Andy Walker / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The NordVPN app is being updated with Message Protection, following up on the existing Call Protection feature.
- This feature will be available to NordVPN premium plan subscribers starting immediately.
- NordVPN will initially bring Message Protection to Android users, with no word on a rollout date for other platforms.
NordVPN is among the better-known VPN apps today. It already offers multiple levels of user-selected protections, including scam and phishing detection, Dark Web monitoring, and more. Last year, NordVPN significantly expanded its feature set with Scam Call Protection for its subscribers. Now, the company is adding Message Protection to that list.
In a blog post announcing the new addition, NordVPN says it will be available to NordVPN premium subscribers at no additional cost, similar to Call Protection.
Message Protection scans messages from unknown senders to identify keywords associated with scams, phone numbers linked to fraud, malicious URLs, phishing-related language patterns, and behavioral signals demonstrated during social engineering attacks. Given how the feature is designed, texts from people on your contacts list won’t be scanned for threats.
If available, you should be able to find Call and Message Protection in the Android app’s third bottom tab (icon with four squares). While NordVPN doesn’t specify which regions support Message Protection, we presume it will be available in the same list of countries where Call Protection is available, including the US and Canada. You can find the full list of countries that support Call Protection in the company’s March social media post announcing the feature’s availability for Android.
It’s worth noting that NordVPN’s Message Protection only warns you about potential scams or fraud based on the message’s contents. It won’t automatically delete the message for you. Still, a warning about an incoming text message could help people avoid falling prey to scammers’ tactics.
Message Protection is currently limited to NordVPN on Android, with the iOS app potentially gaining this functionality in the future.
Only standard incoming text messages are covered under Message Protection. This means you’ll still need to be doubly careful while interacting with texts from unknown contacts on messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and others.
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