Microsoft to kill off Defender VPN this month
- Reference: 1738610112
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/02/03/microsoft_defender_vpn_killed_off/
- Source link:
The heartbreak might be limited: Users had a [1]50GB data cap per calendar month - after which speeds were throttled to a painful 256 Kbps. On Android and iOS, Microsoft automatically excluded certain apps from using the VPN tunnel, including WhatsApp, Facebook video, YouTube, TikTok, Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. Users also couldn't use it to bypass region restrictions for major streaming services.
"Our goal is to ensure you, and your family remain safer online," Microsoft said on its [2]support page .
[3]
"We routinely evaluate the usage and effectiveness of our features. As such, we are removing the privacy protection feature and will invest in new areas that will better align to customer needs."
[4]Microsoft confesses April Windows update breaks some VPN connections
[5]There's a good chance your VPN is vulnerable to privacy-menacing TunnelCrack attack
[6]Firefox ditches Do Not Track because nobody was listening anyway
[7]Google One VPN axed for everyone but Pixel loyalists ... for now
Microsoft may be axing the privacy-focused VPN, but Defender's web protection on iOS will still rely on a VPN for anti-phishing. Microsoft 365 subscribers in the US are still covered by credit monitoring, up to $1 million in identity theft insurance for legal and expert fees, and up to $100,000 in reimbursement for stolen funds.
For Defender VPN users, the next step is finding a new provider, probably one that allows more flexibility than Microsoft's attempt. Windows, iOS, and macOS users don't need to do anything - Defender VPN will just stop working. Android users, however, will need to manually remove the VPN profile from their device.
[8]
Microsoft's not the only tech titan that has abandoned homegrown VPN services. In 2024 Google [9]discontinued its own VPN service, citing lack of demand. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/microsoft-defender-privacy-protection-faq-65b514b4-be3f-49bb-ae15-982bfc023854#:~:text=Privacy%20protection%20gives%20a%20monthly,your%20data%20limit%20will%20reset.
[2] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/end-of-support-privacy-protection-vpn-in-microsoft-defender-for-individuals-8b503da5-732a-4472-833a-e2ddca53036a
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z6FKiSqfLBQIO550D_8aCQAAARc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/01/microsoft_windows_vpn_problems/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/10/tunnelcrack_vpn/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/12/firefox_do_not_track/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/12/vpn_google_shuttered/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z6FKiSqfLBQIO550D_8aCQAAARc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/12/vpn_google_shuttered/
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Hard to believe that anyone would rely on Microsoft to provide a VPN to improve privacy
Post title:
And that's exact why MS is killing it.
Sounds like it won't really be missed.
If you were relying on Microsoft's Defender VPN
Actually I'd never heard of it before now. Can't imagine what it was supposed to be for.
"speeds were throttled to a painful 256 Kbps"
Ah! Nostalgia.
-A.
Re: If you were relying on Microsoft's Defender VPN
4 ISDN channels!
Well there's your problem
I and 99% of Windows users never heard of it.
Re: Well there's your problem
I like to think of myself as fairly tech savvy - I even did a bit of search recently for a vpn solution for an need I had (went with Tailscale, simple set-up across platforms; linux, android and even, indeed, windows, can't fault it, especially for the price of nothing) and even after reading many articles, forum suggestions and searches, I've never heard of Defender VPN...
Microsoft has a VPN?
Which fools trusted that to keep data safe?
Re: Microsoft has a VPN?
The same sort of fools running windows 10/11 in the first place, with all that lovely telemetry...
I had never heard of it
However they state it is exclusive with an Office 365 Subscription, I use LibreOffice and have done for so long that I can't actually recall the last time I had MS Office installed on any computer, it was almost certainly not a legal copy anyway. It was probably Office 2003.
MS Office is fine for work purposes but for casual home use I have no reason to use anything but LibreOffice.
Never heard of it.
And given the restrictions, it hardly counts as a VPN service.
VPNs may be some use as long as they aren't run by the NSA, but there are other options. Widespread deployment of code that allowed users to bounce web data through other sites would allow citizens of oppressive regimes to avoid blocks, whilst creating one or more alt DNS systems would allow data to move across the internet from anywhere to anywhere. This is easier with distributed systems. You can also capture websites and convert them into apps, pipe them as apps across the net or rebuild their functionality on your own system. Websites can even be deployed independent as mobile code.
Data flows like water, we just have to do the plumbing. Development of this was largely frozen by GAFA's dominance, patent abuse and lawyer-led operations, but there is a world of alternate ways to move and process data that we have not yet exploited. A lot of it can operate happily on the current infrastructure, data within data, networks within networks. Plenty to explore.
Hard to believe that anyone would rely on Microsoft to provide a VPN to improve privacy
Just saying.
Perhaps security at some level, but privacy - hell no.
Obviously they had forged "relations" (means money transfers) with some of the companies (Meta, etc.) that they didn't even bother handling. Of course MS customers aren't the most discerning types.