Why Does the PIA App Show as a Virus?

Antivirus tools may sometimes mistake legitimate software for malware. The Private Internet Access (PIA) app uses system-level network access to create and manage your VPN connection. It also creates randomly named temporary files to store local connection logs.

Because malware can also change network settings or use randomized file names to evade detection, some antivirus tools may treat PIA’s activity as suspicious.

Verify Your PIA VPN Installer Is Authentic

To confirm whether the antivirus warning is a false positive, verify your PIA installer’s checksum. A checksum is a unique string of letters and numbers calculated from a file’s contents. It confirms an app’s authenticity, showing it hasn’t been tampered with to include malware.

Before you start:

  1. Visit PIA’s official changelog page.
  2. Save the SHA-256 Checksum for your app version and device.
  3. Compare this checksum with the checksum of the PIA installer you used. If the 2 values match, your installer is the same file PIA published. 

See the following sections to learn how to calculate your installer’s checksum on your OS.

Windows

Follow these instructions to see your PIA checksum on Windows:

  1. Search for and open PowerShell.
  2. Type the following command, replacing <file_path> with the path to your PIA installer: 

Get-FileHash <file_path> | Format-List

Example: Get-FileHash C:\Users\Username\Downloads\pia-windows-x64-3.7.2-08420.exe | Format-List

  1. Hit Enter.

MacOS

See the steps below for calculating your SHA256 checksum on Mac:

  1. Open the Terminal by pressing Cmd + Space.
  2. Type the following command, replacing <file_path> with the path to your PIA installer: 

shasum -a 256 <file_path>.

  1. Hit Enter.

Linux

Use these commands to calculate a checksum on Linux:

  1. Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open the Terminal.
  2. Type the following, replacing <file_path> with the path to your PIA installer: 

sha256sum <file_path>.

  1. Hit Enter.

On Mobile Devices

Smartphones include built-in protections against malicious apps. Official app stores require cryptographic code signing to confirm authenticity. Your phone also uses Google Play Protect (on Android) or Apple Code Integrity (on iOS) to periodically verify and block tampered apps. 

As long as you installed PIA VPN from an official app store, the chance of the app being corrupted is extremely low. 

Learn how to add file exclusions to your antivirus software. If you encounter an issue, please contact the PIA support team for additional guidance.

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