Hands-On: VPNShazam Review
VPNShazam is based in Palestine, does not have exactly the highest profiles and a quick scan of its website might leave you asking why, because the service seems at first glance to be full of attractive features. There are 2,000 servers in 140 countries. For a small VPN, this would appear unlikely, but matches the PureVPN network statistics, and further DNS and server names lines allow us to be suspected the same infrastructure was used for both companies. PPTP, L2TP, OpenVPN, SSTP and IVEv2 protocols support options are available for encryption. P2P support is available if you need but not on all servers.
IP plans are provided with a fixed IP from the USA, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Germany, which should increase your chances of reaching any blocked website. The website has been hard to say is trustworthy but since 2009, the service has been around and it’s fulfilling some of its promises at least. The downside in VPNShazam’s apps is obvious, since the company only offers Windows and Android app.
Pricing
The cost of VPNShazam looks fair, $10.95 monthly to US$ 4.50 for over two years for dedicated IP, from $8.99 charged monthlies to $2.25 on the annual plan for the daily VPN service.
Few moments after we purchased the membership, an email arrived with a confirmation of the payment also with our login details. We used our average PayPal option. There are lot of payment options available.
WHMCS is the same platform for many web hosts, which supports VPNShazam’s billing and account management system. It will be a small plus to recognize from a web host you used, as you will know how to find your way around immediately.
Click Services then click the plan if you are looking for information of your VPN account. You’ll receive your account information and password changing options on the same screen and a request cancellation option too.
Features & Interface
The VPNShazam Windows application has a spacious interface that wastes huge space on an ineffective sidebar, large graphics, social media links and more.
There are many other problem exists related to usability and interface. The app has no option for selecting the nearest server automatically. For example, it doesn’t remember the last server you selected. It includes a Favorites system to find the common locations quickly. While you can connect other applications with a single click after launching, we had to click Dynamic VPN, after that clicked ‘Select Country’ and then selected favorite location and then every time we click Connect.
After connection is complete, the app plays an audio alert. It can be annoying with audio alerts, and you might not want to let anyone nearby know that I’m now using my VPN. On the other hand, it’s a relief to know when you are protected. There is no way to deactivate these unfortunately.
When connected, unlike any other VPN app you have ever seen, the App does not minimize to your system tray. This means that the app button takes space on your taskbar constantly which is not a big deal.
If you click “Disconnect”, the app will ask “Are you sure. The default option is great, but the app does not allow it to be disabled, so every time you complete a VPN session you have to click.
There are very few setup options wherever you look. They are mainly limited to protocol choice. Protocols include SSTP, PPTP, OpenVPn TCP, L2TP, IKEv2, OpenVPN UDP and optional killer switch version for disabling a network connection in order to prevent data leaks if VPN drops. This can be the most frequently used kill switch versions as well.
Exposure
We discovered an unusual and worrying security problem during the VPNShazam review.
The website for VPNShazam has files that show their VPN server details. The Windows application has at least one of the references. We found that an attacker can either replace the file, or upload an independent arbitrary file using a web browser.
The lists of VPNShazam may be compromised. It may redirect users to malicious servers and it was our first concern. We don’t know how big the risk is, to make the VPNShazam customers connect to fake server is an entirely new task alone. It is worrying that there is a security hole. Till we were testing this VPN service, attackers could upload their own file to the VPNShazam site. This is the second security issue which is worse.
We reported this to VPNShazam. They did what they promised after our report, removing vulnerable files and blocking the exploits. However, the poor safety of this website does not inspire much confidence, especially in a company you trust with your most confidential web activities.
Netflix
Like many other providers VPNShazam claims heavily about its abilities to unblock.
They explains it this way, ‘Imagine a world with no restrictions and barriers to the internet. Where you can stream without any restrictions all your movies and videos and surf whatever website you wish in social media without any restriction’. The company maybe doing the marketing more than it really needs right now.
We got quick access to BBC iPlayer when we connected to UK server and it was a good start for testing. It allowed visitors to visit some of the less advanced sites when we connected it to U.S.A server, including U.S. content on YouTube.
At best, in the United States and Japan, we were able to access Netflix. The record of VPN Shazam wasn’t perfect in the UK and Canada. Netflix has been blocked in these countries but it’s better than many suppliers.
Final verdict
VPNShazam has some important usability and technical problems and we can never depend on it to protect our privacy. VPNShazam is low cost for $13.99 per year if you will only use the VPNShazam’s service for unlocking sites such as the BBC iPlayer or U.S. Netflix.
Read Next: IPVanish VPN Review 2019 – How Well Does It Work?
