blocking: Protecting business continuity against malicious threats with state-of-the-art detection techniques, all built in-house. Protect individual devices or entire networks in just a few minutes. **Multi-Tenancy: Addresses the complexity of managing access and filtering policies across different departments, subsidiaries, or customer accounts within a large enterprise or service provider setting. Modern Protocols: Security cannot be assured using standard DNS protocols. That’s why Control D supports all modern (and encrypted) protocols like DNS-over-HTTPS/3 and DNS-over-TLS. Custom Filtering: Highly granular web filters provide power users with ultimate control, while more general curated lists allow DNS security newcomers to gain maximum security benefits with minimal effort. Actionable Insights: Detailed network activity analytics empowers businesses to improve their security posture and make strategic decisions. Control D for Organizations is more than a security tool—it's a declaration that first-rate cybersecurity is no longer a luxury. It embodies a new era where organizations, irrespective of their size or financial prowess, can confidently protect their operations and data. Control D for Organizations ', Empowering Every Business with Advanced Cybersecurity Control D is a pioneer in software security, devoted to offering next-level, user-centric solutions. Backed by the years of security expertise of Windscribe VPN which protects over 68 million people, Control D leverages the largest physical VPN network and one of the fastest anycast DNS networks to deliver unparalleled security and freedom from surveillance on a global scale. Join the DNS security revolution and equip your business with Control D. Visit for more information and take your first step towards comprehensive digital protection. Additional assistance for onboarding channel partners available. Free no-payment-details required trial is available. controld.com Media Contact Information:
For further details, please contact Yegor Sak at or our channel partner lead Joe Jaghab at business@controld.com Joe@controld.com Contact Founder Yegor Sak Control D +1(848)500-9848 business@controld.com This story was distributed as a release by Cyberwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here.

Control D Launches Control D for Organizations: Democratizing Cybersecurity All Organizations

