NordLynx: Everything You Need to Know

If you are familiar with the world of VPNs and their protocols, you might have run into the names NordLynx and Wireguard quite a few times. However, it can be difficult to truly grasp the difference between them or to figure out which VPN protocol is best for you, whether you want it to be speed or security-focused.

This blog will go through the most common VPN protocols and their features and then discuss NordLynx, how it competes with Wireguard, its best features, and how to get it.
 

 

VPN Protocol Brief

PPTP/PPTN

VPN history kicked off in 1996 when Microsoft employees developed the first peer-to-peer tunnel protocol, also known as PPTN. This protocol creates a secure network between users by encrypting data and forming a tunnel over a LAN or WAN connection. Its main use was to send and receive data over networks safely.
 

Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

Secure Socket Layer is the most common VPN protocol that everyone uses but probably does not know they do. SSL is mostly used for online transactions; to build a safe connection between the server and browser, so upon entering your transaction details, they are not spied on or accessed by hackers or unauthorized people.

SSL is established when a seller or website owner installs the SSL certificate over the server from a Certificate Authority, and this certificate proves the network’s trustworthiness.
 

Internet Protocol Security (IPsec)

IPsec is another safe method for data transfer, and it has a wider application than SLL, which is focused on online transactions. IPsec works in a similar way but has extra steps of authentication.

To explain further, before data is sent, its authenticity is checked, and it gets encrypted with IKE (Internet Key Exchange). IKE also authenticates peers on both ends and negotiates the exchange of session keys for decryption. Moreover, it also sets up a secure tunnel to negotiate the second IKE parameters. The second IKE phase doubles down on the encryption between the peers and negotiates second-level decryption keys. Finally, the data transfer occurs, and the receiving end decrypts the packets using the keys IKE specified.
 

OpenVPN

OpenVPN is one of the most widely used VPN protocols and is integrated by VPN services. It is an open-source protocol, which means its code is accessible to developers to use and modify. In addition, it has virtually unbreakable AES-256-bit encryption with 2048-bit RSA authentication.
 

IKEv2

Internet Security Exchange version 2 is also a tunneling protocol that provides a secure key exchange session. It usually comes hand in hand with IPsec for authentication and encryption. It’s an improved version of IKE with extra security and works significantly in re-establishing connections or switching connections across networks.
 

WireGuard

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

“WireGuard® is an extremely simple yet fast and modern VPN that utilizes state-of-the-art cryptography. It aims to be faster, simpler, leaner, and more useful than IPsec while avoiding massive headaches. It intends to be considerably more performant than OpenVPN. WireGuard is designed as a general-purpose VPN for running on embedded interfaces and super computers alike, fit for many different circumstances. Initially released for the Linux kernel, it is now cross-platform (Windows, macOS, BSD, iOS, Android) and widely deployable. It is currently under heavy development, but already it might be regarded as the most secure, easiest to use, and simplest VPN solution in the industry.” (Source: Wireguard.com).
 

NordLynx

NordLynx is the new protocol owning the spotlight. It is based on WireGuard and was developed by NordVPN and solely used by it. NordLynx aims to increase your connection speeds, make NordVPN server connections faster, and ultimately provide more security and privacy for your internet activity.

It is also multi-platform compatible so that everyone can benefit from its perks. It is available on iOS, Windows, Android, macOS, and Linux.
 

How is NordLynx better?

As we previously mentioned, NordLynx is based on WireGuard as it is an open-source protocol. However, what NordLynx does better than WireGuard is the extra-tightened security.

Nord introduced a new double Network Address Translation system (NAT). It basically directs users through a new secure database. The added NAT system to NordLynx has patched the security issues of WireGuard while maintaining its fast speed.
 

NordLynx features

1. Better Security
2. Free of charge for NordVPN users
3. High Speed
4. Lightweight
5. NordVPN features( Kill-switch, number of servers, true no-log policy )
6. Compatibility
    

NordLynx Downside

Being a new protocol and constantly under development and updates, some iOS users have reported connectivity issues to the service. However, such bugs are common to new protocols and will probably be squashed quite soon.

 

How to Get NordLynx

To get NordLynx, you will have to subscribe to NordVPN, sign up for an account and download the application.

 

NordVPN Plans and Prices

NordVPN offers three plans for its services:

• 1-month plan: $11.95 per month.
• 1-year plan: $4.92 per month, billed $59.00 every year.
• 2-year plan + 3 free months: $3.30 per month, billed $89.99 every two years. (Special price with our big blue discount button).

NordVPN also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its plans, all you would have to do to get it is request a refund from their customer support help desk and provide them with your order number and account details.

 

Get NordLynx Now!