Microsoft Edge Starts Testing Built-in VPN Powered by Cloudflare

Microsoft has started testing a new built-in Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution in its Edge browser. The new feature, which the company is calling the “Microsoft Edge Secure Network,” will allow users to protect their privacy, hide their location, and be more secure while browsing the web.

“When using Microsoft Edge Secure network, your data is routed from Edge through an encrypted tunnel to create a secure connection, even when using a non-secure URL that starts with HTTP. This makes it harder for hackers to access your browsing data on a shared public Wi-Fi network,” the company explained on a support page.

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According to 9to5Google, this new built-in VPN solution is being tested with Edge Insiders on the Dev channel, though we’re not seeing it on our machines. To check if you have the feature, you’ll need to click on the Ellipsis “…” button, scroll down and click on “Secure Network.

The Microsoft Edge Secure Network is powered by the US-based content delivery network Cloudflare, and users will get 1 GB of free data every month. The feature will require to be signed in Edge with a Microsoft account, which is necessary to keep track of the amount of Microsoft Edge Secure Network data that is used each month. Cloudflare will also purge personally identifiable data every 25 hours.

For a while, the Edge team seemed to have put a lot of emphasis on shopping features, so it’s quite refreshing to see this Microsoft Edge Secure Network being tested with Insiders. Let us know in the comments if you think this new built-in VPN solution is something that could make you want to use Edge more in the future.

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Conversation 14 comments

  • dftf

    28 April, 2022 - 2:33 pm

    <p>Ironic that this post is tagged with "Cloudflare", as endlessly this-evening this site keeps failing to load, going to an "Error 524" <em>Cloudflare </em>page saying "Error at host www . thurrott . com"</p>

    • shmuelie

      Premium Member
      29 April, 2022 - 11:05 am

      <p>I was going to say the same thing lol</p>

  • mdsharpe

    28 April, 2022 - 3:32 pm

    <p>Not something I have any use for ?‍♂️</p>

  • safesax2002

    28 April, 2022 - 3:32 pm

    <p>Nice feature. Can’t wait for this to roll out.</p>

  • dftf

    28 April, 2022 - 4:11 pm

    <p>Interesting feature, but I wonder how-many will use it: there’s already enough people who oppose having to sign-into <em>Windows</em> using a <em>Microsoft Account</em>. Are those same people then going to feel OK signing into a VPN using a <em>MA</em> therefore?</p><p><br></p><p>Also, while they say "no-log", there’s been enough news over-the-years of VPNs with such a policy <em>who actually did</em>, so… hopefully in this case, that will be true?</p>

    • Donte

      28 April, 2022 - 8:19 pm

      <p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">there’s already enough people who oppose having to sign-into&nbsp;</span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Windows</em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&nbsp;using a&nbsp;</span><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Microsoft Account"</em></p><p><br></p><p>I think this is overblown and in a big way. These days you have to have so many accounts, that people simply do not care anymore. </p><p><br></p><p>I just got some fantastic Baseball tickets from my company last weekend. In the past I would be inter-officed those tickets and parking pass. Now I had to download the MLB Ballpark app, create an account etc…etc.. to get the tickets.</p><p><br></p><p>I have a personal Microsoft Office 365 Home account (for 5 people) and my work E5 account. Signing in with a MS account is nothing to most people. How many people have YouTube, FaceBook or Twitter acounts?</p>

  • MattBaker

    28 April, 2022 - 4:26 pm

    <p>This is a great set of data for Microsoft to mine, and I have zero faith that they won’t do it.</p>

  • zeromus2003

    28 April, 2022 - 4:41 pm

    <p>This browser getting more stuffed than my Thanksgiving turkey! I like my Chromium Edge light, debloated of stuff most folks won’t use. Ugh…</p>

  • brunom

    28 April, 2022 - 6:45 pm

    <p>2022 browser’s direction for a safer internet experience</p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    28 April, 2022 - 7:14 pm

    <p>| <em>1 GB of free data every month</em></p><p><br></p><p>1GB? <em>Be still, my heart!</em></p><p><br></p><p>How many episodes of Windows Weekly would that be? Or HD streamed movies? More pressingly, what’s the cost after 1GB in a month? Or does the service just cease at 1GB?</p><p><br></p><p>Finally, would Cloudfare be allowed to sell its anonymized network traffic data?</p>

    • ebraiter

      29 April, 2022 - 3:25 pm

      <p>And I think Firefox has their free VPN set to 500 MB.</p>

  • ebraiter

    29 April, 2022 - 3:27 pm

    <p>I think it’s time for the Edge installer [or via an INI/XML file with it] to configure what gets installed with Edge. I have a fear that not everyone wants it installed [not the same as disabling].</p>

  • 1speed

    29 April, 2022 - 3:27 pm

    <p>Ok, everyone who subscribes to this newsletter probably has a VPN solution. This is a great solution for everyone’s Mom, friends, et al who don’t use a VPN and don’t understand why they should. Logging in with a Microsoft account is no different than logging in to your VPN provider. Finally, an Edge feature that has a tangible benefit for users, we should applaud Microsoft for doing the right thing.</p>

  • melinau

    Premium Member
    30 April, 2022 - 3:48 am

    <p>Sounds like a decent enough offer to the "average Joe", who maybe won’t want to install, or know how to install and\or pay for a separate VPN.</p><p>The requirement for a Microsoft Account is hardly onerous in the 21st Century: you need an account for almost everything online these days. That’s not to say I’m a fan of insisting on an MS account to load the O/S!</p>

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