Review: NordProtect

Protecting your online privacy is an impossible task. Even if you use common sense and take protective steps to help safeguard your accounts and data (like using two-factor authentication and a VPN), the rampant spread of third-party data leaks makes complete privacy unattainable.

NordProtect tries to mitigate this reality. While it can offer proactive privacy-minded services, like NordVPN and Incogni, the majority of NordProtect is designed to reduce the problems caused by data leaks that have already occurred. It’s an affordable and easy-to-use service, though it’s hard to gauge how effectively it safeguards your privacy.

NordProtect is not software. It’s also not one service or product. It's a bundle that packages a variety of data privacy and ID theft protection services. The Silver subscription includes dark web and credit score monitoring, plus insurance against ID theft and online fraud (contracted through an insurance company called HSB Specialty Insurance Company). It’s really a bundle of insurance products with a few data monitoring tools on the side.

Upgrading to Gold snags you additional insurance and a subscription to NordVPN. If you move to Platinum, the highest tier, you gain even more monitoring features (like criminal records and short-term loan monitoring) and access to Incogni, a service owned by Nord Security, which tries to prevent data brokers from selling your personal data.

Lots of Alerts, Not Much to Do

NordProtect via Matthew Smith

The fact that NordProtect is a bundle of services, some from third parties, made me think it would be confusing to use. Fortunately, that's not the case. NordProtect’s ease of use is the best reason to subscribe.

Once I signed up, I had to fill out several online forms. These include information that might personally identify me, like my Social Security number, phone numbers, email addresses, credit/debit cards, and so on. Filling out the information took about 20 minutes. It’s not effortless, but NordProtect’s interface is clean and intuitive. It puts the information you want to see on top, often alongside brief but informative details, with the option to dive deeper. Notifications are rare, too, so you’re not peppered with distracting alerts.

The exception to this was the first time I logged in. I saw dozens of alerts associated with data breaches that occurred over the past two decades. Once those were dismissed, new notifications were uncommon. The interface can seem a bit too simple. I found it easy to forget exactly what the service was doing for me. NordProtect lacks a mobile app. The website works well enough on a smartphone, but a dedicated app would look better.

NordProtect didn’t provide me with any information or take any actions that had an easily quantifiable impact on my privacy. I looked at each of the 48 data breach alerts that appeared and found that none of them contained worrying information. Much of it was out of date (old passwords, ancient addresses, and so on). Some of it was just straight-up wrong.

NordProtect can offer financial safeguards, but I already have a freeze on my credit, and my bank provides free credit monitoring services. I already use a VPN, so NordVPN wasn’t new to me. The most tangible services I gained were identity theft insurance and access to Incogni. On the other hand, I gained less because I’m already somewhat active in monitoring my personal data. NordProtect would be more valuable if I were starting from scratch.

Doing the Math

NordProtect via Matthew Smith

NordProtect offers monthly, annual, and two-year plans, but the pricing pushes you hard toward yearly subscriptions. Silver is $16, Gold is $24, and Platinum is $32 if you pay monthly. That’s pricey! However, the yearly plans are $84, $114, and $144 for the same tiers, respectively, and the two-year plans are $120/$180/$240.

How do similar services compare? Aura’s Individual plan is $144 a year, Norton Lifelock Ultimate Plus is $240 a year, and McAfee Total Protect is $90 a year. NordProtect is in the middle of the price spectrum. There are some feature differences; NordProtect doesn’t have a password manager or antivirus software, which are available with competitors. But NordProtect Gold and Platinum include NordVPN, which is one of WIRED's top-rated VPNs.

NordProtect is great if you already plan to sign up for a VPN (like NordVPN) and a data broker monitoring service (like Incogni). A yearly subscription to NordVPN Basic is about $60, and a yearly subscription to Incogni Standard is $95, for a total of $155. That’s more than a yearly subscription to NordProtect Platinum, which includes both.

NordProtect is sort of like a Disney+ Hulu/HBO bundle for data privacy and ID protection. It won’t make sense if you only want one of the included services, but if you want most or all of what it offers, the math works in NordProtect’s favor.