NordVPN Threat Protection Review | PCMag

VPN technology has grown in awareness and popularity, and the fact is that many traditional antivirus companies have ventured into the VPN space. Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and others now offer their own VPN products, either built from scratch or using licensed technology. Entering the same market from the other side, NordVPN started out as a VPN-only company, but now offers password management, secure online storage, and antivirus protection, previously in his NordVPN’s Cyber ​​Sec component. What was once stands alone as NordVPN Threat Protection. However, in our testing, we found this early version to be lacking in his NordVPN Threat Protection, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus being our most recommended product in the space, with a rare 5-star rating has earned

---

How much does NordVPN Threat Protection cost?

Purchased as a standalone product, NordVPN Threat Protection is $4.99 per month, discounted to $2.49 per month for the first year. Also offered as part of Standard Security with VPN for $8.29 per month, discounted to $4.99 for the first year Finally, you can get NordVPN’s full security for $16.59/month. The first year is discounted to $7.49. This gives you threat protection, VPN, NordPass password management, NordLocker encrypted cloud storage, and data breach monitoring.

Calculated for the full year, Threat Protection is listed at $59.88. This sounds high until you see that for this price he can protect 6 devices. Packages with 5 licenses are more common. Avira, Kaspersky, and Malwarebytes all cost more for 5 licenses than NordVPN’s 6. Conversely, G Data Antivirus, K7, and Vipre cost less, with K7 Antivirus Premium at just $34 a year. NordVPN’s pricing is right in the middle.

---

Lab test results are not possible

Most antivirus reviews report test results from four independent antivirus labs. Labs don’t have infinite resources, so you should carefully consider the products you test. If 3 or 4 of them contain a particular product, then you know that product is important. Of course, even more so if the product has the highest score in those labs.

NordVPN Threat Protection is at a disadvantage here. Almost all tests detect malware already present on the test system simply by recognizing the malware file or detecting its malicious behavior. Some include the opportunity to block malware during the download stage, but an extra layer of protection is to be expected.

---

Get started with NordVPN Threat Protection

Like most modern security products, you manage your protection through your online account. It doesn’t take long to set up your account, download your product, and log in. Threat Protection must be enabled.In that case, for maximum protection[ディープ スキャン]Please check the box.

(Credit: NordVPN)

The main window is spacious and simple, with a simple menu on the left, threat protection and VPN icons at the top, and error reporting and general settings icons at the bottom. Product web and file activities are listed as they occur. You can click to adjust settings, but all toggle switches should actually be left on. Let Threat Protection do the rest.

(Credit: NordVPN)

---

Hey, here’s a VPN.

I mentioned the VPN button in the left rail menu. Please feel free to click and take a look. However, be prepared to be disappointed. The products reviewed here do not include VPN protection. From choosing an obfuscated server to simply turning on a VPN, click any option and you’ll be presented with an invitation to upgrade to a more comprehensive plan.

(Credit: NordVPN)

I wondered if I could get around this limitation by installing the NordVPN browser extension, a browser-centric VPN proxy for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. However, when I tried to connect using the extension, I got a message that I had reached the session limit of 6 simultaneous connections. That message could be improved, but apparently my little trick failed.

---

NordVPN Threat Protection download-specific malware protection

A typical antivirus program will perform a quick or complete on-demand scan of your PC looking for malware that may be present. It is also common to scan files as they are accessed, most often layered with some form of behavioral analysis to detect malware that evades other types of detection.

NordVPN Threat Protection does none of these things. It focuses strictly on downloads, checks every page you visit and analyzes every file that arrives on your computer. This means that files coming from infected USB drives, etc. will not be detected. If you don’t recognize a threat while downloading, you don’t get a second chance to block malicious behavior.

Opening a folder of manually curated malware samples will initiate a normal malware protection test. Many antivirus utilities start taking samples immediately, but some wait until just before each program launches. To get a response from NordVPN, we had to change our testing method. It wasn’t difficult. I copied the samples to cloud storage and then tried to download each one.

In both cases the result was clear. Threat Protection interrupted the download and labeled it dangerous, or did nothing at all. It detected and removed 81% of my samples, leaving the remaining 19% completely untouched. Fortunately, none of the ransomware samples passed our detection filters.

Only a few products tested with this same malware collection score lower than NordVPN. Surfshark One, another antivirus produced by a company born in the VPN realm, does slightly less than NordVPN. battled for second place with 9.8 points each.

