NordVPN has announced that it is dabbling in the exciting new WireGuard protocol for the first time by introducing their latest innovation; NordLynx technology.
It is the latest in a series of innovative new products which have emerged from what is rapidly becoming one of the best all-round VPNs on the market.
Earlier this year, NordVPN introduced two new products. NordLocker is their file encryption technology while NordPass is their own Password Management tool.
These are additional features which complimented their core VPN service, But with NordLynx they are looking to revolutionize their core product completely.
What is NordLynx?
The new WireGuard protocol looks set to shake up the entire VPN sector and NordVPN is keen to be one of the first to join the party which is why they are already going live with WireGuard for all their Linux users.
WireGuard is a new type of VPN protocol that uses state-of-the-art cryptography. It is a modern VPN protocol which combines high-level security with extremely fast speeds. Already, WireGuard looks set to blow OpenVPN and IPSec out of the water.
To do this, WireGuard employs some astonishingly lean and simple technology behind the scenes. It operates on just 4,000 lines of code which any IT expert will tell is not a lot. By way of comparison, OpenVPN needs 400,000.
While WireGuard has massive potential and a lot to offer already, it is still at the development stage and by no means perfect. It’s speeds and encryption are impressive but it is still not as good at keeping users anonymous as OpenVPN is.
But NordVPN are seemingly convinced those improvements will come which is why they have pushed ahead with their NordLynx project to bring WireGuard’s faster speeds to their users.
How NordLynx will solve the WireGuard privacy dilemma
While WireGuard’s speeds and encryption are fine, its privacy protections aren’t. This is because it can’t dynamically assign IP addresses to everyone connected to a server. Instead it requires a static local IP Address and that means giving out your own IP Address.
NordVPN obviously doesn’t want to compromise its user’s privacy in such an obvious way so they have developed a rather ingenious solution. They have created a double NAT (Network Address Translation) system.
This system creates two local network interfaces for each user. The first assigns a local IP address to all users. Once you have connected to the VPN, the second interface assigns a unique IP address for each VPN tunnel.
In this way, NordVPN can establish a VPN connection without storing your local IP Address or any other identifiable data on their servers.
NordLynx is live on Linux now
NordVPN have been testing their new WireGuard service since the Autumn of last year. A select group of invited users have already put it through its paces but now it is going live to all NordVPN users.
To begin with, NordLynx is only being made available to Linux users and the NordVPN Linux app already supports it. If you want to give it a try you will need to sign up to NordVPN first and then follow these simple steps:
- Make sure you have the latest version of the NordVPN Linux app installed.
- Install WireGuard. Tutorials for different distributions can be found in the NordVPN Help Centre.
- Open the terminal and enter ‘nordvpn set technology NordLynx’.
- Enter ‘nordvpn c’ to connect to VPN.
If you ever want to switch back to OpenVPN, you can do this easily by entering ‘nordvpn set technology OpenVPN’.
NordVPN are open about the fact that this technology is still in its early stages. But they clearly believe that it could be the future for the VPN sector.
In developing and delivering NordLynx now, NordVPN are putting their money where their mouth is. But they are also doing much to cement their burgeoning reputation as one of the most innovative VPNs around.