The wait is over! - it’s time to celebrate the champion startups of the world. Shout out to all of the participants in our ! You did a wonderful job showcasing your incredible startups and powering through another year. 2023 Startups of the Year is a community-driven voting platform brought to you by HackerNoon that recognizes and celebrates tech startups changing technology and the world for the better. The award started on May 8th, 2023, where the internet nominated and voted for 30k startups around the world. The voting period remained open until December 31, 2023, and now we are here with the winner announcement after a comprehensive evaluation by the HackerNoon team. Startups of the Year 2023 To see the top 3 startups in each respective city, visit and pick a city. hackernoon.com/startups You’ll get a little surprise 😉 Here are the Startups of the Year Regional Announcements: North America Europe Asia Africa South America Oceania Misc/Remote From all of us at HackerNoon, thank YOU for your excellent campaign perseverance 🥺 This year has been awesome! Startups of the Year 2023 is concluded with 623k+ total votes, up from 215k+ votes in the inaugural startup competition. We look forward to seeing you again in the next campaign (stay tuned 😉)! Without further ado, let us kick off the announcement by celebrating the cities with top votes per region for 2023 🎉 North America (11,697 votes): Winner: Bloomfilter Cleveland, Ohio (8,835 votes) - Winner: SerpApi Austin, Texas , California (5,564 votes) - Winner: Finch San Francisco (4,258 votes) - Winner: RELAYTO SoMa, California - (3339 votes) Winner: Windscribe Toronto, Canada, North America (3304 votes) - Winner: Vouched Seattle (2716 votes) - Winner: Seccuri Palo Alto, CA, North America (2671 votes) - Winner: Salsa Valley Miami, FL, North America (2,613 votes) - Winner: Majhi Group Manhattan, New York (2423 votes) - Winner: Flieber, Inc. New York City, NY, North America See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, North America, here Europe (45,612 votes) - Winner: Algomo London, UK (2,344votes) - Winner: Data Lake Warsaw, Poland (1,955 votes) - Winner: Hoken Tech Bari, Italy (1716 votes) - Winner: Not8 Amsterdam, Netherlands (1657 votes) - Winner: KYVE Frankfurt Am Main, Germany (1566 votes) - Winner: BazaIT Kyiv, Ukraine (1496 votes) - Winner:  Unity Network Tallinn, Estonia (1,478 votes) - Winner: Volcaino Ghent, Belgium (1,288 votes) - Winner: Owl Me Dublin, Ireland (1198 votes) - Winner: Groover Paris, France See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Europe, here Oceania (3,350 votes) - Winner: Sharepass Melbourne (2,107 votes) - Winner: The Catfisher Project Perth, Australia (220 votes) - Winner: Gemini AI Solutions Auckland, New Zealand, Oceania (213 votes) - Winner: Nexustorage Wellington, New Zealand, Oceania (138 votes) - Winner: Coviu Sydney (124 votes) - Winner: Bopple Brisbane, Australia, Oceania (124 votes) - Winner: Regional CFO New South Wales, Australia, Oceania (106 votes) - Winner: Edit on the Spot Gold