Dutch authorities have just seized one of Windscribe’s VPN servers, according to an X post from a VPN company on Friday.

The post did not include any indication of what prompted Dutch authorities to seize the server, but the seizure was made without a warrant and authorities said they would return the server to Windscribe once they “fully analyze it.” But despite how serious the incident may seem at first glance, Windscribe assured the public that the authorities could not find anything on the server that could harm the privacy of its users.

Because all of Windscribe’s servers are RAM-only, “the only thing authorities can find is a stock Ubuntu install,” the company told X.

Windscribe CEO Yegor Sak told CNET via email that authorities seized the server without explanation beyond wanting it to be related to an active investigation. He said they might want to do a RAM dump, which takes away the server’s memory.

“Even if it succeeds, no user data will be at risk, because there is no user data or any records of active connections in the server’s memory once a network cable is pulled (which was before),” said Sak.

RAM-only servers run on volatile memory, meaning that data is not stored on a hard disk and is completely erased when a server is shut down or rebooted. As a result, the Dutch authorities should have nothing to gain from their analysis of the confiscated server. That’s why we always look for it VPNs with a RAM-only server infrastructure or otherwise use full-disk encryption on their servers to ensure that user privacy is properly protected in the event of a server hijacking.

Additionally, Windscribe’s privacy policy states that the company does not store logs of its users’ IP origin, historical records of VPN sessions or anything related to the sites users visit while connected to the company’s servers. Without these logs, there wouldn’t be any useful data on the server for the authorities to collect anyway.

However, claims that there is no log impossible to verify with 100% certainty, which is why we also emphasize the importance of regular third-party audits when evaluating VPNs and their privacy protections. Although third party audits are not always foolproof and don’t paint a whole picturethey are important trust signals that add credence to a VPN’s claims, especially if done regularly.

Windscribe already audited at a fairly regular clip since 2021, with it latest audit published in the summer of 2024, looking at the company’s FreshScribe VPN infrastructure.

Regular audits can make a strong case for VPN privacy, but real-world legal cases can make a stronger case because their timing is not something that VPN companies can prepare for. Windscribe experienced such a case in 2023, when Greek authorities accused Sak of “illegal access to the information system” after a user used a Windscribe server to breach a Greek website and send spam emails. However, the case was eventually dismissed after a lengthy legal battle after Windscribe proved it was pointless to surrender to the Greek authorities at the time.

“It’s faster (and cheaper) to just hand over the logs to identify the real cause of the alleged crime,” Sak wrote in a blog post. “However, you can’t give what you don’t have.”

‘We get a few law enforcement requests every month. And every time we tell them we don’t have logs,” Windscribe written in X in response to the latest incident involving the Dutch authorities. “This time they didn’t ask, they just took the server off the rack to find the logs themselves.”

Windscribe keeps a real-time tally of the legal requests it receives transparency reports. The report stated that “zero requests were complied with due to lack of relevant data.”