![]() That may not matter much if you're just unblocking Netflix, but it's a disaster if you're doing anything more privacy-critical. There's no way to be sure it will kick in and block your internet if the VPN drops, and that could mean your device traffic is unprotected for at least a few seconds, and possibly until you notice there's a problem. Put this all together and it looks like the Windows kill switch is unreliable in the extreme. Secure VPN didn't block our internet, didn't reconnect, and told us to try connecting again later. A good kill switch should block everything apart from the VPN app until it can reconnect. Maybe we were unlucky? We tried turning our router off and on to simulate a dropped network. The connection dropped, but the app didn't warn us, the kill switch didn't block our internet, and our device used its regular unprotected internet connection as usual. We ran some extreme tests on the kill switch by ceasing Secure VPN's WireGuard processes and stopping its services. The kill switch did not impress us (Image credit: NortonLifeLock) It's hard to see why a name as big as Norton can't join the likes ExpressVPN, NordVPN, and TunnelBear in putting itself through a public audit, to give potential customers real information on how it's looking after their privacy. A Transparency Report giving some specifics on what Norton has disclosed to the authorities might be interesting. This is all just too vague for us, and we'd like more detail on how the company handles your data. In which case, will this data be shared with others? Norton's Global Privacy Statement does say that it will disclose personal data in response to a subpoena, warrant, discovery request, or a request with the purpose of identifying and/or preventing credit card fraud, identity theft, and other crimes. What does Norton regard as suspicious behavior, for instance? Surely this must mean it's monitoring at least some user actions. This leaves us with more questions than answers. One unusual clause says “if suspicious behavior is detected or blocked” Norton might collect your IP address, license identifier, device identifier, and frequency of abuse of services for up to 7 days. The Norton Secure VPN privacy policy says the service collects or accesses your device name, type, and identifier, OS version (for mobile devices), license identifier, a running total of bandwidth used, usage data, and some very basic diagnostic information to help solve any issues (an error state code, for instance). ![]() The website claims that “unlike some other VPNs, we don't track, log, or save your browsing activities.” Sounds promising, but there's no more detail on the front page.Ī 'What is a no-log VPN?' blog post vaguely states that although “Norton Secure VPN does not log information about where you browse on the Internet”, it does collect “other limited data in accordance with the NortonLifeLock Global Privacy Statement and the Product Privacy Notice.” Norton Secure VPN can block trackers and more, but the service does keep some logs on its users (Image credit: NortonLifeLock) Privacy and logging Whatever your product preferences, Norton protects you with a 14-day money-back guarantee for monthly-billed subscriptions and a generous 60-days with annual plans. If you're in the market for a new antivirus or security suite, that could be the best option. It's only fractionally more expensive at $4.17 a month for the first year of the annual plan, and still reasonable at $9.58 on renewal ($114.99 a year). That looks a little costly to us but when bought in a bundle it can be more cost effective.īuy Norton Secure VPN as a bundle with Norton 360 Deluxe and you'll also get an excellent antivirus for up to five PCs, Macs, mobiles and tablets, a firewall for PC and Mac, parental controls, a password manager, 50GB cloud backup space, and more. The 10-device plan is priced at $5 a month on the annual subscription, rising to $8.33 on renewal. Norton's five-device plan starts cheap at $3.33 a month billed annually, although that doubles to $6.66 on renewal. Most providers ask $10-$13 for monthly plans, so if you only need to protect that one device, Norton looks like a very good deal. Norton Secure VPN prices start at just $4.99 billed monthly for a single device license. ![]() ![]() Both monthly and annual plans are available (Image credit: NortonLifeLock) Plans and pricing ![]()
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