Most of the leading VPN providers, NordVPN included, claim that they operate a strict zero-logging (no logging) policy, however, is this the case?
Does NordVPN keep logs or do they truly operate with zero-log policies?
If so, how can you tell that it truly is the case and the VPN provider is telling the truth?
Through research, that’s how.
This is exactly what we have done in the case of NordVPN today—we have combed through their Privacy Policy and done all our research so that you don’t have to.
NordVPN has always claimed that they don’t log anything, so let’s dive right in and see if this is really the case.
NordVPN Logs Explained
Does NordVPN keep logs?
The short answer is—no, they don’t keep logs. The long answer requires a bit of context but their no log policy has been tested and audited; you can completely trust NordVPN on this front.
Looking at the NordVPN Privacy Policy (Logging Policy) itself, there are plenty of clauses that back up their no-log assertions. After all, what a VPN provider states on their website through marketing copy doesn’t matter—it’s what their Privacy Policy, a legal document, says that matters.
We don’t blame you for not wanting to go digging through the lengthy Privacy Policy yourself, so here are the parts that matter for your convenience—
TL;DR – They don’t keep activity logs. The information that flows through their servers and systems cannot link you to any of your activities. Information that goes through their VPN architecture is there to prevent spam and account abuse as well as to improve their services.
NordVPN Underwent a Third-Party Audit to Prove This
Not satisfied by words alone?
NordVPN has you covered—they hired PwC, one of the “big four” professional auditing firms (the other three being EY, KPMG, and Deloitte) to carry out an in-depth audit on their Privacy Policy and no-log stance. This was an unprecedented move by a VPN provider and NordVPN were the first, and are still one of only a few, service to undergo such an audit by a world-class firm.
While NordVPN did not release the specific results of their audit immediately, they did disclose a summary of it on their website. As of January 28th, 2019, the audit report is available to all NordVPN subscribers.
They also had this to say—
Between October 29th and November 8th, we invited the independent auditors to review our servers and code and to interview the employees in charge of maintaining our service. As far as we could tell, no stone was left unturned. The auditors’ goal was to see if our service lives up to our claims of providing a no-logs VPN service, and we believe we’ve passed the test.
In short, the audit confirmed that NordVPN does in fact not log or store any information such as end-user IP addresses or internet activities. The only information that is logged, as per their Privacy Policy, is session data that is kept for a maximum duration of 15 minutes.
Again, this session data is used by NordVPN to provide a consistently reliable service and find and fix problems as they arise.
How to View the External NordVPN Privacy Policy Audit
As we mentioned earlier, it was not until recently that NordVPN made their audit available. You must be a registered user with an active subscription to find and read it. Here’s how you can find it for yourself.
1. Head to ucp.nordvpn.com/login and enter your customer details
2. From your dashboard, press ‘View Report’ at the top of the page
3. Scroll down and press ‘Agree and Proceed’
Before you can read the report, you have to agree to some Terms & Conditions. These pretty much just say—
- The information in the report was correct at the time of the audit (November 20, 2018).
- That you rely on the information in the audit report at your own risk.
- That you agree not to bring actions against PwC if you rely on the audit and something happens that you are not happy with.
- That you agree not to disclose the report to third parties (e.g. people who aren’t NordVPN employees or customers).
This is pretty standard—PwC can only guarantee that the information in the audit report was correct at the time the audit was carried out (on November 20, 2018) and that the situation may have changed since then.
4. That’s it—happy reading!
As a shortcut, you can just click here to read the report although you will still need to authenticate with your username and password and agree to the Terms & Conditions.
NordVPN Does Not Keep Logs
We truly mean what we say—NordVPN is one of the best VPN services available right now and the fact that their no-log stance has been backed up by a third-party external audit by PwC proves this.
You can try out NordVPN for 30 days risk-free by taking advantage of their 30-day money-back guarantee.
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