Microsoft Announces Secure Network for Edge
- Laurent Giret
- May 13, 2022
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Microsoft is moving forward with its plan to add a built-in VPN to its Edge browser. Enter the Microsoft Edge Secure Network, which is now available for select Insiders on the Canary channel.
The Secure Network should give Edge users some peace of mind when using the Internet while connected to a public Wi-Fi network, but it should also be useful for other activities like shopping and browsing the web on any network. Since the encrypted traffic data is still routed to a server that is geographically close to where users are, Edge users will continue to see relevant results based on their approximate location.
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“Secure Network helps you protect your information by masking your device’s IP address, encrypting your data, and routing it through a secure network (powered by Cloudflare) to a server that is geographically co-located so it’s harder for malicious actors to see your true location and what you’re doing. It also prevents your internet service provider from collecting your browsing data, like details about which websites you visit, and helps prevent online entities from using your IP address for profiling and sending you targeted ads,” the Edge team explained
To use the Secure Network, Microsoft Edge Canary testers will need to sign in to the browser with their Microsoft account, which is necessary to track usage of the one gigabyte of free data provided every month. Microsoft says that no data about users’ identities or accounts is sent over the Secure Network connection, and the limited diagnostic data that is sent to Cloudflare is automatically deleted after 25 hours.
While we haven’t been able to try the Microsoft Edge Secure Network yet, this built-in VPN should be a great addition for privacy-conscious users. “We look forward to discovering how you would like to use Secure Network to protect your data, what works well, and what we can improve,” the Edge team said.