Coast, Australia, Oceania (93 votes) - Winner: Knowledge Satnav Canbera, Australia, Oceania , Australia, Oceania (48 votes) - Winner: Peptalk360 North Melbourne, Melbourne See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Oceania, here Asia (16,345 votes) - Winner: Serenity Shield Singapore (13,588 votes) - Winners: QUIXY Telangana, India (10,168 votes) - Winner: HealthySure Mumbai, India (3,865 votes) - Winner: InterviewBuddy Visakhapatnam, India (3,733 votes) - Winner: Omniflo Bengaluru, India (4589 votes) - Winner: MeNow Tel Aviv (3877 votes) - Winner: ForestVPN Dubai (2478 votes) - Winner: TechGraph Powai, Mumbai, India (1004 votes) - Winner: Reelo Ahmedabad, GJ, India (875 votes) - Winner: Debt Hunter Hong Kong, China See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Asia, here Africa (8,179 votes) - Winner: GO PLATFORM Algiers, Algeria (767 votes) - Winner: Tudu Accra, Ghana (415 votes) - Winner: Treford Lagos, Nigeria (265 votes) - Winner: Phalconwise Ogbomosho, Nigeria (157 votes) - Winner: AbuErdan Cairo (151 votes) - Winner: Eazipay Lekki (144 votes) - Winner: KaziConnect Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (101 votes) - Winner: faceATT Gauteng, South Africa (79 votes) - Winner: Dimagi Cape Town (71 votes) - Winner: Sabi Addis Ababa See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, Africa, here South America (376 votes ) - Winner: UpGirl Santiago, Chile (217 votes) - Winner: Klever Sao Paulo, Brazil (191 votes) - Winner: Tributo Simple Buenos Aires, Argentina (127 votes) - Winner: Light-it Montevideo, Uruguay (87 votes) -Winner: Thousand Antioquia, Colombia (108 votes) - Winner: GetLavado Lima (101 votes) - Winner: Cogniflow Medellin (73 votes) - Winner: TPAGA Bogota (73 votes) - Winner: Reliv Quito (47 votes) - WInner: Quantex Cordoba See the complete announcement for the . Startups of the Year, South America, here Misc/Remote: Featured Startups (1500 votes) - Winner: CIC Chain Remote, Earth (1193 votes) - Winner: Reship Colony US Misc (146 Votes) - Winner: Partful UK, Misc (116 votes) - Winner: GoMining British Virgin Islands Misc (283 Votes) - Winner: tomorrowSpace Germany Misc (225 votes) - Winner: Dtravel Cayman Islands See the complete announcement for Misc/Remote startups . here Once again, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS and BIG PROPS to all of the top Startups of each region this year! The whole team at HackerNoon would like to thank you for your perseverance in the campaign, and we look forward to seeing you in the next campaign. About HackerNoon’s Startups Of The Year Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated this year to be crowned the best startup in their city. Visit our page to learn more. FAQ Companies that blog more get 67% more leads - Jumpstart your company’s blogging journey by purchasing our . Business Blogging Package The 2023 Startups Of The Year is sponsored by: . . The winners get a free .Tech Domain, a HackerNoon NFT, and a Tech Company News Page. TECH Domains

Stand Up for the Champion Startups of the Year! 

