CyberGhost VPN’s Quarterly Transparency Report

October, November, and December 2021

Another year has gone by, meaning we’re due with another Transparency Report. Here we are with our latest numbers for 2021. Our second year into the global pandemic normalized remote working and school even more, but also digital surveillance and data-mining.

We can see the negative effects, with data breaches affecting millions, malware attacks leaving businesses stranding, and people lacking good cyber security practices.

Here at CyberGhost VPN, we’re committed to protecting user privacy and not keeping user data, but not everyone shares our vision. That’s why we get many requests to disclose our Ghosties’ identities.

In the past three months, we upheld our strict No-Logs policy. We didn’t store any logs, and we have no data to show for any of these requests.

Let’s see how those requests look in more detail.

Legal Requests – Our Q4 Numbers

111,726

This is the number of DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaints, malicious activity flags, and police requests we got in the last three months of 2021.

CyberGhost VPN Q4 table with total legal requests.

The numbers are similar to our Q3 report, with only a 3% increase from 108,122 legal requests. Due to our strict No-Logs policy, we have no data to share and can’t comply with any requests.

We don’t monitor, record, or store your data for any reason. We’re also headquartered in privacy-friendly Romania, which is not part of international surveillance alliances and hasn’t legalized invasive data-mining practices.

Without further ado, let’s have an in-depth look at the numbers.

DMCA Complaints

110,825

DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It’s a law protecting intellectual property, which means we receive DMCA complaints whenever someone shares copyrighted material using one of our IP addresses. Copyright holders, entertainment companies, and independent artists can all file a copyright complaint.

October November December
35,994 36,375 38,456

DMCA complaints make up a whopping 99% of all the requests we receive. That’s similar to the last quarter when DMCA complaints made up 96% of all requests.

DMCA complaints have always represented a majority of our requests. Still, they seem to have increased as the Covid-19 pandemic emerged and pushed more and more people into the digital world.

CyberGhost VPN Q4 total DMCA complaints.

Malicious Activity Flags

893

Malicious activity flags notify us when cybercriminals use one of our IP addresses in cyberattacks. These attacks include DDoS attacks, botnet attacks, malware, and suspicious login attempts.

October November December
247 301 345

Malicious activity flags make up 1% of the requests we received in the past three months. This percentage decreased considerably throughout 2021 compared to Q3’s 3% and Q2’s 38%. This decline is most likely due to our strategies for tackling abusive behavior. We’ve blocked domains and IPs associated with malicious and illegal activities, and we’ve had success mitigating them.

CyberGhost VPN Q4 total malicious activity flags.

Police Requests

8

We receive police requests from police departments and law enforcement agencies worldwide. That happens when a criminal investigation leads to one of our IP addresses or our data centers. In that case, officials can ask for user logs, IP addresses, and any other details we don’t store or record.

October November December
3 3 2

Like in our previous reports, police requests make up less than 1% of all requests we received. Still, there’s a slight decrease from our Q3 report, which had 13 police requests.

CyberGhost VPN Q4 police requests.

Putting the Numbers in Perspective

We’ve been sharing our Transparency Reports with our Ghosties for over a decade now. While many things have changed since 2011, we didn’t give up our push for openness and transparency in the VPN industry. That’s why, in 2019, we challenged ourselves to publish our reports quarterly, so you can always see what we do to protect your online privacy.

Here’s an overview of our quarterly 2021 editions.

Make sure to keep an eye out for the yearly reports on our website, too. We go into more detail there, so you can take a sneak peek at key statistics about our infrastructure.

CyberGhost VPN’s Mission in 2022

The focus here at CyberGhost VPN has always been on building the right tools to protect your digital privacy and anonymity. Throughout 2021, we’ve done our best to expand our server network, improve our apps and service, and broaden our security suite.

We’re committed to providing a private and secure online experience.

    • 👉 Our VPN service is a fantastic security tool that improves your online privacy.
    • 👉 Our Privacy Guard protects your device from data-mining, trackers, and snoopers without sacrificing your personalized surfing experience.
    • 👉 Our Security Updater completes the package, keeping all your apps up-to-date with the latest patches and vulnerabilities fixes that keep malware at bay.

We’re keeping more than 38 million people worldwide safe online.

We make sure you get only the best security products. Get CyberGhost VPN and improve your digital privacy today!

CyberGhost Twitter showing customer testimonial.

In 2022, we have no intention of slowing down. We have big plans and a lot of goodies in store for the future, so make sure to stay updated. We’ll share everything in due time on our socials and right here on the Privacy Hub!

Until then, stay safe and secure and have a happy and healthy 2022!

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