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NordVPN, a leading VPN service provider, was developed by Tefincom & Co in 2012. Since then, it grew massively, now boasting over 5000 servers in 59 countries and more than 12 million users. Even at a glance, NordVPN looks like a solid choice, but we’ll go over the features in more detail later.
First, we need to talk about VPNs in general and why you most likely need one. It’s not just for making your Netflix load faster while you binge Stranger Things (although it’s a great bonus). There are other, much more unsettling situations you need to consider.
You need a VPN:
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If you care about net neutrality. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revoked net neutrality in 2017, and it significantly affected internet users in the US. It meant that ISPs can tamper with their client’s internet access: slowing down some services, speeding up others, and blocking some content altogether.
A VPN is especially helpful in this situation since it reroutes your traffic and therefore allows you to bypass any restrictions your ISP might put in place.
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If you travel a lot. We are so used to the internet, that we sometimes even forget it’s not the same everywhere. Wikipedia, for example, is completely banned in China and Turkey. How are you supposed to quickly read up on liquid mirror telescopes if there’s no Wikipedia article to make you an expert in 5 minutes?
Incessant government surveillance, on the other hand, is a much bigger problem. Imagine your every move online being monitored. Or not being able to contact your friends and family altogether, because every messaging app, email service, and social network you use is blocked. A VPN will not only help solve these problems. If you use the additional privacy features it offers, you will be able to hide the fact that you’re connected to a VPN in the first place.
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If you care about your privacy and security. Even if you have no intention to travel to China or Iran in the nearest future or plan a political uprising, a VPN will still come in handy. Your ISP, Google, Facebook – basically any online service tracks you in one way or another. It’s perfectly reasonable that you would want to stop them. A VPN will mask your real IP address and encrypt your traffic. The websites you visit won’t know your real location, you become hard to track and immune to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Why NordVPN?
Because it covers all the bases. Be it government surveillance, censorship, or geo-blocking – with NordVPN, you have nothing to worry about. Considering the numerous features it offers, the price (which is on the lover side to begin with) is very reasonable. What you get in return is ultimate safety and privacy, an incredibly large network of servers, and speeds that are hard to beat.
Let’s take a closer look.
Safe, private, and anonymous
NordVPN uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 256-bit keys to encrypt their users’ connections. Since this protocol is currently used by governments and intelligence agencies like NSA, it’s often dubbed “Military-grade encryption.” AES is generally considered to be the most secure encryption algorithm there is.
Users can choose between several security protocols: OpenVPN, IKEv2/IPsec, and NordLynx (more on that last one later on.) NordVPN runs on 24 platforms, and in case you’re not sure how to set up a VPN on your Blackberry, there’s a tutorial for that.
If you’re especially concerned about your privacy, there are two things you should know about NordVPN: they are based in Panama and they don’t keep any logs. The latter is possible only because of the former. Since Panama doesn’t need to obey any EU or US data retention laws, NordVPN can stick to its no-logs policy. And they even had PWC audit them last year to prove it.
Additional safety features for your inner cybersec geek
NordVPN has a few special features that are particularly useful to people who need to keep their identity secret at all times.
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Kill Switch will come in handy in case something happens to your VPN connection. You can set it to disconnect your device from the internet automatically or just shut down selected apps.
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Double VPN kind of speaks for itself. You connect to a VPN server, and then you do it again. Your data is then encrypted twice in two different servers – and the second server won’t even know your real IP address. But you have to pay for this additional layer of security with connection speeds. If you live somewhere where the internet is not very fast to begin with, using Double VPN might be frustrating, to say the least. But if you believe that your safety is in danger, longer load times are not that big of a deal.
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If you live or travel to a country that censors the internet and has laws prohibiting the use of VPNs and even the Tor browser (like Russia or Venezuela), NordVPN has yet another handy feature to offer. Its Onion over VPN servers will hide the fact that you are trying to connect to the Onion network. Yes, that means that you don’t even need to use the Tor browser anymore – any browser of your choice will work just fine. And you’ll always have NordVPNs military-grade encryption guarding your back.
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On that note, it’s time to talk about radical internet censorship. If you’re stuck behind the Great Firewall of China, chances are, Tor is not working. Most VPNs won’t work in China either, and you can even get in trouble for attempting to use one. That’s where NordVPN’s Obfuscated servers come into play. They have servers in 13 locations – including Hong Kong. Obfuscating your traffic will hide the fact that you are using an encrypted connection – in this case, a VPN.
Speaking of servers…
NordVPN has lots of them. 5145 servers in 59 countries mean that NordVPN covers even the most remote locations, like Taiwan, Costa Rica, or Iceland. If you click “Quick connect,” the app will choose the best server for you automatically, or you can scroll down the servers’ list and pick one yourself.
A word about their speeds. Thousands of servers mean faster connections, but only if the provider keeps up with the demand and updates their software accordingly. Lucky for its users, NordVPN is constantly expanding the network – they have added more than a thousand new servers in the last year. Because of this, NordVPN is always listed among the fastest VPN providers worldwide.
The recent addition of NordLynx, which is based on the WireGuard tunneling protocol, is another thing altogether. When combined with NordVPN’s custom double NAT system, it allows Linux users to enjoy mind-blowing speeds. It’s only been a couple of months, so we’re still waiting to hear about its implementation into other OS. But if NordVPN manages to add NordLynx to all their apps, it might cause some major waves in the industry.
A reliable all-rounder
Thousands of servers, stable speeds, 24/7 customer support, and subscription plans starting from $3.49/month. Get NordVPN Cyber deal here. Their apps are easy-to-use in case you plan to install one for your parents – and you cam since NordVPN allows users to connect 6 devices to one account.
These features are great, but it’s not what sets NordVPN apart from its competitors. The transparency this company offers is rare in the industry. The trust created between NordVPN and its users is what makes it stand out among other VPN services. They are serious about cybersecurity and have proved it numerous times. That’s why we can recommend this VPN and be sure that it will not fail you.
Source NordVPN
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