The internet is rife with cybercrime, and identity theft is one of the biggest dangers around, with the FTC receiving over 230,000 reports of identity theft in Q4 2023 alone. Hackers can steal personally identifiable information via phishing attacks and/or data breaches and use that to commit identity theft, which, in simple terms, implies stealing someone else's identity to commit credit card fraud, social media account takeovers, etc.
While identity theft can undoubtedly cause emotional distress, it oftentimes also results in financial loss for the victims. Nord, one of the best VPN services on the market, offers identity theft insurance (think of it like regular insurance, but for damages caused by identity theft) to compensate users when they fall victim to a cyberattack.
Keep reading to find out what Nord identity theft insurance includes, who's it for, whether Nord offers other types of cyber insurance (spoiler alert: yes, it does), and how you can sign up for it.
What is Nord's Identity Theft Insurance?
Nord's identity theft insurance provides compensation to users who have fallen victims to a cyberattack and suffered any financial loss as a result. The company has partnered with some of the most trusted global insurance companies "to bridge the cyber protection gap and support its customers affected by cybercriminals."
Nord offers cyber insurance as part of its Ultimate plan, meaning this massive boost to your cybersecurity won't cost anything extra. What's more, the Ultimate package also comes with 1 TB of encrypted cloud storage, one of the best password managers, NordPass, a data breach scanner, blockers for annoying ads and trackers, built-in malware protection, and, of course, the best VPN service on the market right now – that's an all-in-one solution for shoring up your online security.
The Ultimate plan is priced at a very reasonable $6.49 a month (on a two-year commitment) and offers up to $1,000,000 in coverage against identity theft. This includes potentially recuperating some of the money spent on restoring your identity following identity theft. The same plan also gets you an additional $100,000 in insurance coverage for financial help and expert advice if you're the victim of cyber extortion, i.e., ransomware.
One of the most important things to note when it comes to Nord's identity theft insurance is that it's only available to US customers. There is, however, separate cyber protection benefits for select markets in Europe. This includes scam loss recovery (i.e., if someone you've sent money to thinking they were legitimate turned out to be a fraudster) and online shopping fraud recovery (i.e., a website you've purchased a product or service from turned out to be fraudulent).
NordVPN is servicing different markets with cyber protection benefits that they're in need of the most. For instance, the company conducted a survey and found that around 24% of the UK population, which is approximately 12 million people, have fallen prey to an online shopping scam. Furthermore, one in five victims of online scams suffered financial losses of more than £1,000. This is why it offers UK customers the ability to claim reimbursements of up to £5,000 in a 12-month period if they've been unable to recover the lost money via their bank, credit card company, or other finance provider.
Nord's research in the US, on the other hand, revealed that at least five million people in the country have had their online identities stolen and sold on bot markets, which is why it offers identity theft insurance to US customers.
How to get Nord's cyber insurance
Nord's identity theft insurance for US customers – and its scam loss and online shopping fraud recovery for EU customers – are available to users of the Ultimate plan priced at $6.49 per month on a two-year plan, $7.99 per month on a yearly subscription, and $15.99 on a monthly cycle.
If you're not an existing Nord user, sign up for its Ultimate plan to unlock the aforementioned benefits. On the other hand, if you're an existing NordVPN customer, albeit of a lower tier plan, upgrade your plan, and the added benefits of the new plan will automatically activate once you've completed the transaction.
