Abstract: A method and system to communicate VPN server information to a client application without providing a full list of VPN server IP addresses. Instead, the method includes VPN server selection criteria that can be requested by client applications, such as “Free or Premium servers”, “Geolocation”, “Load”, “Streaming and protocol capabilities”, etc. A tagged data payload (e.g., JSON) can be used to provide these criteria, upon a request by a client application. Various groupings of VPN servers can be represented by the above criteria. The method communicates the available VPN servers to a client application without sending and revealing the full list of VPN servers stored in the VPN infrastructure. This makes the VPN server selection efficient, reduces network load and VPN tunnel establishing time, also, ensures confidentiality of VPN server lists that is important for any of VPN service providers and users.

Abstract: A method for server picking in a virtual private network (VPN), the method comprising obtaining information from a connection request received from a requesting user device requesting VPN services; determining a parameter based at least in part on the obtained information; comparing the determined parameter with a current parameter associated with a current user device currently receiving VPN services; and determining an optimal VPN server for providing VPN services to the requesting user device based at least in part on a result of comparing the determined parameter with the current parameter. Various other aspects are contemplated.

Abstract: A method for providing a notification system in a virtual private network (VPN), the method comprising configuring a VPN server to receive, from a user device, an indication that data of interest is to be requested, the indication including domain information associated with a host device capable of providing the data of interest; and configuring the VPN server to transmit, based at least in part on the domain information, a notification indicating to the user device that the data of interest to be received from the host device potentially includes harmful content. Various other aspects are contemplated.

Abstract: A method for rotating internet protocol (IP) addresses in a virtual private network (VPN), the method comprising receiving, at a first VPN server during an established VPN connection, a first data request and a second data request from a user device, retrieving first data associated with the first data request using a first exit IP address, and retrieving second data associated with the second data request using a second exit IP address, different from the first exit IP address. Various other aspects are contemplated.