(Credit: NordVPN)

This basic malware protection test confirms each antivirus product’s ability to recognize and defend against a set of malware samples that I have thoroughly analyzed. However, since real-world malware is constantly changing and evolving, we run another test using a feed of the latest malware hosting URLs provided by London-based lab MRG-Effitas.(opens in new window)The purpose of this test is to prevent malware downloads by either moving the browser away from the source or recognizing and eliminating the malware payload. Given its focus, it seems like the perfect test for NordVPN.

Unfortunately, NordVPN didn’t achieve a perfect score on this “perfect test”. We blocked access to 30% of URLs that hosted malware and rerouted browsers to instructional pages. Aborting the download eliminated another 58%. The overall score of 88% protection was right in the middle of the current product, with both high and low scoring products. In the most recent run of this test, McAfee AntiVirus Plus, Norton, Sophos, Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security, and ZoneAlarm all reached 100% protection.

---

Mundane phishing detection

The product description on the NordVPN website promises to “keep phishing, ransomware attacks, and other dangers at bay.” that’s a great goal. Phishing websites go against the weakest link in security: the user. If you were tricked into entering your login credentials on a fake girlfriend’s PayPal site, the scammer owns your girlfriend’s PayPal account. Banking and financial sites are the main targets, but you can find all sorts of fakes, from webmail to dating sites to gaming pages.

(Credit: NordVPN)

Scrape from websites that track reported scams in preparation for your anti-phishing test. Be sure to include items too new to hit the anti-phishing blacklist along with confirmed fakes. One is protected by the tested antivirus, and the other three are protected by Chrome, Edge, and Firefox’s built-in protection. Launch each sample in four browsers simultaneously and record how each one performs. If any of the four error messages are thrown, discard the item. It also discards the ones that clearly aren’t trying to steal your login credentials. After grinding a few hundred samples, check the statistics.

As with our tests with malware-hosting URLs, NordVPN gave mediocre results. Only 79% of verified fraudulent pages were detected. This is better than Edge managed alone, but both Chrome and Firefox scored 6 percentage points higher than his NordVPN.

More than half of the recent offerings outperformed NordVPN, some by a wide margin. Avast One Essential, Trend Micro, and ZoneAlarm all scored 100% in the latest test, while Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, Kaspersky, and Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus achieved 99%.

---

Block Ads and Trackers with NordVPN Threat Protection

Your browser sends a staggering amount of information every time you visit a web page. This is intended to ensure that the site offers the best possible experience. That information is also sent to all third-party ads and trackers present on that page, which collect information from multiple third-party elements on her website to provide detailed information about a user’s interests. You can build your profile. You can use this profile to shape your experience. Even ads that aren’t involved in tracking can be intrusive.NordVPN aims to prevent this kind of tracking and protect you from intrusive ads.

(Credit: NordVPN)

Tracker and ad blocking are common features of security suites and antivirus products. Bitdefender and Avira Free Security are among the many tools that use browser extensions to handle this task. The extension’s toolbar button typically displays the number of trackers on the current page and can be clicked for more information and control.

NordVPN does not use browser extensions for trackers and ad blocking. We visited the same site on a test machine and a machine without NordVPN to confirm that ads are blocked. Present in unprotected browsers Ads were visibly non-existent with NordVPN’s protection.

(Credit: NordVPN)

You can also view the main Threat Protection page to see a list of sites that have blocked ads or trackers. Detailed listings are a bit cumbersome because they show the full URL of each ad or tracker rather than identifying them by name. If you want finer control, you have the option to allow detailed items individually.

---

not ready to stand alone

The last time we reviewed NordVPN itself, Threat Protection was a beta component and did poorly in our tests. . Its focus on detecting malicious websites and downloads is a potential strength, but it didn’t hold up when tested on dangerous and fraudulent pages. And if malware gets past that single layer of protection or gets onto your system via a tainted USB drive or other means other than a download, you’re screwed. Real-time or behavior-based protection there is no.

To put it another way, if you want a powerful and flexible VPN, NordVPN is our editor’s choice, and Threat Protection is a nice bonus. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus gets incredible scores from independent labs and is feature-rich, including a VPN (although full VPN power comes at an additional cost). Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus is the smallest antivirus with unusual journal and rollback features that can undo malware damage, even if it’s caused by ransomware. And with McAfee AntiVirus Plus, one subscription lets you install protection on every device in your home running Android, ChromeOS, iOS, macOS, or Windows. These three are the recommended antiviruses according to your needs.