Though the add-on isn’t as secure as the main app, it’s still private. If you transfer data via another application on your device – downloading a torrent file, for example – your true IP address will be visible via that second application. We could also see identifying traffic from outside of Chrome.įor non-technical users, this means that NordVPN Chrome encrypts the traffic from your Chrome browser and hides your activity from your ISP, but it doesn’t encrypt anything else. However, we could see the NordVPN domain in the TLS handshake with NordVPN’s servers, as well as a DNS lookup for the NordVPN domain. We did not see any plaintext DNS lookups for websites we accessed via the Chrome browser. Our encryption tests found that requests were sent over TLS, meaning our browser traffic was encrypted between the extension and NordVPN’s server. NordVPN Chrome uses TLS encryption to secure your data. Take a look at our test results in the screenshot below: This is as secure as it gets for personal VPN services.īy contrast, NordVPN’s Chrome extension only protects the traffic from your Chrome browser using TLS v1.3 – the same protocol used to secure HTTPS websites. The full NordVPN application secures all your traffic with AES-256 encryption and a choice between the OpenVPN and Wireguard connection protocols. Here’s a more detailed overview of our test results: The NordVPN Chrome Extension Uses TLS v1.3 Encryption

Cannot choose a specific VPN server or city.Only reroutes traffic from within the Chrome browser.Here’s a table comparing the pros and cons of NordVPN for Chrome: PROS

However, its lack of device-wide encryption means it’s significantly less secure than the full VPN software.Īccess to the Chrome add-on comes with an existing NordVPN subscription, which you can use on up to six devices at any one time.įor this reason, we recommend avoiding the Chrome extension and using the full NordVPN application to protect your browsing on Chrome. Its choice of 59 server countries is generous compared to some competing Chrome extensions. Our tests found that NordVPN Chrome was extremely fast and easy to use. The NordVPN Chrome main menu before and after connecting to a server.

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