VPN glossary
Plain-English definitions of the VPN and WireGuard terms you'll actually run into.
- VPN
- A Virtual Private Network routes your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a server elsewhere, hiding your IP address from sites you visit and your activity from your local network or ISP.
- WireGuard
- A modern, fast, audited VPN protocol with a tiny codebase. The protocol vpn.golf is built on. See our full guide on what WireGuard is.
- No-logs
- A policy (and architecture) where the VPN does not record what you do — no traffic logs, no DNS query logs, no connection timestamps. The only honest version is one the system can't keep even if asked.
- Exit node
- The server your traffic comes out of. On vpn.golf each exit node is a 'hole' in a different country; the site you visit sees the exit node's IP, not yours.
- Kill switch
- A feature that blocks all internet traffic if the VPN tunnel drops, so your real IP is never exposed during a reconnect.
- DNS leak
- When your device sends DNS lookups outside the VPN tunnel, revealing the sites you're resolving to your ISP even though the rest of your traffic is encrypted. A good VPN routes DNS through the tunnel to its own resolver.
- WebRTC leak
- A browser feature (WebRTC) can reveal your real IP address even while a VPN is active. Browsers and extensions can be configured to prevent this; test it with our WebRTC leak tool.
- Public key / Private key
- WireGuard uses a key pair per device. The private key stays on your device and signs the tunnel; the public key is shared so the server can recognize you. vpn.golf only ever stores your public key.
- Curve25519
- The elliptic-curve key-exchange algorithm WireGuard uses to establish a shared secret between two peers. Fast and widely trusted.
- Split tunneling
- Letting some apps or destinations use the VPN tunnel while others go direct. Useful for keeping, say, your bank app off the VPN while everything else is tunneled.
- Multi-hop
- Routing your traffic through two VPN servers in sequence (entry in one country, exit in another) so no single server sees both who you are and where you're going. On vpn.golf: 'playing two holes.'
- Handshake
- The brief exchange where two WireGuard peers verify each other's keys and agree on session keys. WireGuard's handshake is fast and happens silently in the background.