Obfuscation

Explanation

Obfuscation (also called stealth mode or traffic masking) is a technology used by some VPN services to disguise VPN protocol traffic so it looks like regular HTTPS web browsing to network inspection systems. Standard VPN protocols (OpenVPN, WireGuard) have identifiable traffic signatures that deep packet inspection (DPI) tools — used by streaming services, ISPs, and governments — can detect and block. Obfuscated VPN protocols scramble those signatures, making the traffic indistinguishable from ordinary HTTPS. ExpressVPN's Lightway protocol and NordVPN's Obfuscated Servers use this approach. Obfuscation is particularly important for users in countries with VPN restrictions (China, Russia, UAE) and for bypassing streaming service VPN detection that goes beyond IP blacklisting. The tradeoff is speed — obfuscation adds processing overhead that reduces throughput compared to non-obfuscated VPN connections.