Review of 2022

We are counting downs the days until 2023 and are excited about the things that will happen next year.

But first, let’s take a look at the special year of 2022. Here is what we remember most fondly.

Diskless Infrastructure

We started the year by releasing diskless infrastructure on our servers. As we write this we now have over 500 servers ST booted. You can read more about diskless infrastructure here. You can view all the servers running from RAM without any disks in use on our servers page. There is a “Running from” filter to select RAM or disk servers.

DNS block lists

During March we added another layer of DNS blocking to our VPN servers, with Malware DNS blocking.

At the start of July we expanded our DNS block lists once again, by adding habit blocking lists, for gambling and adult content. These are based on lists that are readily available and viewable via our Github page, and are updated on a monthly basis by and large.

Started accepting Monero

In May we implemented Monero as a new crypto payment option which was requested by many of our users. As with our other cryptocurrencies, we run the wallet and node ourselves and do not rely on any third parties. We will continue to research and expand our support for cryptocurrencies.

Device Management

The app now has an easy-to-remember two word name as its device identifier. This solves both the dreaded “too many keys”-issue and it gives users a more friendly way of identifying their devices.

Removed Subscriptions

In order to store less data we no longer accept NEW PayPal and Credit card subscriptions (recurring payments). One-time payments are not affected.

Post-Quantum safe tunnels

In July, we released experimental support for quantum computer resistant VPN tunnel encryption in our desktop apps on a few servers. Later during the year we expanded this support to all our WireGuard servers. We will continue with this during 2023.

VPN server security audit

We released the final report of our VPN server security audit, performed by Assured AB during June. During which Assured AB said “…the configuration is sound and did not display signs of any direct customer information“.

Authoritative DNS audit

We are now running our own self-hosted authoritative DNS servers which we have spread around the world for redundancy, trust and performance. Read the full report here.

App security audit

In October we performed and released the results of a quite extensive security audit of our VPN app for all five platforms it supports. Nothing critical or of high risk was found.

Amazon

We are now listed on Amazon in 10 countries. The design of the activation code removes the possibility for third parties to link a payment to a Mullvad account, for privacy. You can gift time and give it to a friend without knowing their account number. This works on new and existing accounts. Find all our resellers here.

Support for the community

Lastly, we could not do what we do without other people and organizations innovating in the fields that we rely on. That is why we sponsored Qubes OS, The Tor Project, WireGuard, Security Fest and more.

Thank you for this year. Our fight against mass-surveillance and censorship will continue…

For the universal right to privacy,
Mullvad VPN