Incident report: NymVPN connectivity problem on 13 September 2025

In the afternoon (UTC) of 13 September 2025, users began experiencing connectivity issues with NymVPN. Apps across platforms were unable to connect to gateways on the network. Thanks to community member notifications in the Telegram Support channel, the Nym team was able to quickly identify the problem as stemming from unexpected resource contention on the infrastructure that runs the NymVPN API. NymVPN app service was restored in 1 hr.

🕒 Timeline of events

• Around 16:15 (UTC): Users begin reporting connection issues on TG
• 16:25: Nym operations made aware of the network problem
• 16:40: NymVPN users notified of problem
• 17:15: Problem resolved through community verification of functioning apps.

Total resolution time: 1 hour

🔍 Root cause

• Although the nodes in the Nym network are decentralized and run by many operators, the account management and payments aspects of NymVPN are a centralized service run by Nym Technologies SA. This allows Nym to offer fiat payments and walletless access given that not everyone is familiar enough with cryptocurrency to hold NYM tokens), as well as to offer refunds (as required by Swiss law).
• The NymVPN API is the bridge between the pay-as-you-go Nym network, whose zk-nyms are the foundation of unlinkable payments, and a familiar subscription-based NymVPN product. ❗
• The infrastructure running the NymVPN API evicted critical components due to resource contention and failed to redeploy them automatically, requiring manual intervention. And as some components were unavailable, some user-facing services were degraded, making the NymVPN API inaccessible for some users.
• Once redeployed manually, critical components redeployed and normal services resumed.

❗ Note: The zk-nyms users obtain via the NymVPN API still provide the unlinkability between usage/activity on the Nym network and making payments with fiat currency and cryptocurrency such at BTC and XMR.

🛠️ Resolution & mitigation

• Extra resources have been added to the infrastructure that runs the centralized API services that provide account and subscription management, allowing more headroom.

💡 Improvements & next steps

• Extra early warning monitoring and alerting is being added to minimize the likelihood of this happening in the future.