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- Meshnet Feature for Personal Encrypted Networks: NordVPN offers a unique feature called Meshnet, which allows users to connect their devices directly and securely over the internet. This means you can create your own private, encrypted network for activities like gaming, file sharing, or remote access to your home devices from anywhere in the world.
- RAM-Only Servers for Enhanced Security: Unlike many VPN providers, NordVPN uses RAM-only (diskless) servers. Since these servers run entirely on volatile memory, all data is wiped with every reboot. This ensures that no user data is stored long-term, significantly reducing the risk of data breaches and enhancing overall security.
- Servers in a Former Military Bunker: Some of NordVPN's servers are housed in a former military bunker located deep underground. This unique location provides an extra layer of physical security against natural disasters and unauthorized access, ensuring that the servers are protected in all circumstances.
- NordLynx Protocol with Double NAT Technology: NordVPN developed its own VPN protocol called NordLynx, built around the ultra-fast WireGuard protocol. What sets NordLynx apart is its implementation of a double Network Address Translation (NAT) system, which enhances user privacy without sacrificing speed. This innovative approach solves the potential privacy issues inherent in the standard WireGuard protocol.
- Dark Web Monitor Feature: NordVPN includes a feature known as Dark Web Monitor. This tool actively scans dark web sites and forums for credentials associated with your email address. If it detects that your information has been compromised or appears in any data breaches, it promptly alerts you so you can take necessary actions to protect your accounts.
Phishing blindsides businesses’ best defenses and takes a toll whose price tag still hasn’t been pinned down. Here’s one estimate: $441 million per attack, according to a recent study of the cybercrime’s effect on stock market data (market value, volume of shares traded, and stock volatility) of global firms. The authors use “event studies” techniques (i.e., analyzing the impact of specific types of events on companies’ market performance) to analyze nearly 2,000 phishing alerts (emails sent to customers of public companies, or warnings about phony websites trying to dupe customers) by 259 companies in 32 countries over a recent four-year period. (Two side notes: the study finds that phishing hits financial companies the worst, and that it takes a bigger toll on foreign companies’ stock prices than on U.S. companies’.)
The authors say their estimate may be on the low side because the study leaves out the targeted companies’ indirect costs: providing additional support to victims of the crime, dealing with angry customers, and losing potential customers because of bad publicity.
To counter phishing, the authors say, companies should:
- Use technology and systems that make it harder to clone their websites at all or that cause duplicates to be easy to spot (because their logos or other design elements will be of poorer quality).
- Use digital watermarks to validate the legitimacy of their emails and websites.
- Monitor website traffic.
- Scan the Internet for fraudulent websites.
- Join forces with the many anti-phishing organizations that have recently emerged.
- Work with other ISPs to take down phony sites as soon as possible.
- Educate their customers about dangers and warning signs of phishing attempts.
- Concerns about phishing can particularly dampen the demand for financially-oriented new gTLDs such as .BANK, .FINANCE, .INSURANCE, and for .Brands such as .BOFA and .FIDELITY. This wariness may have played a part in the dismal performance of the new gTLDs program.
For its part, the domain name industry should be more proactive in fighting phishing, especially schemes that involve typo domain names. For one thing, the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) database can be expanded to include brand-name typos, whereby before a domain name’s registration is finalized, a warning is flashed that the desired name may be a trademark violation and that the mark holder may legally request that you surrender the domain name with no compensation. If the warning is ignored and the registration is completed, the mark owner is notified. Of course, such an automatic right for mark owners requires new legal authorization, but makes it more expensive for infringing registrants. However, the added cost of monitoring by mark owners will be negligible compared to their benefits.