Choosing the Right VPN for SELKS

SELKS is a specialised Debian-based live distribution tailored for network security monitoring. Under the hood you’ll find Suricata, Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana and Scirius, all packaged for easy deployment via apt. While SELKS can run as a live ISO without a GUI, many users spin up a lightweight LXDE or Xfce environment to interact with dashboards. If you’re comfortable at the shell—tweaking systemd units, managing /etc/apt sources and analysing log outputs—a VPN needs to integrate seamlessly into that workflow.

Key technical points:

• Package manager: apt (Debian-based)
• Typical environment: headless or lightweight desktop (LXDE/Xfce)
• User profile: network analysts, penetration testers, security engineers
• Requirements: CLI tools, systemd service integration, DNS leak protection, WireGuard support

Top VPN Picks for SELKS

After extensive testing on a SELKS VM, the following VPN providers stood out:

• Mullvad – Strong privacy focus, WireGuard CLI, apt repository
• ProtonVPN – Official Linux client, WireGuard and OpenVPN, systemd integration
• Private Internet Access (PIA) – Native Debian package, advanced DNS leak prevention

Comparison Table

Installation Configuration Guides

Mullvad VPN

Mullvad’s CLI is lightweight and ideal for SELKS. It supports WireGuard out of the box.

1. Add the Mullvad repository and key:

# Download and add the GPG key
wget -qO- https://mullvad.net/media/deb-packages/mullvad_gpg.pub  sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/mullvad-archive-keyring.gpg

# Add repo to sources.list.d
echo deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mullvad-archive-keyring.gpg] https://packages.mullvad.net/apt stable main 
   sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mullvad.list

# Update and install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mullvad-vpn

2. Log in and start WireGuard:

# Authenticate (you get an account number on the website)
mullvad account login YOUR_ACCOUNT_NUMBER

# List available tunnels
mullvad tunnel list

# Enable WireGuard on default interface
mullvad tunnel run wireguard

# Check status
mullvad status

Mullvad will handle routing, DNS and firewall rules automatically. You can integrate it into your systemd workflow with mullvad tunnel daemon.

ProtonVPN

ProtonVPN provides an official Debian package with a user-friendly CLI and systemd integration for auto-connect on boot.

1. Add their APT repository:

# Import GPG key
wget -qO - https://repo.protonvpn.com/debian/public_key.asc  sudo apt-key add -

# Add repository
sudo bash -c echo deb https://repo.protonvpn.com/debian stable main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/protonvpn.list

# Update and install
sudo apt update
sudo apt install protonvpn-cli

2. Initialize and login:

# First-time setup
protonvpn-cli login YOUR_PROTON_EMAIL

# Connect with WireGuard
protonvpn-cli c --technology wireguard --cc US

# To enable auto-connect at boot
sudo systemctl enable protonvpn-client.service

Private Internet Access (PIA)

PIA’s Debian package includes their open-source CLI. It’s remarkable for DNS leak protection and a robust kill-switch.

1. Retrieve and install the PIA package:

# Download latest .deb
wget https://installers.privateinternetaccess.com/download/pia-linux-64.deb

# Install dependencies and package
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ./pia-linux-64.deb

2. Authenticate and configure:

# Login
piactl login YOUR_PIA_USERNAME

# Enable WireGuard, DNS leak protection, kill-switch
piactl set vpn.portforwarding on
piactl set vpn.dns.leak.protection on
piactl set vpn.kill.switch on

# Connect to nearest server
piactl connect

All these clients play nicely with SELKS’s systemd init system and will co-exist with the ELK stack network flows. Whether you need high throughput via WireGuard or mature OpenVPN stability, these three providers strike the best balance of privacy, CLI control and Debian-native packaging for SELKS deployments.