DECEMBER 2019 MACWORLD 103SECURITY, SOFTWARE,
SERVERS, AND SPEED
Unlike a lot of other desktop apps, PIA
allows users to adjust some of their
encryption options beyond just the
protocol. By default, PIA uses OpenVPN
over UDP, AES-128 data encryption, GCM
for data authentication, and RSA-2048 for
the handshake.
If you want to change any of that, you
can switch UDP to TCP, and data
encryption can be changed to AES-256
(CBC or GCM), as well as AES–128 (CBC). If
you choose one of the CBC options, you’ll
also be able to customize your data
authentication and handshake. GCM,
however, only lets you adjust the
handshake.
Most users should just leave this
section as is, but PIA has a helpful guide
on its site (go.macworld.com/vpen) to
explain the advantages and disadvantages
of various settings tweaks.
The macOS app for PIA is very similar
to the Windows version. It’s a long single
column accessible from the top right of the
screen in macOS. There’s a large power
button to turn your VPN connection on and
off, and below that is the current country
connection.
Expand the window, and you can see a
section with customizable quick connect
options (for up to five different countries),
the current performance of your
connection, total bandwidth used, and
some icons to quickly access parts of PIA’s
settings.
Overall, it’s a great and simple app that
offers enough information for power users,
but organized in such a way that novices
can ignore it entirely to avoid confusion.
When you dive into the various
country connections, you can see the
ping times from each country to your
location. We love this feature as it allows
you to choose the fastest connectionPIA’s default view on Mac.