When you’re talking about online security, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a basic need. VPNs protect users from third-party snoopers — be they cyber criminals, governments, or ISPs — by creating an encrypted virtual “tunnel” that information passes through. For privacy-conscious users, VPNs are a no-brainer.

All of that is why Tenta has had a built-in VPN from “go.” But we ran into a problem quickly. One big complaint about VPNs in general — and about our original VPN in particular — is that they connect more slowly than a VPN-free connection. After all, most people aren’t willing to sacrifice speed for safety — and we don’t blame them. So we took that feedback and created Mimic, which connects so quickly you don’t have to wait at all.

But there’s another aspect to Mimic that we want to draw attention to, and that's the fact that it doesn’t draw attention to itself. Mimic “mimics” a regular webpage when it’s observed by a third-party snooper.

“This matters because some sites operators are really good at detecting VPN traffic, so then they may block you or prevent you from using their site,” Jesse Adams, co-founder and CEO of Tenta, says. “Also, if a third-party snooper detects you're using a VPN, they might assume you're hiding something — and this brings unnecessary attention.”

Examples of blocked VPN traffic includes media sites that don’t want people in certain countries to access their site or governments that want to block their citizens from getting around censored webpages. And Christopher O’Connell, CTO and co-founder of Tenta, says that the “unnecessary attention” that VPNs like OpenVPN — on which the original Tenta VPN was built — often comes from cyber criminals.

“OpenVPN is like a guy walking down the street with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist and two security guys pushing the crowd aside to make room for him,” Christopher says. “Secure? Yes. Discreet? No.”

So rather than being the guy that’s advertising he’s got something to hide — or to steal —Mimic VPN gives users a chance to be more… Discreet.

“Mimic is like being a nondescript middle ager carrying the same boring briefcase as everyone else,” Christopher says. “Except underneath that boring exterior its made out of Kevlar-reinforced titanium.”

Now, we know that normally people wouldn’t choose to be the nondescript middle aged dude over the guy with the a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist but, in this case? Trust us. It’s the much better option.

If you’re ready to stop exposing your data to third-party snoopers without sacrificing speed — and without advertising to the world that you’re using a VPN — check out Tenta Browser and make sure no one can tell when you’re using a VPN.