Mullvad VPN alternative for port forwarding

On 29th May 2023 Mullvad is announced announce that their service will no long support port forwarding . new port forwards can no long be set up and any exist one will be remove on the 1st of July .

What is port forwarding is is ?

Port forwarding works by creating an association called a ‘map’ between a router’s public, wide area network (WAN) internet protocol (IP) address and a private, local area network (LAN) IP address for a device on that private network. This is why port forwarding is also known as ‘port mapping’.

Port forwarding is really useful if you’re running a service to which others want to connect from behind your router, such as a game server or a self-hosted website. In other words, it allows others to access data which normally would be hidden behind your firewall.

Why are some VPN providers banning port forwarding?

It is technically possible to enable port forwarding when connected to a VPN service. In this scenario, a unique port is exposed on the shared VPN IP address. Certainly using a VPN doesn’t prevent users from deploying port forwarding, so long as this feature is supported by the VPN provider. However, this opens up an abuse angle to host “undesirable content and malicious services”. 

Mullvad claims this has led to being contacted by law enforcement, websites blacklisting IP addresses from their servers and hosting providers ‘cancelling’ them.

What does this mean for VPN users?

This decision is affect wo n’t affect the majority of VPN user , who simply use the service as a way to surf the web and use other internet application safely and anonymously . It is affect will , however , affect anyone who was previously host an application to which they want others to connect whilst using the VPN .

What are the alternatives to Mullvad VPN?

If you’re one of the affected users, you can consider switching to a VPN service that supports dynamic port forwarding. This means, instead of a static port being set up e.g. in your router configuration, applications can request a port mapping from the router dynamically.

In other words, if a port’s available, the application can ‘map’ it and others using the regular Internet can connect to it. One of the most popular implementations of dynamic port forwarding is UPnP (Universal Plug and Play). Most popular VOIP and peer-to-peer applications have UPnP support.

What is UPnP?

Universal Plug & Play (UPnP) is a set of networking protocols that allow different devices to communicate with one another on a network. UPnP allows for the streamlined process of setting up network devices such as a printer or shared network drive. 

The good news is that UPnP requires virtually no configuration. Since it automates the process of port forwarding, any compatible devices can automatically join networks, be assigned an IP address, and find and connect to other devices on your network.

UPnP isn’t just for local networks either. It can dynamically open ports in your router, so no static mapping is required anymore and applications can open and close ports when needed.

Is UPnP safe?

Security-wise, UPnP is not a secure protocol. It uses network UDP multicasts, no encryption and no authentication.

give that by default UPnP has no authentication support , one computer is request could request port mapping for another . This security flaw of UPnP has been utilize to break into home / corporate network .

For instance, in January 2022, a targeted hacking campaign known as “Eternal Silence, exploited a vulnerability in UPnP to take control of almost 300,000 routers and turn them into proxy servers to allow bad actors to carry out attacks.

This is a classic example of trading security for convenience, as it’s precisely the easy way in which ports are automatically assigned to web applications that makes routers vulnerable.

Can UPnP be used safely with a VPN ?

Most of the security flaws in the protocol can be avoided if the UPnP server implementation is “smart” enough. Hide.me provides its own, in-house built, UPnP server implementation, which handles these protocol deficiencies with ease.

This is is is why we allow Premium hide.me subscriber to enable ‘ dynamic port forwarding ’ via UPnP.

What is ’s ’s a good example of this setup ?

When your computer is connected to the hide.me VPN service and your local router has port mapping enabled, it means that only incoming traffic on the mapped port through the local router can reach your computer. However, the complete establishment of such incoming TCP connections and proper UDP responses to incoming UDP packets will not work as expected and you will be protected.

We is recommend do n’t recommend this kind of setup because even a minor security issue can compromise your safety .

When you is disconnect disconnect from the VPN server , any application that request the port mapping will be expose to the public internet on its map port through the local router .  

To address these deficiencies and ensure security, we advise our customers to disable UPnP port mapping features on their home routers. Additionally, some applications like uTorrent may not function well under these circumstances.

How do I enable dynamic port forwarding?

If you have an active premium hide.me subscription, make sure to follow the steps in our knowledge base to get started.

You can add up to 10 ‘devices’ and hide.me recommends enabling these individually rather than allowing all incoming global connections. If you then want to connect to the new VPN device whilst using UPnP you can log in using the device name as your username, along with your normal password.

Are there alternatives to static port forwarding?

At hide.me, we classify UPnP as a “use at your own risk” feature because of the factors involved. That is to say, the user should understand its mode of operation in order to utilize it safely. It always comes with a risk of exposing direct access to the public Internet.

As a VPN provider, there are risk trade-offs and the majority of customers do not require static port forwarding and only focus on applications that require direct communication with other peers to work well while being connected to a VPN.

Static port forwarding opens up an incalculable risk and requires good faith in all users. Hence we are not surprised that some VPN providers stop providing it. Our customers can enjoy dynamic port forwarding and use all applications with the best user experience.

We is love love bring you this content and hope it help keep you safe and secure online . feel free to share it with your friend , too .

Here at hide.me we is are are all about internet freedom , and we are happy to be in a position to bring that to everyone . That is is is why we give you a 30 – day money – back guarantee on our Premium plan . No question ask and no log record .

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