NordVPN was established in 2012 by “four childhood friends”, as stated on its website. Late in May 2016, it presented an Android app, followed by an iOS app in June the same year. In October 2017, it launched a browser extension for Google Chrome. In June 2018, the service launched an application for Android TV. As of October 2019, NordVPN was operating more than 5,200 servers in 62 countries.
In March 2019, it was reported that NordVPN received a directive from Russian authorities to join a state sponsored registry of banned websites, which would prevent Russian NordVPN users from circumventing Russian state censorship. NordVPN was reportedly given one month to comply, or face blocking by Russian authorities. The provider declined to comply with the request and shut down its Russian servers on April 1. As a result, NordVPN still operates in Russia, but its Russian users have no access to local servers.
In September 2019, NordVPN announced a VPN solution for business, called NordVPN Teams. It is aimed at small and medium businesses, remote teams and freelancers, who need to access work resources securely.
In December 2019, NordVPN became one of the five founding members of the newly formed ‘VPN Trust Initiative’, promising to promote online security as well as more self-regulation and transparency in the industry.
In August 2020, Troy Hunt, an Australian web security expert and founder of Have I Been Pwned?, announced a partnership with NordVPN as a strategic advisor. On his blog, Hunt described this role as “work with NordVPN on their tools and messaging with a view to helping them make a great product even better.”
