NordVPN has a new way to hide that you’re using a VPN

Hot off the news that the Play Store will soon offer verified badges for trusted VPNs, one such likely trusted service has just announced it will make it easier to hide your VPN use with a new protocol called NordWhisper. As you can guess, the service is NordVPN, and it’s preparing an upcoming protocol that hides known traffic signatures and behaviors that typically reveal a user is using a VPN. Essentially, NordVPN has found a way to circumvent the typical ways in which VPN use is sniffed out by blending its VPN traffic with ordinary internet traffic, thus disguising your VPN use so you can freely browse on VPN-restricted networks, such as at schools or the office.

NordVPN will soon make it easier to hide your VPN use

NordVPN hasn’t announced a launch date for its upcoming NordWhisper feature, only stating in the release announcement that a gradual rollout will take place. What we do know is that NorWhisper will offer Windows, Android, and Linux support at first, with wider platform support planned for the future. Once it does arrive, you’ll find it within the VPN connection settings in the NordVPN app.

Of course, not every business, country, or government is thrilled with its workers/citizens using VPNs to circumvent the things that entity is trying to censor, which means identifying VPNs is a prerogative of many businesses and governments alike, likely the reason NordVPN invented a way to disguise its traffic with NordWhisper. These things don’t happen in a vacuum; with many states in the US currently age-restricting porn, the reality is more and more people in those states will be using a VPN to browse the web and certainly hiding their VPN use when watching this restricted content will be a prerogative of those unwilling to hand over their ID (that will likely be stored in a database that will get hacked in the future) for access to that age-restricted content.

Is this the start of a VPN identification arms race?

In other words, there are vested interests who wish to keep internet traffic identifiable, which could mean the new methods NordVPN is using to disguise itself is the start of an arms race between those who wish to stay anonymous and those who think all internet use should be traceable. So much like the unwinnable adblocker war Google is taking part in, we very well may be entering the age of the VPN wars. At the very least, NordVPN appears to be ahead of the curve with NordWhisper, so here’s hoping the newly announced feature arrives sooner rather than later.