Privacy & no-KYC
Does using a VPN to connect to my VPS help?
Short answer
It helps with one specific thing: it stops your home IP address appearing in the server's authentication logs and in any provider-side records. It does nothing about what the server itself does, what it sends, or how it was paid for. Useful as one layer, useless as the only one.
Tor is stronger than a VPN for this purpose, because no single party sees both your address and the destination. The trade is latency, which is tolerable for SSH administration and unpleasant for anything interactive.
The mistake to avoid is inconsistency. Connecting over Tor ninety-nine times and once from home puts your home address in the log exactly once, which is all it takes.
See also: Tor
7 answers in Privacy & no-KYC
- What is no-KYC hosting? No-KYC hosting is server hosting that does not require identity verification. No passport, no photo ID, no billing address and no payment card. An ema…
- Is no-KYC hosting legal? Yes. There is no general legal requirement to identify server customers in the jurisdictions where OnionVPS operates. Anti-money-laundering identifica…
- How do I buy a VPS anonymously? Use a provider that requires no identity verification, sign up from a network that is not your home connection, use an email alias created for the pur…
- What data does a hosting provider collect about me? Most providers collect a name, billing address, payment card, phone number, government ID, signup IP address, and complete access and connection logs.…
- Do VPS providers keep logs of what I do? Most do. Netflow records, connection logs and panel access logs are standard, retained for 30 to 365 days, and in the EU and UK certain retention is l…
- Can a VPS be traced back to me? It depends entirely on the links you create, not on the hosting itself. A no-KYC server paid for in Monero and administered over Tor has no provider-s…