You probably know by now – the best VPN services encrypt internet connections while spoofing your real IP address and location to give your online privacy a boost. As digital threats get more diversified, however, VPN providers often upgrade their software with tools like malware and ad-blockers to protect you against different cyberattacks. But, what if these digital dangers were prevented from reaching your device altogether?
This is the idea behind IPVanish's new tool: Secure Browser. A two-year in-the-making project, it comes as both a standalone app and browser extension to operate all your activities entirely in the cloud. All browsing information promises to be completely detached from your device to keep it safe. According to the provider, this means: "no local data stored, no trackers monitored, and no malware risks."
IPVanish's security upgrade doesn't end there, though. Secure Browser is now available as part of the new Advanced plan alongside its no-log VPN, Threat Protection tool, and a newly launched 1TB of encrypted Cloud Storage powered by Livedrive.
From a VPN to security suite
"Secure Browser is something unique, which we don't see any other major VPN or antivirus players putting on the market," Subbu Sthanu, Chief Commercial Officer for Consumer Security at Ziff Davis (IPVanish parent company) told me.
The key idea here is to move your "window to the world," as Sthanu put it, from your device to a sandbox in the cloud on IPVanish servers. Users interact with it through a video feed directly through the browser, while their activities remain isolated in the virtual environment.
This approach promises to "drastically improve" your security and anonymity online. Your device would never know your browsing history, for instance, with all the information supposedly deleted from the cloud after any session. Your device won't be vulnerable to malicious links, viruses, spyware, and other type of malware as these would never reach it in the first place. It also prevents third-party cookies from tracking your activity and habits.
IPVanish has the advantage of operating within Ziff Davis' wider areas of expertise in security tools – from consumers to enterprises, from antivirus software to cloud backup solutions. The company now seeks to bring it all together. "We are moving from being a VPN provider to a security suite," Sthanu told me. "Secure Browser is a core part of it."
Secure Browser comes both as a web app and a browser extension. All you need to do is download the software, log in with your IPVanish credentials, and turn it on. You'll notice that all the tabs you'll open after that will be labeled and later saved locally as "Secure Browser." Besides this, you can use the browser as usual without even noticing it.
Being a standalone app, you can use Secure Browser with or without an active VPN connection. It comes with 10 different locations to choose from, at the time of writing, which include the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and some EU countries. This means you will be able to bypass geo-restrictions even when you aren't connected to its VPN software.
At this point, you might be wondering: why should I even use a VPN in the first place?
Sure, Secure Browser shields you from browsing fingerprinting and targeted ads – which a virtual private network cannot. Its malware and tracker protection is also expected to be more efficient than the IPVanish Threat Protection feature. However, a VPN is still necessary to enjoy an encrypted internet connection and prevent your ISP from monitoring what you do online.
Secure Browser is meant to be used in tandem with the VPN, Sthanu explained. So, you'll have privacy and anonymity from the VPN, while Secure Browser will protect your device and boost your online security. Put simply, "We're taking online protection to the next natural level, beyond the VPN," he added.
You might not want to use Secure Browser each time you access the internet. Let's say that you want to keep track of your browsing history, for example, which is why you have the option to open suspicious links through Secure Browser (by right-clicking them) and do the rest of your day-to-day browsing as usual.
All in all, as Robert Custons, Head of Product Marketing at Ziff Davis, put it, Secure Browser is a proactive solution that seeks to stop security problems before they happen rather than trying to fix them afterward.
"It's not this continuing cat-and-mouse game anymore [between the software and attackers]," he told me. "Everything is in the cloud. It is not connected to your device."
As mentioned earlier, IPVanish's security upgrade also includes 1TB of encrypted cloud storage from the provider's sister brand Livedrive. This allows backup for one PC or Mac computer and up to five mobile devices and tablets, for both Android and iOS systems. The subscription even includes an external online drive with unlimited device connections, allowing you to easily offload and share large files.
Secure Browser and Cloud Storage come alongside IPVanish VPN and its Threat Protection tool with the new Advanced plan, starting from as little as $4.49 per month.
