Police leaves Mullvad offices empty handed after trying to gain access to customer data

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 20, 2023
Updated • Apr 21, 2023
Internet
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Mullvad, the Sweden-based maker of the Mullvad VPN solution, confirmed today that police showed up at the company's offices with a search warrant.

This happened on April 18, 2023 according to the company and was the first time that the company's offices were visited by the police with a search warrant.

According to Mullvad, at least six police officers from Sweden's National Operations Department (NOA) came to the company's offices in Gothenburg with a search warrant. The police's intention was to seize computers with customer data.

mullvad vpn

Mullvad says that it told the police that no such data existed, and that it demonstrated to the police officers how its service worked. According to the company, it also informed the police that seizes of its equipment would be illegal under Swedish law.

The police then consulted with the prosecutor according to Mullvad and left the offices "without taking anything and without any customer information". Mullvad notes that the seizing of the servers would not have helped the police, as no user data is recorded by it.

Mullvad operates a VPN that is different from the majority of VPN services that are available on the Internet. One of the main distinguishing factors is that Mullvad VPN's pricing is simple, as it is available for €5 per month without any hidden costs.

The company promises that it keeps no activity logs and does not even ask for personal information. Customers may use anonymous payment methods using cash or cryptocurrencies that Mullvad accepts, so that even these payments can't be traced back to individual customers.

Mullvad even dropped the ability to make recurring payments. The company argued last year that recurring payments would require it to save some customer data so that the payments could be processed. The removal of the option freed it from doing so, even if it meant that some customers might not renew their subscriptions, as it meant having to initiate payment processes again.

Mullvad launched Mullvad Browser, a privacy-focused browser based on Firefox ESR earlier this month. The browser was developed in cooperation with the Tor Browser team and can best be described as Firefox, but with better security and privacy options and tools.

Mullvad customers get another confirmation that the service is true to its words.

Now You: which VPN service do you use, and why?

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Police leaves Mullvad offices empty handed after trying to gain access to customer data
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Police leaves Mullvad offices empty handed after trying to gain access to customer data
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Mullvad, the Sweden-based maker of the Mullvad VPN solution, confirmed today that police showed up at the company's offices with a search warrant.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. You Will Taste Man Flesh! said on April 21, 2023 at 8:29 am
    Reply

    “We’ve Teamed Up With Mullvad VPN to Launch the Mullvad Browser ”

    https://blog.torproject.org/releasing-mullvad-browser/

    by isabela | April 3, 2023

    “Today we announced the launch of the Mullvad Browser, a browser built by the Tor Project team and distributed by Mullvad.

    “Mullvad and the Tor Project have been part of the same community that is dedicated to developing technology that prioritizes protecting people’s right to privacy for many years now. Mullvad contributes to the Tor Project at the highest level of membership, Shallot, and were a founding member of the Tor Project’s Membership Program. They approached us to help them develop their browser because they wanted to leverage our expertise to create a product that is built on the same principles and with similar safety levels as the Tor Browser — but that works independently of the Tor network. The result is the Mullvad Browser, a free, privacy-preserving web browser to challenge the all-too-prevalent business model of exploiting people’s data for profit.” […]

  2. molar said on April 21, 2023 at 5:20 am
    Reply

    #thisiswhyIuseMullvad.

    A VPN is only as trustworthy as its management and its track record. Mullvad is open about the first – unlike far too many VPNs, they have names, faces, addresses and transparent ownership – and their track record speaks for itself.

    Oh, and they do their own support, it’s not outsourced to people whose job it is to close tickets rather than solve issues (ok, that means it’s limited to European hours, but the bottom line is that I haven’t needed to use it much).

    The only minus is that they’re not the best VPN for streaming. They are set up for privacy, and they deliver for that, but if you want to Netflix from another country, they’re not the VPN you want.

  3. yanta said on April 21, 2023 at 4:15 am
    Reply

    Mullvad is not unique. PIA, Nord and Express also have a no logs policy, though they do support recurring payments. They claim to have been independently auditted to prove they are true to their word.

    PIA have so many restrictions though, such as only being allowed to have one email account and very slow speeds here.

    Nord on the other hand have terrible customer service (Every problem according to them is a DNS leak), and they don’t support obfuscated servers here.

    So I look forward to testing Mullvad’s products.

    Their pricing is about middle of the road. Express is A$13 per month, Nord being the cheapest is about A$5 per month and that would put mullvad at about A$8.30 per month

    Their browser also reports that you have a DNS leak if you are not using their VPN, which is just blatant misinformation. I have confirmed this behaviour with them.

    You can see where this is going. Sooner or later VPNs are going to made illegal. All of the hype around that 5000% increase in cyber attacks is creating panic and here many retailers are blocking VPN users. Our government is actively trying to make VPNs illegal. Those that survive will surely be told to keep logs.

    1. Brightspark said on April 21, 2023 at 6:27 am
      Reply

      “PIA, Nord and Express also have a no logs policy”

      Correction; those VPN service providers CLAIM to have a no logs policy, as do most. The proof of the veracity of any such policy is when the authorities come knocking with a warrant in hand..

  4. DrKnow said on April 21, 2023 at 3:11 am
    Reply

    — Mullvad says that it told the police that no such data existed —

    And the Police accepted that without even inspecting a single sever forensically. Wow, Keystone Cops are alive and well or more likely Mullvard is a Honeypot.

    Meanwhile, every sucker now thinks Mullvad is good when most likely there’s backdoors all over the place.

  5. Falska Jävlar said on April 21, 2023 at 2:51 am
    Reply

    I call mullshit. This is an ad and that police crap is a lie.

    1. Arne Anka said on April 23, 2023 at 10:42 am
      Reply

      According to the Swedish PBC the Police confirm their action, but do not give any details.

      https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vast/husrannsakan-mot-vpn-tjansten-mullvad-i-goteborg

      1. Arne Anka said on April 26, 2023 at 10:54 pm
        Reply

        Today in the news, the swedish police says it was a request from german police.

        https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vast/internationell-brottslighet-bakom-husrannsakan-i-goteborg

    2. Tom Hawack said on April 21, 2023 at 1:07 pm
      Reply

      Could be a disguised promotion, indeed, though I’d be surprised unless to consider that a company deliberately organized a situation involving the very Swedish police which has more to do than play a role id advertizement : after all their must be official records of its intervention.

      Whatever I had a look on NEWSNOW to see what thay had concerning Mullvad :
      [https://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Technology/Internet?search=mullvad&lang=en]

      Found only two links, one to this this very Ghacks article, the other to :
      [https://uk.pcmag.com/vpn/146517/mullvad-vpn-hit-with-search-warrant-in-attempted-police-raid]

      I wouldn’t take the risk of accusing a company of having initiated a situation which ends up glorifying their privacy policies when we all know that unsolicited disagreeable circumstances may sometimes result in a positive scenario for the incriminated actor.

    3. 45 RPM said on April 21, 2023 at 9:36 am
      Reply

      My immediate reaction too – seriously, an ad.

  6. Grand Prosecutor Jihana said on April 20, 2023 at 8:50 pm
    Reply

    Martin, it looks like you (currently) have some typos in the article “[…] avaiilable for $5 per month …”. It’s spelt ‘available’, and you probably meant ‘€5’ euro per month, rather than “$5” dollar. I don’t use VPN services.

    Hallowed be the memory of the Lost Souls.

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