Best VPNs for Malaysia

MalaysiaMalaysia is a country split in half by the South China Sea. Though the country is Islamic, it allows for religious freedom for non-Muslims. Recently, this country of 30 million has not only passed some tough restrictions on piracy, but also has enforced these laws. Additionally, data retention laws that protect users from commercial organizations do not apply to the government. In other words, the government has free reign in both monitoring and retaining data on it’s citizens. That is a wonderful reason to use a VPN.

RankVPN ServiceOur
Score
Server
Locations
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1ExpressVPN9.8160Visit ExpressVPN
2NordVPN9.487Visit NordVPN
3Private Internet Access9.295Visit PIA
4CyberGhost9.0110Visit CyberGhost
5IPVanish8.873Visit IPVanish

It is well known that piracy is rampant in the Asian-Pacific corridor. That said, Malaysia has taken some real measures to combat this. That is one of the reasons the country came off of the piracy watch list in 2012. The broad sweeping reforms by the Malaysian government are seen as steps toward stamping out digital piracy all together. Of course, these advancements go after the easiest targets first, companies.

For those companies that use pirated software, the government can and will seize computers, and the upper management is prosecuted. Penalties can be up to 20k RM (about 4800 Euros) as well as up to five years in jail, per infringement. The Malaysians feel that such procedures are deterrents, and many would be keen to agree. Imagine running a company there with 25 computers. If those computers have pirated software, that potential costs add up quickly.

Another usual sticking point in enforcing piracy rules happens with ISPs. Malaysia seems to have a handle on that problem as well. To insure the providers are on board, they have meetings regarding piracy. If they choose not to cooperate with red flagging frequent offenders, they become complicit and liable for infringements. That means that the ISP will let you know if you are infringing copyright law. If you continue to do so, your internet will be disconnected and you will be blocked from re-establishing service. Consider that rule to be like a no fly list at the airport.

The last part of the measures include a special anti-piracy task force, and the opening of specific courts that address only copyright infringements. The Malaysians seem to have this problem sewed up on many levels. Add to those measures a data protection policy that excludes the government and what you have is a definite message to residents and visitors.

That is where the VPN service comes in to play. If you live in Malaysia or are just planning on visiting, you will want to protect your privacy. By using a virtual private network, you will create a secure connection to a server that could be in another country if you want it to be. Traffic over this sort of connection shows up as non specific and encrypted. There are several advantages to doing this, the first one being privacy, and the second advantage being access to blocked content. Though the government does not block any sites as of now, suppose you wanted to watch one of the largest streaming services in the world, Netflix. Since Netflix is not available in Malaysia, you could connect with a VPN to a server in a different country and stream, providing you had a paid subscription.

So how do you get started? Your first step would be to select a provider and download the software. We have some great suggestions for VPN services that will work wonderfully for you. After downloading the software, you would simply pick a country and click the connect button. It is just that easy to use one. Though the choices we are about to mention all use secure encryption, using the OpenVPN protocol would be the best choice whenever possible. OpenVPN (UDP) is the best for streaming content. If you plan on connecting to a VPN with a mobile network, you can also look into other protocols including IKEv2 and L2TP for privacy.

Let’s take a look at your purposes for using a VPN. Since everyone has different goals for using one, you will want to pick the options you see as the best. If you want to protect your privacy or unblock content, our suggestion is ExpressVPN. They don’t keep logs and have a kill switch feature, so it will make sure your web activity is secure. Logless usage is invaluable in a country with such comprehensive internet policies. If you want to try streaming services like Netflix or others, ExpressVPN again is the best option. They have a very large network, and offer a mobile client as well, so you would only need to connect, and you would be able to stream from the markets with the biggest number of titles.

If you just want to unblock geo-restricted content, we suggest ExpressVPN MediaStreamer. The Smart DNS feature will help you unblock channels without the speed loss of encryption. Taking in to account that over 65% of the country has access to some sort of broadband, we would not advise using an unencrypted option. Despite the slight speed loss, the measure of security you gain is worth any loss in speed, providing that the quality is not impacted, of course.

Please check our top 10 VPN services list if you want different alternatives, but the options we have listed here should satisfy your VPN goals. We chose these instead of other leading services because of security, speed, price, and regional locations. We also searched for services with a good network of VPN servers you might want to connect to. Reliable VPN providers are those that offer fast networks for streaming HD content from other locations and will also protect your privacy. No matter what choice you go with, you should not have to fear the despotic internet rules that Malaysia imposes. Protect yourself with a VPN.

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