What goes into an AV-Comparatives anti-phishing test
AV-Comparatives is an independent Austrian organization that tests antiviruses and cybersecurity products and issues approval badges based on product performance under multiple testing criteria. AV-Comparatives’ testing environment approximates how security products will perform against threats users can realistically encounter online.
To pass, a product must detect at least 85% of the phishing URLs presented while producing zero false positives against a set of legitimate websites. The second condition is the harder one. A single false alarm against legitimate online banking and related sites is enough to disqualify a product entirely, regardless of its detection rate. Only products that clear both criteria receive AV-Comparatives’ anti-phishing approval.
This is not NordVPN’s first time passing the test
NordVPN first received AV-Comparatives’ anti-phishing approval in June 2024, becoming the first VPN provider to do so. Since then, NordVPN’s next-gen antivirus* (formerly Threat Protection Pro™) has entered the AV-Comparatives’ anti-phishing testing pool every year and cleared the approval threshold each time. NordVPN’s phishing detection rates have ranged from 89% to the current personal best of 96% — without triggering a single false positive during testing.
*NordVPN’s next-gen antivirus is a comprehensive digital threat protection tool available on Windows and macOS. You can find more information in the next-gen antivirus whitepaper.
Phishing is not going anywhere
Cyberattackers have spent years reinventing phishing because, frustratingly enough, it keeps working. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), over one million phishing attacks were recorded in the first quarter of 2025 alone, the highest quarterly figure since late 2023. The number had been climbing steadily throughout 2024, and there is little to suggest the trajectory has changed.
Phishing is difficult to stamp out because it targets human attention — people move through online spaces through familiarity and instinct rather than careful analysis. They click fast, skim instead of read, trust what looks familiar, and make dozens of small decisions every day without thinking much about them. Cybercriminals understand these habits extremely well and have learned how to exploit them, which is why phishing is still not going anywhere (for now, anyway). And that brings us to the practical end of this — what you can do about it.
NordVPN is a proven answer to the phishing problem
Beyond practicing good cyber hygiene, your best defense against phishing is an effective protection tool. And as independent testing continues to show, NordVPN detects phishing attempts about as effectively as any security solution realistically can. But phishing protection is only one security layer out of the many that NordVPN offers.
NordVPN is an all-in-one digital security app¹ developed and tuned for the aggressive internet environment we find ourselves navigating. It combines essential cybersecurity features alongside anti-phishing. NordVPN blocks intrusive ads and web trackers, removes malware-infected files before they download, and monitors the dark web for leaked personal information.
So if you are looking for just phishing protection, there is a strong case for using NordVPN, and AV-Comparatives has been making it for three years. But for anyone who wants protection from what else the internet throws at them, NordVPN has an answer for that as well.
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.
Sources
- 1.APWG. Phishing Activity Trends Report. https://docs.apwg.org/reports/apwg_trends_report_q1_2025.pdf
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