Threat Protection Pro™ becomes a next-gen antivirus
The headline of this spring was a shift in how we think about protection itself. NordVPN now presents its services as an all-in-one digital security app1 built around three core pillars:
- Connection through the world’s most advanced VPN
- Protection via next-gen antivirus
- Cyber threat monitoring with features such as Dark Web Monitor™
¹“All-in-one” refers to the VPN, next-gen antivirus, and other features available within the NordVPN app, depending on the plan you choose.
NordVPN’s next-gen antivirus (previously known as Threat Protection Pro™) is a built-in digital protection tool for macOS and Windows devices that works as a safety net for everything you do online. It will warn you about scam websites, block trackers, and remove infected files before you download them, keeping you safer when browsing online. NordVPN desktop app users can enable it by clicking on the shield with a lightning icon and toggling the “Scam, phishing, and malware protection” setting on.
The reasoning behind this repositioning is simple. For decades, “antivirus” has meant scanning files for viruses and malware. However, the threats people actually run into today don’t always involve a malicious file. Rapidly increasing numbers of phishing attacks, fake online stores, scam messages, identity theft, and account takeover attempts increasingly rely on deception and stolen credentials.
Cybercriminals’ shift toward user data and funds has pushed traditional threats, such as computer or mobile viruses, to the side, prompting the need for next-gen online security solutions. NordVPN’s next-gen antivirus is one such tool, dealing with threats like phishing, scams, and identity theft — risks legacy antivirus software wasn’t designed to handle.
Call protection goes global
First launched in July 2025 for Android phones in the US, NordVPN’s call protection went fully global in early April this year. The feature is now available on both NordVPN mobile apps (Android and iOS), expanding access to the tool that warns you about a potential scam call before you even pick up. Scam calls have always been a problem, but the rise of AI has opened new ways to reach and trick people into meeting scammer demands, which more than warranted the need for a globally accessible tool like call protection.
Designed to tackle a particularly sore cybersecurity problem, the feature takes a privacy-first approach, looking only at call patterns and metadata to spot potential scams and telemarketers.
It doesn’t track or monitor actual conversations, running in the background without needing an active VPN connection. You can find it in the NordVPN mobile app’s Products hub and set real-time scam-call warnings with just a few taps.
The AI Voice Detector comes to Chrome
Tools that can clone a voice from just a few seconds of audio are now widely available, which makes synthetic voices an attractive weapon in scam calls, impersonation attacks, and manipulated videos. As a first step to combat these threats, at the end of April, NordVPN introduced an AI voice detector to its Chrome browser extension. It analyzes audio playing in any active browser tab and gives you a real-time verdict whether the voice you’re hearing is human or AI generated.
Developed by NordVPN and the NordLabs team, NordVPN’s AI Voice Detector was trained on thousands of real and AI-generated samples to be able to analyze acoustic characteristics without exposing users’ privacy. It’s technically incapable of understanding, recording, or interpreting what’s actually being said, so you can use it with peace of mind.
The AI Voice Detector feature works in the background on the current tab on your Chrome browser as a simple color-coded notification. It shows green for human voice, red for AI, and amber for “maybe.” The moment you stop detection or close the tab, all audio buffers are cleared.
NordVPN hits 96% on AV-Comparatives anti-phishing test
It’s one thing to say your protection works. It’s another to have an independent lab confirm it. In its 2026 Anti-Phishing Comparative Test, AV-Comparatives evaluated NordVPN’s next-gen antivirus using 275 active phishing URLs targeting platforms like PayPal, online banking, email, and social networks.
The results showed a 96% phishing detection rate with zero false positives — a 6% improvement over the previous test in May 2025. For context, NordVPN became the first VPN provider ever to earn the AV-Comparatives anti-phishing badge back in June 2024, which requires at least 85% detection with no false alarms on legitimate sites. This is yet another testament to our commitment to keep the internet safer.
VPN for VR headsets and dedicated servers
Protection only helps if it’s where you are — and in Q2, “where you are” started including virtual reality. NordVPN is now available natively on Meta Horizon, making it one of the few VPN apps Quest users can install directly on their headset. This addition also removes the need for router configuration, shared hotspots, or manually sideloading through developer tools just to stay private in VR, making it more convenient to keep your connection safer in virtual reality.
For power users at the other end of the spectrum, we also launched dedicated servers in mid-June — your own private VPN server with dedicated resources, a static IP address, and port forwarding. Available as an add-on starting at $11.99 per month, it gives you full control over your IP’s reputation and no shared bandwidth, since you’re the only one using it.
The real unlock here is port forwarding, which opens up some genuinely useful scenarios: hosting a Minecraft or Palworld game server without exposing your real IP, reaching a home security camera or NAS drive remotely, or logging into a self-hosted media server or password manager from a coffee shop. While it’s not meant as an upgrade to standard browsing (since shared servers do that job perfectly well), this addition is a perfect choice for those who need isolated resources when online.
The little things that add up
While not every NordVPN app update warrants a press release, the small stuff is what makes the app pleasant to use day to day. So here’s what’s new in the NordVPN app, since the beginning of April 2026:
- Cleaner, simpler threat protection. On Windows and macOS, Threat Protection Pro™ was renamed to scam, phishing, and malware protection and redesigned around a single toggle instead of three separate switches so you can turn everything on at once. It also added a threat statistics dashboard with a weekly breakdown of blocked trackers, ads, and malicious content, plus a new scam check tool.
- Smarter server routing. Previously, NordVPN server recommendations used to work at the country level only, meaning a user in Texas could just as easily land on a server in New York as one in Dallas. With the new NordVPN app update, server recommendations try to return a server from your own region first in larger countries like the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, and the UK, providing closer servers and shorter hops.
- A better fit for tablets. The Android team gave some long-overdue love to Android tablets, readjusting scaling and layouts to the “Home,” “Products,” and “Scam and phishing protection” screens to provide a smoother, cleaner look for tablet users.
The quarter for making statements
Overall, this quarter was all about meeting threats where they actually happen — scam calls on both Android and iOS, AI-cloned voices in your browser, and privacy risks in VR. And under it all, a steady stream of quality-of-life improvements that make the app simpler and faster to use.
The bottom line is the same one that’s guided NordVPN all along: broader protection, less complexity, and a privacy-first approach. The mission for a safer internet carries on, with new challenges, opportunities, and features ahead, so make sure to keep track of our blog for more information! And be safe out there — use NordVPN for extra online protection.
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