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ZDNET Highlights
- Surfshark has launched a new VPN protocol that promises better security and barrier-breaking speeds.
- Instead of sharing a tunnel with other user traffic, Dosos provides each user with their own tunnel.
- Initial tests show promise, but it’s still not up to par in terms of performance compared to WireGuard.
Surfshark has unveiled Dosos, a new virtual private network (VPN) protocol designed to improve consumer-grade VPN speeds and security.
What is Dossos?
It is named after the Lithuanian word for heaven and as a sign of ascension. Dausos Surfshark has a proprietary VPN protocol, which the company hopes will differentiate it from WireGuard, OpenVPN, and IKEv2 as a purpose-built protocol designed for consumer VPN use.
Too: Best VPN Services 2026: Expert Tested and Recommended
The company says that while many of the protocols used by VPN networks today were not originally designed for consumer use – and were instead adapted to be fit for purpose – Dosos is built specifically for this task.
What makes it different?
According to Surfshark, Dausos uses AEGIS-256X2 instead of the widely used AES-GCM, but the main difference is that it provides a separate, dedicated traffic tunnel for each user. Normally, you would share these tunnels with other VPN user traffic, but by creating separate paths, the hope is that Dosos creates a cleaner, more streamlined experience and reduces the potential risk of traffic congestion. contamination Or exposure.
one in reddit threadKarolis Kasiulis, Lead Systems Engineer at Surfshark, said:
“When users share a tunnel, one user’s traffic load can interfere with another’s, meaning your packets are handled slower because the server is busy processing other users’ packets. With Dosos, each user gets a dedicated tunnel, eliminating that problem.”
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Surfshark says this protocol can provide up to 30% faster speeds than other protocols, including WireGuard – the protocol Surfshark, along with most other VPN providers – uses by default.
Additionally, the use of AEGIS-256X2 encryption is a security improvement and may also help protect against future attacks as a post-quantum solution.
Support for Doussos’s claims
There is always risk in introducing any new major encryption technology or protocol, so to support its claims, Surfshark hired independent auditor Cure53 to conduct an assessment.
“With no findings on critical or high severity within the actual Dosos protocol, the audit results reflect a stable and resilient platform,” assessment (.pdf) reads. “The Surfshark team demonstrated a significant commitment to security by remediating most of the findings immediately following the testing phase.”
That doesn’t mean everything went smoothly, however, as at launch, found some testers Doussos did not perform well in terms of residential connections. Nevertheless, Surfshark quickly developed and deployed a solution, which resolved the problem.
Installation, testing and final thoughts
At the moment, Dausos is only available on macOS, although Surfshark plans to offer this protocol to other platforms in the future.
To try out the new protocol, make sure your app is up to date with the latest version. However, if you downloaded the Surfshark app directly from the VPN provider’s website it will not appear under the protocol selection tab of your VPN. Instead, go to the Apple App Store and download the Dosos app, which is in beta.
I tested the new protocol against my initial unsecured connection and WireGuard, and found that it worked well across the board for browsing the Internet and streaming on both Netflix and YouTube, so it looks like the initial teething problems have gone away.
Whenever you use a VPN, you are introducing a middleman between your device and the online service, and so you should expect a drop in speed – although when your initial connection is relatively fast, you may not notice the difference.
Too: Surfshark VPN review: One of our favorite budget VPNs with unlimited connections
I found that Surfshark with WireGuard reduced download speeds by 35.54% and upload speeds by 6.30%. Compared to Dosos, the download speed decreased by 38.25% and the upload speed decreased by 4.88%.
Overall, WireGuard still performed better in terms of download speeds, while Dosos remained ahead in maintaining upload speeds. (Since connections and environmental factors all vary, consider this only a snapshot of what you can expect – as your experience may be completely different.)
ground level
Dosos has potential, and given the modest performance difference compared to WireGuard, I would recommend giving it a try, especially since we are likely to see improvements as the beta protocol continues to be refined. And if this tempts you more, it would be good to know that it is free and available to all Surfshark customers.
Will it ever become open source so that it can benefit the VPN and security industry as a whole? When Kasiulis was asked this question, he said it wasn’t possible during the initial launch phase – but Surfshark “sees the benefits of it and it’s something we’re actively discussing.”
The engineer added, “We will keep you updated as we continue to evaluate our open-source strategy.”
