Windscribe with Control D

Questions
1

I’ve recently been interested in moving to Windscribe mainly for their “reasonably unlimited” device connections and that they seem 98% of their way onto being added to Privacy Guides.

I’ve also been interested in many of the configurable DNS features from their sister company, Control D, so I’d like to get the paid subscription for that as well.

The common advice I’ve seen is that you shouldn’t use a custom DNS with your VPN due to increased fingerprintability and more parties to trust; however, would such advice apply here when Control D is owned by Windscribe?

I tried doing some DNS leak tests on IVPN’s dnsleaktest.com with Windscribe’s default R.O.B.E.R.T. DNS and it repeatedly showed a Control D hostname. From that, I’m assuming there’s enough integration between the two that there’d be little to no concern, but what do you all think?

2

Where did you get this 98% figure from?

3

I just made it up as hyperbole since I’ve heard that they only really need to fully roll out their new audited infrastructure before being added.

4

Robert is based on Control D, which is Windscribe’s sister company for DNS management.

5

What is your threat model? In other words, what are you trying to protect or safeguard yourself from when using a VPN?

I ask because depending on your answer, fingerprinting may not even be a big concern.

6

I don’t think anything has changed since around June 2024 with the FreshScribe audit, in terms of getting anywhere closer to being recommended here but, @yegor would be the one who could provide the most accurate info.

From what I can tell this is still true.

7

“Freshscribe” is being rolled out and already is deployed on ~1/2 the fleet.

1 Like
8

What is your threat model? In other words, what are you trying to protect or safeguard yourself from when using a VPN?

Mainly access to banned websites, privacy for family, privacy from surveillance, and personal data control. I’m not currently against anything gravely serious or specific, but I’ve been treating internet privacy more so as something fun and useful to learn and expand upon. If I ever encounter a situation where fingerprinting becomes a major concern, then I can always use Tor instead.

Hi @yegor, thank you for stopping by! I did some more DNS leak tests and noticed a couple differences.

If I connect using the default DNS, it shows something like mia-h01.int.controld as the hostname, but when using a custom Control D server, the hostname will be the DNS IP+.static, for example 127.0.0.1.static. Additionally, The DNS ASN will be different from the IP ASN, unlike the default DNS where they’d be the same.

I’m curious as to why these two differences occur and if they mean anything to fingerprinting?