CyberGhost is a VPN company based in Romania. If we set the “exotic paradise” part aside and add Dracula’s castle to the combo, Romania is very similar to the Seychelles when it comes to VPNs. Therefore, CyberGhost has a perfect location to provide ultimate online security to its users.
Legislature
The Romanian Constitutional Court declared the EU Data Detention Directive unconstitutional in its entirety way back in 2014, effectively ending the story that began in 2008. It also nullified the legal power of the Romanian Law on Cyber Security, stopping data collection by law enforcement and intelligence.
We also have to take into account that Romania has managed to avoid the implementation of these measures despite being a member of the EU and in strategic partnership with the US for 20 years. In case you were wondering, this partnership does include bilateral cyber security efforts as well.
Having said that, however, if a governmental entity obtains a court order, it can legally intercept communications and log traffic, location info, and other data.
Logging Policy
Back to the main point, CyberGhost does not keep any logs of your online activity, being staunch believers in Internet freedom themselves. The company owns a real office with real employees and you can find its address on the official site, adding to the overall credibility of the VPN provider. More specifically, the service does not keep logs of your assigned servers, traffic, visited sites, and account data or any information sent through the servers you choose to connect to. Furthermore, it also refrains from “real-time logging,” meaning CyberGhost does not monitor and record your telephone calls, messenger/video chats, and other forms of communication.
As far as personal data is concerned, CyberGhost collects your name, email address, payment information, and domicile address. We do not like the fact that the company asks for your real name and address since a valid email and payment method are all it really requires to create your account and provide its service. Having said that, the collected data is stored in an anonymized manner so nobody can associate your personal information with anything that happens within the VPN tunnel.
The collected data is used to optimize the overall user experience, troubleshoot potential problems, analyze the usage of the official website, and advertise CyberGhost updates to existing customers. You can inspect the collected data at any given point and demand that the company rectifies or deletes it completely from its database.
Your personal data will never be shared or sold to third parties, with the exception of an existing court order or to protect its own interests and enforce previous agreements.
Moreover, the data collected is never shared with third parties without an explicit court order.