Senator Ron Wyden requests NSA guidance on VPN security

Senator Ron Wyden has requested that the National Security Agency (NSA) provide updated public guidance on virtual private network (VPN) configurations. Wyden argues that Americans facing advanced foreign threats—including government personnel, defense contractors, journalists, and human rights defenders—require clear advice on how to protect their communications from foreign surveillance.

The request follows a memo from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) which noted that VPNs are not a complete security solution. The memo highlighted that VPNs do not make users fully anonymous and that users essentially shift their trust from internet providers to VPN providers. Additionally, metadata such as timestamps and destination IP addresses can still be used to de-anonymize users even if the encryption itself remains intact.

Wyden is specifically seeking clarity on whether standard single-hop commercial VPNs are sufficient to hide digital footprints from adversaries monitoring internet backbones. He is also asking the NSA to evaluate multi-hop tools, such as Tor, Nym, and Apple iCloud Private Relay, compared to traditional VPN services for those at high risk of surveillance.