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Police have seized a server used by Windscribe VPN to provide encrypted internet access to subscribers in Europe. Canadian company Windscribe has claimed that Dutch law enforcement took one of its European servers without obtaining a warrant.
By funnelling everything you do via one of these servers, VPNs add tough encryption to everything you do online. If you subscribe to one of the best VPNs, you'll be able to choose a server location — routing all of your traffic via this server to make it appear as if you're based in another country. This has implications for unlocking new shows and films to stream, unlocking better discounts not available in your current location, and much more.
Windscribe announced news of the VPN server seizure on X, revealing that law enforcement officials claimed they would hand the server back once they "fully analyse it."
THIS IS NOT A DRILL: The Dutch authorities, without a warrant, just seized one of our VPN servers saying they'll give it back after they "fully analyze it".
— Windscribe (@windscribecom) February 5, 2026
Windscribe uses RAM disk servers so the only thing the authorities will find is a stock Ubuntu install. The bigger worry… pic.twitter.com/lv9kIg4dnG
It's not clear what police investigators hope to find, but there's no suggestion Windscribe has done anything wrong. This incident adds to the growing pressure on some of the best VPNs from law enforcement agencies across Europe. Law enforcement had seized or disrupted 15 servers that hosted VPNLab.net’s service, which shut it down completely across 10 countries in early 2022.
DoubleVPN, a service used by cyber criminals online, was shut down by authorities across Europe, the US, and Canada in 2021. If you're a Windscribe subscriber, there's no need to worry about any of your personal data being released.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is software that protects and anonymises everything you do online. | UNSPLASH The company operates RAM-only servers, which essentially wipe everything the moment you pull the plug. It's similar to writing on a whiteboard rather than in a notebook – once the power goes, so does all the data.
This is a common practice across the industry. Several popular cheap VPNs like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, and more all run RAM-only servers.
Proton VPN are one of the few providers that protect your information differently — using full-disk encryption with an AES-256 cypher instead, storing encryption keys off-site.
"Windscribe uses RAM disk servers so that the only thing the authorities will find is a stock Ubuntu install," the company explained on X.
In a later X post, Windscribe wrote: "Once the server loses power, it has nothing on it besides a brand new Ubuntu install. Our operating system runs entirely in RAM so you can't spin up the server again in any modified capacity, any trace of Windscribe is off the machine once it's powered off."
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Beyond the RAM-only setup, Windscribe maintains a strict policy of not collecting any personal data about what its users get up to online. This is another similar practice used across the industry — including even some of the best free VPNs.
"Our Transparency Report tracks real-time data requests from copyright and law enforcement agencies. To date, we have complied with zero requests, due to lack of relevant data,” wrote Windscribe.
We get a handful of law enforcement requests every month. And each time we tell them we have no logs. This time they didn't ask, they just snatched the server from the rack to look for the logs themselves. Unfortunately for them, there's still no logs lolhttps://t.co/bZZsRiYpZb
— Windscribe (@windscribecom) February 5, 2026
Windscribe hasn't willingly handed over any personal information either.
The company says it receives "a handful of law enforcement requests every month" and always tells them the same thing: "we have no logs." What made this situation different, according to Windscribe, is that authorities didn't ask for permission this time.
"They just snatched the server from the rack to look for the logs themselves," the company claimed.
This isn't Windscribe's first run-in with authorities.
Back in April 2025, Windscribe's CEO Yegor Sak, found himself in a Greek court, charged over an alleged offence by a Windscribe user. The case was eventually thrown out due to a lack of evidence.