Surfshark adds category-based web filtering to its post-quantum Dausos protocol monicajwrites@gmail.com (Monica J. White) | usagoldmines.com

• Surfshark’s web content blocker now runs on the Dausos protocol
• The integration lets you filter risky site categories when using Dausos
• The feature is rolling out first to macOS for Surfshark One and One+ users

Surfshark has brought its web content blocker to Dausos, the proprietary VPN protocol it built in-house, meaning users of one of the best VPN services can now filter unwanted websites without switching away from the company’s fastest, most future-proof connection option.

Until now, running the blocker alongside an active VPN connection meant sticking to WireGuard, since that was the protocol it supported. Bringing the tool to Dausos closes that gap, so households no longer have to trade the protocol’s advantages for a safer browsing experience.

Dausos uses a hybrid post-quantum secure key exchange and delivers up to 30% faster speeds than other industry-standard protocols. Pairing that with category-based filtering means you get speed, privacy, and content protection in a single connection rather than picking two of the three.

What’s new, and why it helps

The web content blocker is a filtering tool designed to keep an entire household safer without watching what anyone does online.

Unlike traditional parental-control apps, it is built to control access rather than log every click, and Surfshark says it does not record individual browsing history. You can read more on how it differs from conventional parental controls in our earlier coverage.

In practice, you pick from a set of predefined categories such as adult websites, gambling, profanity, phishing, and malware, and any site that falls under them is blocked. According to Surfshark’s Karolis Kaciulis, the aim is to protect people from threats “caused by curiosity or carelessness” and to cut their exposure to a growing wave of online scams.

The headline benefit of the Dausos integration is that you keep the protocol’s performance. Surfshark says users can retain up to 30% higher speeds and ultra-low latency while filtering runs, all while staying fully post-quantum secure.

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How to turn it on

While connected through the Dausos protocol, open the Surfshark app settings and toggle on the web content blocker.

From there, you choose which categories to restrict, and two-factor authentication can lock the configuration so only an approved admin can change it.

The rollout is currently limited to Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ subscribers running the latest app version on macOS. If you’re on the cheaper Starter plan or a different platform, you’ll need to wait or upgrade.

A quick look at the Dausos protocol

Dausos, which means “paradise” in Lithuanian, is Surfshark’s first homegrown protocol, and it takes a different approach to most rivals.

Rather than pooling everyone’s traffic through a single tunnel, it gives each user session its own dedicated, private data tunnel, which is where much of its speed advantage comes from.

On security, it uses a hybrid ML-KEM and X25519 key exchange plus an ML-DSA self-signed root certificate system to guard against future quantum threats, along with post-compromise security, port randomization, and AEGIS-256X2 encryption.

It has also been independently audited by Cure53, and a recent update improved its behaviour on the locked-down networks that often trip up VPNs on school and office firewalls.