Consumer privacy and security company, ExpressVPN, has announced its self-titled privacy and security tool with two new features: Threat Manager and Parallel Connections. They were enabled by Lightway, ExpressVPN’s in-house VPN protocol that is open-sourced and was audited by Cure53.
Threat Manager is a new privacy feature that protects against apps, trackers, and malware. Built to complement users’ VPN experience, it’s a DNS-based traffic blocker that prevents all apps and websites on any device from communicating with a set of third parties known to track activity or engage in malicious behavior. The folks at Express VPN say that, with Threat Manager enabled, ExpressVPN not only shields users’ traffic from third-party listeners (like an ISP). It also blocks traffic to malicious third parties (like trackers and scammers).’Threat Manager is currently available on iOS and Mac. It will be available on all other platforms soon.
Parallel Connections is a new feature that works behind the scenes to ensure faster and more reliable VPN connections. Previously, ExpressVPN’s apps would attempt different methods of connecting in succession.
With Parallel Connections, the ExpressVPN app now attempts to connect by trying all possible methods simultaneously. The folks at Express VPN says this means significantly faster connections for ExpressVPN users, especially when they are on networks that apply some traffic restrictions, such as schools, workplaces, hotels, hospitals, and airports.
Parallel Connections is currently available on iOS. It will be available on all other platforms soon.
ExpressVPN is available in three plans: US$12.95 per month, $9.99 per month if you pay upfront for six months, or $8.32 per month if you pay upfront for 12 months.
