ZDNet's Steven Vaughan-Nichols shares some of the latest improvements to ExpressVPN following its codebase transition from C to Rust. An anonymous reader quotes an excerpt from the report: ExpressVPN is one of ZDNET's favorite Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). The popular VPN's transformation of its Lightway codebase from C to Rust promises to make the service faster and more secure. For now, the updated Lightway 2.0 is only available via ExpressVPN's Aircove router with the February 4 AircoveOS v5 update. The Aircove, which we rate as the best VPN router, costs $189. With this device, you can protect your tech from unwanted snoopers without installing a VPN on each gadget. So, how much faster is the updated ExpressVPN? In my tests, I connected to the internet via my updated router over my 2 Gigabit per second (Gbps) AT&T Internet using a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet-connected Linux Mint desktop with a Wi-Fi 6 connection over my Samsung Galaxy 25 Plus smartphone.

Without the VPN engaged, I saw 1.6 Gbps speeds, which is about par. With the VPN switched on and using Lightway 2.0, I saw speeds in the 290 to 330 Megabit per second (Mbps) range to Toronto and London, England. Farther afield, I saw speeds around 250 to 280Mbps to Hong Kong and Seoul. That's about 20% faster than I had seen with earlier Lightway versions. I was impressed. This version of the VPN should also be more secure. As Pete Membrey, ExpressVPN's chief research officer, said in a statement: "At ExpressVPN, we innovate to solve the challenges of tomorrow. Upgrading Lightway from its previous C code to Rust was a strategic and straightforward decision to enhance performance and security while ensuring longevity."

The updated Lightway VPN protocol also uses ML-KEM, the newly finalized NIST standard for post-quantum encryption. This feature, wrote Membray in a blog post, "ensures your connection is secured by encryption designed not just for today's threats but for the quantum-powered challenges of the future." To ensure the integrity of the recoded Lightway protocol, ExpressVPN commissioned two independent security audits from cybersecurity firms Cure53 and Praetorian. Both audits yielded positive results, with only minor vulnerabilities identified and promptly addressed by ExpressVPN. In short, ExpressVPN is technically about as safe a VPN as they come.

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