Ever cruising websites, safely ensconced in the safety bubble afforded to you by your VPN (virtual private network), and encounter a blocked website? I do. Quite often. More often now than in past years. Websites are getting better at detecting VPNs and blocking people using them.
NordVPN just announced that it’s releasing a new protocol to evade the blockers. It’s called NordWhisper, which is a fairly catchy name for a protocol, or a bit of programming that normally lies under the hood, so to speak, and out of the sights and concerns of anybody using a VPN. How it evades the VPN blockers is rather interesting, though. Listen up:
“NordWhisper is based on web tunnel technology, which operates differently from traditional VPN protocols like OpenVPN or WireGuard,” NordVPN wrote on its website. “Most VPN protocols have distinct characteristics, like specific traffic signatures and behaviors.
“These patterns can sometimes be recognized by network administrators, who may block them… NordWhisper mimics regular web traffic, making it more difficult for network filters to identify it…”
In layman’s terms, it’s kind of like two kids and a dog who stand on each other’s shoulders and wrap themselves in a big hat and trench coat to sneak into a PG-13 movie.
All VPNs slow your traffic to some, usually minor, degree, and NordVPN warns that using the NordWhisper protocol might be slower than other protocols. If that’s the case, just select another one in NordVPN’s settings and use NordWhisper when you encounter a block and don’t want to turn off your VPN protection.
NordWhisper is an addition to the NordLynx, OpenVPN (UDP), and OpenVPN (TCP) protocols already included and available for selection in NordVPN. It “(maintains) the same strong encryption and security as other VPN protocols,” as NordVPN puts it.
Personally, I leave my NordVPN on the setting “Use recommended protocol” and don’t tinker with it. Once NordWhisper becomes available, I’ll be interested to see if that setting automatically switches the protocol to NordWhisper when it encounters a website that blocks it, and whether it switches back to a faster protocol when it meets non-blocked sites.
As for that, though, you’re gonna have to wait for NordWhisper if you’re primarily an Apple user, like me. NordVPN says it’ll roll out gradually, with an initial offering for Windows, Android, and Linux platforms. So us macOS and iOS users will have to wait. At least until I dig out my old Intel-chip MacBook Air, which has Windows 10 loaded onto it, for initial testing.
“Disclaimer: We do not support or encourage any illegal activities when using NordWhisper or any other protocol with NordVPN,” wrote NordVPN on its announcement page. “Please ensure that your use of NordVPN complies with all applicable laws, agreements, and network policies.”
That said, NordVPN doesn’t track its users, which is part of its appeal (and necessary for any worthwhile VPN, in my opinion) so it’s up to the users to, ahem, make sure they’re definitely not using it to get around Pornhub blocks or anything.
No, definitely not…
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