As Internet Explorer will soon bow out, Microsoft is looking to bolster the appeal of its designated successor, Edge. To do this, the Redmond firm aims in particular to enrich the security offer of its browser with a new feature, called “Edge Secure Network”. This built-in VPN service will be powered by Cloudflare, as noted in a recently discovered Microsoft support page about the feature.
While the feature is highly anticipated, it is not yet available to Edge Dev Channel testers, and there is no indication when it will be. The new Secure Network feature requires users to be signed in to their Microsoft accounts and provides 1GB of free data per month tied to users’ Microsoft accounts.
Edge Secure Network will encrypt users’ Internet connections by routing Edge data through an encrypted tunnel to create a secure connection, “even when using an insecure URL that begins with HTTP,” it says. Microsoft.
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With this encryption, users will get an extra layer of protection against hackers accessing browsing data through shared public Wi-Fi networks. Cloudflare permanently deletes all diagnostic and support data collected every 25 hours.
The Edge Secure Network feature may also help prevent online tracking, maintain user location privacy, and will be available for free, says Microsoft’s online support page. Users will get 1GB of free data every month when logged into their Microsoft account. Instructions for enabling the secure network, once available, can be found in the article on the Edge support page.
Other browser vendors, like Opera, already have built-in VPN services. For its part, Mozilla, although not integrating its own VPN into Firefox, has made its VPN available to its users separately.
Source: ZDNet.com