বছরের চ্যাম্পিয়ন স্টার্টআপের জন্য দাঁড়ান!

Setzen Sie sich für die Champion-Startups des Jahres ein!

¡Defiende a las startups campeonas del año!

Défendez les startups championnes de l’année !

वर्ष के चैंपियन स्टार्टअप के लिए खड़े रहें!

今年のチャンピオンスタートアップのために立ち上がろう!

올해의 챔피언 스타트업을 위해 일어서세요!

Defenda as startups campeãs do ano!

Встаньте на защиту стартапов-чемпионов года!

Yılın Şampiyon Startup'ları için Ayağa Kalkın!

Hãy ủng hộ các công ty khởi nghiệp vô địch của năm!

为年度冠军初创企业挺身而出！

Every time we venture online, we leave a digital breadcrumb trail behind. It could be your name or number or, more concerning, a record of your online activity; this data has value. Governments claim the information can enhance national security, and commercial corporations can personalize your browsing experience, encouraging you to buy into their marketing spiel, and, as we all know, hackers can steal your identity and money. Virtual private networks, or , are increasingly on the frontline of internet security, with businesses and home users relying on them to hide data and online activity. VPNs But are we right to put so much trust in VPNs, especially ? free VPN services The recent data breach involving the free VPN SuperVPN allegedly leaking over suggests they may not live up to their promises. With consumer confidence shaken, this breach prompts a broader discussion about what to look for in a VPN provider and how to ensure your VPN is trustworthy. 360 million user data records What is an independent audit? A VPN audit is a comprehensive evaluation carried out by independent third-party cybersecurity firms. It aims to examine the VPN’s security, privacy, and overall performance to ensure it's living up to its claims and meeting industry standards. Primarily, VPN audits fall into two categories – security evaluations and privacy assessments, and most credible VPN providers will carry out both types. Security evaluations inspect a provider's infrastructure, checking applications and other services for any vulnerabilities that could open the door for hackers to access sensitive customer data. Privacy assessments focus on the no-log policy and its strategy for informing users about the collection, storage, and utilization of their data. Why is a no-log policy important? A is crucial for ensuring the privacy and security of users. When a VPN provider operates under a no-log or zero-log policy, they do not collect or retain any data related to the user's internet activities. This includes information about what websites the user visits, what data is downloaded or uploaded, and sometimes even when the user is connected to the VPN. no-log VPN policy However, privacy policies are occasionally deemed as the cybersecurity equivalent of "greenwashing,” given that it's nearly infeasible for a VPN server to refrain from logging any data entirely – some data is necessary to ensure service speed and user experience. Thus, the kind of data accumulated and its usage become crucial aspects to scrutinize in privacy policies. It can be challenging for users to place their faith in a provider that alleges a no-logs policy but has not yet validated this claim through an independent audit. Who carries out VPN audits? The significance of the audit is tied not only to its existence but also to who executes it, and many VPN providers have audits undertaken by one of the "Big Four" consulting firms – Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, or EY. Their endorsement of a no-logs policy significantly enhances consumer confidence. Several other cybersecurity companies, including Cure53, VerSprite, Leviathan, and MDSec, are conducting VPN audits. Which providers have undertaken VPN audits? have all had their security and privacy protocols independently verified. Other popular providers have had either their security or privacy evaluated, including CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, and Windscribe. NordVPN, Surfshark, ExpressVPN, and Proton VPN How to find a VPN provider you can trust Finding a reliable VPN provider involves careful research and consideration. Here are some key factors to consider: Third-party audits: Look for independent, third-party audits verifying the provider’s security measures and a no-logs policy Provider reputation: Investigate the provider's history, particularly any past security incidents or controversies involving user data Jurisdiction: The location of the provider's headquarters can affect how your data is handled due to differing data retention laws and international surveillance alliances Encryption standards: Check that the VPN uses strong encryption methods like AES-256 to protect your data Payment options: Providers that accept payment via cryptocurrencies or gift cards offer an extra layer of anonymity Customer support: Quality customer support can guide you through issues and answer your queries User reviews: Check reviews and recommendations for insights into the provider's reliability, speed, and ease of use. In conclusion, and transparency in the cybersecurity world. These independent, third-party assessments examine a VPN provider's security infrastructure, data handling practices, and adherence to their no-logs policy, providing consumers with a more accurate picture of their offerings. VPN audits provide an essential level of trust As users, it's important that we appreciate the significance of these audits and use them as a tool for making informed choices. They form a critical part of our decision-making process, reinforcing our efforts to protect our online privacy and security.

