2025 was a busy year for NordVPN. From post-quantum encryption to scam protection, the VPN provider has achieved important milestones throughout the year. A bunch of new releases are all designed to enable their users to stay ahead of the online threats of tomorrow.
The push towards mandatory age verification was then the main story that marked the internet in 2025 – and the best VPN apps have certainly been a protagonist. We bet that there are very few people left out there who don’t know the benefits of using a virtual private network (VPN) by now.
I sat down with NordVPN’s CTO Marijus Briedis to reflect on what the company did over the past 12 months, and understand what 2026 has in store for the VPN industry and Nord’s apps.
Post-quantum encryption for all
The implementation of post-quantum encryption (PQE) across all applications is the “most significant milestone” the team achieved in 2025, according to Briedis.
“First, we implemented post-quantum cryptography in our Linux application in 2024 and subsequently expanded this protection to Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Android TV, and tvOS in 2025,” he told me.
Quantum computers are thought to be only a few years away from breaking encryption protection as we know it, but cybercriminals are already threatening people’s security with “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks.
This is why NordVPN was quick to upgrade its encryption when the NIST algorithm standards were published, adopting a hybrid infrastructure that works alongside classic encryption methods. Users must manually enable the feature within the app’s Settings under the Connections tab, but remember – PQE only works when connected to the NordLynx protocol.
Blocking scams is the priority
Briedis explains that 2025 has seen artificial intelligence pose significantly increased risks for individuals, too. “There is growing concern about large language models (LLMs) being hacked or used in large-scale cyberattacks,” he told me.
AI has officially become a favorite weapon of cybercriminals, helping scammers to create convincing impersonations of customers or employees. That’s something that makes scams more difficult to detect.
Incidents of phishing attacks and fake shop websites continue to increase, especially during peak shopping seasons like Amazon Prime Day and Black Friday. NordVPN has recorded an increase of 250% in malicious websites in the month leading up to Black Friday this year, for example, with Amazon being the most impersonated brand.
This is exactly the reason why the team has doubled down on its Threat Protection Pro feature, adding several new security features throughout the year.
These include a crypto wallet address checker to spot risky cryptocurrency wallet addresses, a hijacked session alert, based on patented technology, that warns users if their authentication cookies appear on the dark web, email protection that scans links in emails for threats, and adult site blocking for mobile devices. Users in the US, UK, and Canada can also benefit from Nord’s new scam call protection tool.
The final goal is simple yet ambitious. “We plan to grow our cybersecurity offerings beyond just VPN services,” said Briedis.
What’s coming in 2026 for NordVPN?
2025 was a year full of milestones for NordVPN, and the pipeline for 2026 looks already crowded.
Post-quantum is set to be one of the main focuses yet again in the new year. After securing the VPN tunnels across all applications, the company is now planning to build post-quantum authentication to complete its PQE implementation.
“This will secure the entire connection flow, from user login to server connection. We expect to be among the first in the industry to offer such post-quantum protection,” says Briedis.
Yet, NordVPN believes that post-quantum is anything but the end. That’s why the team is also working on creating and patenting cryptographic agility systems. “These make our infrastructure adaptable to future cryptographic threats of any kind,” said Briedis.
Boosting NordVPN’s censorship-unblocking is also in the plans for 2026, with the team set to keep building the VPN protocol of the future.
“Our NordWhisper technology uses TLS-based VPN protocols, making VPN traffic nearly identical to regular browser activity,” Briedis explained. “We are now adding QUIC support on top of this, as it’s a relatively new protocol that is already in wide use.”
Expanding the capabilities of its Threat Protection Pro suite is also among the priorities. The team is currently experimenting with how to harness the power of AI and large language models to detect deepfakes and manipulated content. This work seeks to help users identify fake images and videos on social media.
Briedis said: “We will continue to move from just securing your connection to protecting users from a wide range of online threats, including hijacked sessions on the dark web and advanced scam attempts.”
A year of legislative challenges ahead
We already mentioned how 2025 was the year for mandatory age verification, transforming the way consumers access the internet. The UK, parts of Europe, Australia, and half of the US States now require some form of age checks to access certain content deemed harmful for the youngest, with more countries expected to follow suit in 2026.
While supporting legislation seeking to protect children online, Briedis pointed out how these laws often force users to disclose sensitive personal information to third-party processors. The new year is set to reveal the full impact of all of this. He said: “Effects of these developments are not yet clear for minors and adults alike, and we sincerely hope it won’t turn out to be a cybersecurity or privacy disaster.”
NordVPN is also following the ongoing legislative efforts, especially in the EU, that could end up weakening encryption protection as well as expanding on data retention obligations.
“I cannot imagine us redesigning our system to even have logs,” said Briedis, while criticizing the push towards encryption backdoors.
“It is like fighting the wind. If they’re going to implement some kind of cryptographic ability to break that encryption, the open source and cryptography community is going to create something new and just try to solve that differently.”
While we will have to wait and see how the debates on this front will evolve, something is certain – VPN apps are set to become even more crucial in the years to come. Briedis said: “Using a VPN should be the default. It’s a no-brainer tool for everyday modern usage if you are connected.”
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