NordVPN, the best VPN on the market, has introduced email protection to its Threat Protection Pro, which we already regard as the most well-rounded and useful suite of extra security features offered by any VPN provider.
NordVPN has made several additions to Threat Protection Pro throughout 2025. Earlier this year, it added scam call protection and hijacked-session alerts, and now its new email protection feature aims to shield users from phishing attempts, scams, and malware by detecting and flagging unsafe links within emails – all in a hands-off, privacy-conscious manner.
“It’s a proactive layer of defense that helps reduce the success rate of phishing campaigns and other online threats targeting users through email,” said Domininkas Virbickas, product director at NordVPN.
What does email protection do?
Available for Mac VPN and Windows VPN users, NordVPN’s email protection automatically scans all visible links in an open email (on a web browser) and visually flags any potentially dangerous URLs – those that might lead to phishing or scam websites or even download malware to your device.
It’s worth noting that phishing remains the #1 tool for malicious actors looking to breach personal and corporate systems.
An estimated 3.4 billion spam emails are sent every day, and the average cost of a single data breach for a business can reach as high as $4 million. This makes NordVPN’s email protection a welcome addition.
How does email protection work?
NordVPN’s email protection gets to work as soon as you open an email in a supported web browser. It picks up any visible link in your email and runs it through a database of known malicious websites.
If a match is found, it places a red shield icon next to the link to warn you in real time. For more details about the potential threat, you can hover your cursor over the shield icon.
To make sure the warning doesn’t slip by you, NordVPN also displays a full-fledged banner at the top of the email that stays visible as long as the message is open. This banner contains a summary of all detected threats.
Phishing emails exploit human behavior by creating a sense of urgency or curiosity. It often prompts users to click without considering the risks.
For instance, if email protection finds two links – one “Scam” and another “Malware” – you’ll see a single warning on the banner that reads “Scam and malware.”
Keep in mind that you don’t need to grant NordVPN any special permissions to check your open emails. That’s because the feature only analyzes links, not the content of your emails, retaining NordVPN's reputation as one of the most private VPNs on the market.
It also scans emails only when you open them, which is why it may be worth waiting a few seconds and letting email protection run its checks before clicking on any links. Finally, you’ll also have the option to turn email protection on or off from the Threat Protection Pro settings menu.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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