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An Amazon Fire Stick is an incredibly useful device for many reasons. It provides a great number of apps for those wishing to stream and access content on their TV with as few bumps as possible. Unfortunately, even these are subject to the restrictions of streaming services themselves, rendering these sticks unable to access blocked content on their own. A VPN can resolve these issues fairly well, but even might not work so well with Amazon’s device. That’s why this article will take a look at 5 of the best VPN services that are compatible with Amazon Fire Stick and Fire TV! the best VPNs for streaming Similarly to a Chromebook, the OS used by Fire Sticks is a variation of Android. Unlike Chromebooks, many VPNs that support Amazon’s operating system can be found on Amazon itself as a downloadable app. Numerous VPNs support the Fire Stick, but there are a few lesser-known ones that can offer a similar or even better experience when compared to the biggest names out there. This article includes links to NordVPN and ExpressVPN. You won’t be charged anything extra for clicking on links to these services, but purchases made through these links will support the writer. Disclaimer: 5 of the Best VPN Services With Support for the Fire Stick and Fire TV 1. ExpressVPN 2. NordVPN 3. IPVanish 4. Windscribe 5. PureVPN 1. ExpressVPN It should come as no surprise to those remotely familiar with VPNs that is still one of the best choices overall. describes its compatibility and advises the user on what they should do to get the best experience. There is a minor caveat of the service not supporting 1st generation Fire TVs, but this is only a concern if you happen to have an older device. ExpressVPN Its webpage on Amazon’s device Pricing for ExpressVPN is around $6.67 USD per month for a 12-month subscription ( ). +3 months extra for free There are no bonus streaming-oriented packages or features, making the choice for Fire Stick users fairly simple. If you aren’t sure if you have a 1st generation device or not, don’t be afraid to take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee just in case things don’t work out. 2. NordVPN also has , but its compatibility list is notably different from the one shown by ExpressVPN. It doesn’t list the Fire TV 2nd Generation as compatible, but it does offer compatibility for the first. Oddly, this compatibility doesn’t spread to the first-generation Fire Stick, though it also mentions that the VPN can be used on the Fire Tablet. NordVPN its own page on the Fire Stick Despite these oddities, NordVPN is a fierce competitor, offering blazing-fast speeds and incredible reliability, making it a smart choice if you have a device that can use it. NordVPN is priced at around $3.49 per month for a 2-year plan or around $11.99 for just one month. There are pricier options to be found in the Plus and Complete packages, but the only one that might be relevant for Fire Stick users is the cross-platform password manager. Even then, if you’re only using the service on Amazon’s device, you’re likely better off sticking with the cheap options. No matter which plan you go with, the service’s top-notch quality won’t be lowered. 3. IPVanish manages to offer some unique support for Fire Stick and Fire TV. It also mentions with 1st generation devices, though its statements on where the compatibility issues lie are very clear. IPVanish a lack of compatibility It also offers some great documentation on these devices, including that work well with the VPN. This documentation alone shows a great deal of commitment to the Fire Stick, making it a favorable choice for those who crave long-term support. guides on how to set up other applications Those who want to purchase IPVanish can get a 2-year subscription for around $3.33 per month or a basic monthly subscription for around $11.99. Like ExpressVPN, it lacks any extra purchases or features that you’ll need to get for the most optimal experience. What you see is what you receive, and what you receive is a great product that can stand up to the best services out there. 4. Windscribe Though it doesn’t have on Fire Stick, is unique in a very special way. a whole lot of documentation Windscribe On top of allowing users to try the service out for free — albeit in a limited capacity — it also offers its own custom plans. This allows users to only pay for as much as they need, which isn’t very much in the context of Fire Stick usage. A regular “pro” plan is around $5.75 per month for a yearly subscription and around $9.00 for a single month. You can heavily reduce this overall pricing with the custom-built plans, making Windscribe a particularly cheap choice with some of the best personalization one can find. If you’re still skeptical on how well it’ll run, you can always download the app and test it out for yourself before making a full purchase. 5. PureVPN is just one more service that proclaims itself to be . It offers a great number of locations and offers comparable privacy to other options on this list. It also offers some fine support and documentation, ensuring users know how to make full use of the service on their device. PureVPN the best VPN for Fire Stick users It might not stand out in many other ways, but it doesn’t really need to when considering its price. Outside of Windscribe’s free option, PureVPN is the cheapest choice on this list. At around $2.29 per month for 2 years and 3 extra months, you’ll get more bang for your buck than you might expect. Even the single-month option is surprisingly cheap at around $10.95. The service comes with extra security options that come with their own per-month price tags, but only the Password Manager — and maybe Digital Security — will be relevant to most users. If you simply don’t have much to spend on a more extravagant service, PureVPN will do more than just get the job done. Final Thoughts Since a Fire Stick is almost all about streaming, features like extra security might not be as important as compatibility. Services that offer flexibility or great documentation on Amazon’s devices will definitely be more favorable than others. After installing your VPN of choice, test it out with your preferred apps and see just how well it can take the heat!

