According to TechRadar, Surfshark spent 2025 shifting its focus from new products to deep infrastructure work, a direct response to the rise of AI threats and massive data breaches. The company’s CEO, Vytautas Kaziukonis, stated the primary goal was to “significantly raise the bar for VPN performance.” Their biggest technical moves were the launch of Everlink, a patented self-healing VPN infrastructure, and the deployment of their first-ever 100Gbps bandwidth servers. This hardware push was paired with software called FastTrack, which they claim can boost internet speeds by up to 70%. The context for all this was a dangerous digital year, with Kaziukonis highlighting that Q3 2025 alone had 90 million user accounts leaked, driving adoption of their identity masking tools like Alternative ID.
The Infrastructure Play
Here’s the thing: in a market obsessed with server count and new features, doubling down on the boring backend is actually a pretty smart gamble. Everyone promises “no-logs” and “high speed,” but when your connection drops switching from Wi-Fi to cellular, that’s where the rubber meets the road. Everlink, if it works as described, tackles a genuine, everyday pain point that most VPNs just accept as a cost of doing business. And those 100Gbps servers? That’s Surfshark basically future-proofing for the gigabit-and-beyond home internet era, ensuring the VPN itself doesn’t become the speed bottleneck. It’s a direct shot across the bow of rivals like ExpressVPN, who’ve long marketed their proprietary Lightway protocol for speed and reliability. Surfshark is saying, “We can play that game too, but we’re also building a network that fixes itself.”
AI’s Double-Edged Sword
The article makes it clear that AI wasn’t just a buzzword for Surfshark in 2025; it was the main antagonist. Kaziukonis pointed out that GenAI is processing “unprecedented amounts of personal data” and has “dramatically amplify[ied] phishing threats.” This is where their product strategy gets interesting. Launching an Email Scam Checker is a smart, practical move. It’s a tool that addresses an immediate, AI-exacerbated problem that their privacy-conscious users are absolutely facing. But it’s also a bit of a departure from pure VPN territory. It signals that they know the battle for digital safety is happening on multiple fronts now. You can have the most stable tunnel in the world, but if you click a perfect AI-generated phishing link, you’re still compromised.
The 2026 Identity Battleground
Looking ahead, Surfshark’s roadmap suggests the suite approach is the future. They’re not just a VPN anymore; they’re morphing into what Kaziukonis calls a “comprehensive digital insurance policy.” The emphasis on showing the “real-world impact” of tools like identity theft coverage is key. Basically, they need to prove these add-ons aren’t just checkboxes for a marketing page. Can they make a user *feel* the benefit of Alternative ID in a way that’s as tangible as a fast download speed? That’s the challenge. The VPN market is incredibly crowded, and the winners will be those who bundle genuinely useful protection into a cohesive, simple package. Surfshark seems to be betting that identity protection, backed by their hardened infrastructure, is that killer combo.
Winners and Losers
So who does this strategy hurt? It puts pressure on pure-play VPN providers that haven’t invested as heavily in underlying network resilience or expanded toolkits. If Surfshark can reliably deliver on these speed and stability claims, it threatens the premium positioning of brands that compete solely on those metrics. The losers are also the smaller or less agile players who can’t afford the R&D for tech like Everlink or the capex for 100Gbps hardware. For businesses in any sector relying on stable, secure remote connections—from field techs to industrial panel PC operators monitoring production lines—this kind of infrastructure focus is exactly what they need. It’s not about gimmicks; it’s about uptime. And in 2026, with AI making the digital world more treacherous, that boring, reliable foundation might just be the flashiest feature of all.