5 Best VPN Services for Fire Stick

“Whoever controls the DNS, controls the universe” (image credit: OpenAI Dalle2) spice The following article will provide a very brief overview of what DNS actually is, and what makes it “authoritative”. Then, I will discuss why you may choose to disregard its authority in some cases in order to have a better browsing experience and gain a bunch of superpowers using a service our team has built over the last 2 years. Strap yourself in. What is DNS First things first: what is DNS? DNS (Domain Name System) is a distributed “phone book” that maps (domain) names to IP addresses. When you enter hackernoon.com into your browser, it will query the router on your network for the IP address of hackernoon.com. Your home router doesn’t perform any DNS resolution and forwards the request upstream to whatever DNS server is configured there. This could be your ISP or a 3rd party resolver like Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 or Google 8.8.8.8. These resolvers are typically recursive in nature, meaning they reach out to the root DNS servers for the .com zone, and perform a recursive lookup against the authoritative DNS servers for the DNS zone (hackernoon), and then you finally get the IP(s) that hackernoon.com resolves to. So your DNS query takes the following route (simplified view): Your Device → Router → DNS Provider → Root Name Server → Authoritative Server → IP Address Saul Goodman explains this best. This process is fairly slow and can take ~1s, so typically the response is cached by the DNS provider for some period of time so the next lookup can be served from a cache. Your browser will also cache the response for the duration of the TTL associated with a particular DNS record, so as not to initiate a DNS query every single time. The responses that the authoritative DNS server emits are typically static. This means that any user, anywhere, asking any DNS server “where is hackernoon.com” will get the same response: yegor@Work-Desktop:~$ dig +short hackernoon.com 172.67.69.96 104.26.11.89 104.26.10.89 There are some notable exceptions to this when it comes to CDNs, which will geo-code your source IP, and return variable results based on your location. A user in the UK will see different IPs than a user in the US. This is done for performance reasons, so people in different countries connect to the nearby CDN location in order to reduce latency. That being said, you’re still bound by what the authoritative DNS server returns (or doesn’t). The above flow is true for pretty much every single thing that you do online that communicates with a remote server. Every web resource you download,  every API call you make, and every Git commit you do resolves a domain to an IP address that the authoritative DNS server returned. What if you could disregard what the authoritative server tells you? What advantages (superpowers) does that have? Let’s dive in. What is Control D Control D, as you probably guessed, is a DNS service. It can do all the things your standard DNS provider can (resolve  domains), but it can also do a lot more. Control D is a user-configurable DNS service that offers transparent proxies deployed on top of an anycast network, with exit locations in over 69 countries. Sure, that all sounds impressive, but what does it ACTUALLY do? When you get started with Control D, you will get a set of DNS resolvers that are unique to your account and can enforce your unique configuration. Think of it as your personal authoritative DNS server, for the entire Internet. You can customize your configuration via a simple web interface, as there are no required apps to install to use the service.  Control D supports multiple DNS protocols: - least secure, but most widely supported Legacy IPv4/IPv6 - most secure, supported by modern OSes DNS-Over-HTTPS (DoH) - most secure, supported by modern OSes DNS-Over-TLS (DoT) The first protocol offers the best compatibility and can be used on any Internet connectable device. Legacy DNS is not encrypted, so it can be easily intercepted and manipulated by your ISP, or network administrator. The latter two offer you the best privacy and security, as your DNS queries are encrypted with TLS and cannot be intercepted or manipulated. Think of it as: Legacy = HTTP DoH/DoT = HTTPS What’s the difference between DoH and DoT and which one is better? Honestly, just stick with DoH, as it operates on TCP port 443 and is indistinguishable from normal HTTPS traffic. DoT operates on a special port (853) and is easily detectable (and therefore easily blocked). The advantages of DoT (less overhead and therefore faster resolution time) are debatable, and we have not seen them in practice. Mind you, on some platforms like Android, you have no choice but to use DoT, as DoH is not supported ( ). but will be soon Once you configure one of the DNS resolvers on your device (router, computer, browser, phone) your DNS queries will be steered to the Control D network. By default, if no settings are changed, Control D will behave like a standard DNS resolver, no different than Cloudflare, Google, or your local ISP. Once you start fiddling with the knobs, you can do of neat things, by selectively disregarding authoritative DNS records and substituting your own. all kinds Block a category of sites (ads, or porn for example) Block malicious domains non-malicious domains that point to malicious IPs and Block a specific service (Facebook, or TikTok) Block a specific TLD, FQDN, subdomain, or a wildcard entry (i.e. server-*.domain.com) Spoof a service, TLD, FQDN, subdomain, or all DNS queries to a specific IP address of your choice (think a wildcard-supporting hosts file) Redirect a specific service through a proxy location (BBC iPlayer through London, for example) Redirect a specific TLD, FQDN, subdomain, or wildcard entry through a proxy location (All .ca domains get proxied through Toronto) Redirect resolved DNS queries through a specific proxy location (there are over 100 cities to choose from) all Override blocks enforced by category filters, or services Schedule any of the above behavior to kick in at a certain time of day A whole bunch more TL;DR: Control D allows you to selectively disregard the authoritative DNS records associated with any domain you attempt to resolve (regardless of it actually existing in public DNS), and replace the answers with anything you want. This can prevent the domain from loading by spoofing  it to an IP of your choice (like 127.0.0.1), or to one of over 100 supported by Control D. Then, Control D will transparently proxy SNI (and some non-SNI) enabled traffic through servers in that location/country. exit locations You can also block, spoof, and redirect ALL of your DNS queries by using the catchall "Default Rule". Bad Use Cases You wouldn’t use a hammer to perform dental surgery (hopefully) - every tool has its use case. The same applies here, so before we jump into why you use a service like Control D, let's spend a moment talking about why you . should shouldn't Life Critical Anonymity If you live in a country where freedom of speech is non-existent, or you are a whistleblower, dissident or political activist, you should not use Control D to stay safe online. Despite Control D encrypting your DNS queries, even if you are using the proxy capabilities to spoof your location, the Server Name Indication (SNI) TLS extension is still transmitted in plaintext. This means that on adversarial networks where this information is captured and filtered, Control D will not provide you any security benefits. It will not be able to unblock restricted sites, and your browsing history could still be captured by the network administrator. If this is your particular use case, you are much better off using a (shameless self-plug as Windscribe is our sister company). Do keep in mind that a VPN is not a magical security solution either, despite what you may have heard from your favorite YouTuber while they react to videos of people describing the taste of meat to vegetarians. trusted, no-logging VPN Their scripted “opinions” are worth less than the Zimbabwean dollar.  A VPN is just tools that should be in your toolbelt if you care about these things.  I could rant all day about this, but let’s move on. one of the many BitTorrent Control D will not affect the BitTorrent protocol. Since this is a P2P protocol, which does not rely on DNS, all your torrent activity will be in the clear. Control D offers an optional filter that will block all common torrent indexes and trackers, which will make the use of the BitTorrent protocol difficult on the network where Control D is deployed (and this Filter enabled), but it will not 100% eliminate all torrent activity. If you wish to apply a layer of privacy to your torrent activities, you should use a VPN. Gaming (Improvements) Many people use VPNs for gaming in order to "improve ping" or mask their IP from trolls. The efficacy of this is , but Control D is unlikely to help here. In fact, there is a good chance that if you redirect all your traffic to our proxies, it will break some games entirely. debatable We recommend disabling Control D functionality if you experience problems playing your favorite games. You can do this from the section of the control panel; simply find your game and create a rule. Services BYPASS Actual Use Cases So now that we got that out of the way, what CAN you use Control D for? The following list is not exhaustive but should give you an idea of the flexibility you can achieve. Block Ads, Trackers, and Malware (and many other things) Yes, you can use a browser extension like uBlock that will do a really good job blocking things in your browser (until anyway, when we all eat a Google turd sandwich). January of 2023 However, this will just block ads in your favorite desktop browser. All tracking (and ad delivery) that happens outside of the browser (OS, installed programs, mobile applications, and browsers) will get through. If you set up Control D inside the operating system, or on your router, all DNS queries that any application makes (including the browser) will query your personal resolver, and all your rules apply. This means you can eliminate 99% of all ads and trackers (as well as 14 other categories)  from even loading on your devices. This effectively creates a network/system-wide ad block, which is highly effective. With this in mind, you can block many other categories, including: Malware distributing, typosquatting, and phishing domains (if you accidentally click a shady link) Adult content (handy on networks with kids) Social networks (stop wasting time looking at your "feed") IoT telemetry (prevent your fridge from talking to servers in China) Gambling, Drugs, Dating sites (keep your vices in check) A whole bunch more Help with Dev Efforts You’re probably familiar with the host’s file, which allows you to define domain names that may not exist in public DNS. You can also use it to override the DNS responses that are in public DNS to point to your local dev machine or a remote dev server. With Control D you can have a remote hosts file. This has several advantages: You can enforce the same host’s file on all your dev/test devices, including a mobile (or your smart toaster) Control D supports wildcards entries, so you can redirect all subdomains with a single rule Simulate regional access to your project from over 100 city-level locations Eliminate Your Pi-Hole Pi-Hole is a great tool to control your network, deploy custom blocklists, and have visibility on what is being resolved, but there are downsides: Pi-Hole only works on your home network – Control  D works on all networks, including cellular. You have to manage blocklists yourself – Our bespoke filters are built on top of community-maintained blocklists, with tens of thousands of false positives removed, based on feedback from 45M Windscribe users. We did all the work for you! Lack of advanced blocking – Pi-Hole only blocks domain names. Control D malware filter also blocks domains that resolve to malicious IPs from threat intelligence feeds. Lack of scheduling or flexibility – With Control D, your rules don't have to be static. They can change day to day, and be different on different devices. You have to run it yourself – Control D is deployed on top of a global anycast network, is available everywhere, including cellular networks, and supports Secure DNS protocols out of the box. (Selectively) Spoof Your Location Unlike a VPN, which sends all your activity to a single server in a chosen country, you have a lot more, well, when you use Control D. Since it operates at the DNS layer, you can create all kinds of rules in your configuration to do all kinds of things. control Here is a silly example of 7 different websites seeing you in 7 different places, all at once: You can instruct Control D to resolve different FQDNs through proxies in different countries, with as little as 3 clicks. When your browser asks to resolve a domain that has a rule, Control D will return a proxy IP instead of the true IP of the destination (disregarding the authoritative answer). It will read the SNI, and forward the end-to-end encrypted request to the site you wanted to load. From here, we can get fancier. Instead of creating individual rules, you can create a folder of rules, and assign an action (block, redirect, or bypass) to it. Any domain you add to this folder will inherit and apply the chosen folder rule. Don't want to make your own rules? That's where the Services section comes in. We've created rules for over 200 most common services online, and this list is always growing based on . user requests With a single toggle switch, you can apply a chosen rule to a video streaming service, an audio service, a store, a tool, a social network, or a game.  Each service can be redirected through a unique location (or blocked entirely), so you can appear to be in 69 countries, all at once. Lastly, you can redirect all your activity through the closest , if you don't care about the geolocation of your IP. This will have the best performance and supports IPv6 end-to-end. Control D Primary Location Optionally, you can choose a specific exit location (city), which will double hop your traffic from the closest Control D Primary Location to a Windscribe VPN server in the chosen country. All of this is without having to install a VPN app. You can use all 3 behaviors in parallel to create some very unique browsing profiles. The rule engine works as follows: Custom rules take precedence over everything Service rules are second in line, and are checked if there are no custom rules that match the DNS query Filters (which block things) are 3rd in-line and will match a domain if there is no overriding custom rule or Service rule Last in line is the Default Rule, which will, like the name suggests, match queries that aren't affected by any of the above Parental/Productivity/Impulse Controls The internet is full of distractions and outright harmful content. You may choose to block certain types of content at certain times of day (or all the time) so you can get stuff done, or prevent your kids from wasting time when they should be doing their homework. Control D gives you the tools to block large categories of distractions (social networks and games) so you can concentrate on your school or work. You can also use the same tools to block harmful content like porn, drugs, and malware on your network if you have kids. You can make these rules permanent, or time-based using the Scheduler. Here are some examples: Block social networks and games every Monday to Friday, and allow playtime on the weekends during certain hours Block porn, Reddit, and TikTok Monday to Friday 9 am to 5 pm so you can remain gainfully employed and boost your productivity British TV Fridays: Every Friday your Netflix and Disney+ shows British content Shopping Tuesday Mornings: All popular shopping sites are blocked every day except for 1hr on Tuesday morning. Then you can decide if you REALLY needed those $800 custom sock puppets you found at 3 am after a few drinks, and thought were super cool. Unique Device Configurations You're not limited to a single set of rules. Each account allows you to have up to 10 unique browsing profiles (configurations), and you can then create up to 10 devices and enforce your configurations using unique per-device DNS resolvers. Your personal laptop and phone can have one profile,  your partner's iPad could use another, and your kids' phones can use the rest. Each physical device can be configured to access or block a unique set of filters, services, and custom rules. Conclusion As you can see, there's a you can achieve with Control D, and this article really only scratches the surface. I recommend you (no payment details required!) and play around with it - I think you will be pleasantly surprised. It's time to take back control of your Internet experience. lot get yourself a trial account PS. The service is very much in active development, so if you have an idea or a suggestion, don’t hesitate to send us any and all feedback. We release new stuff weekly.

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Since 2016

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