A supporting document shows that Microsoft is secretly developing its own “Edge Security Network” with VPN-like capabilities, leading many to believe that Edge will get Opera-like built-in and mature VPN tools. However, as we might expect, Edge Secure Network isn’t actually a suitable replacement for a VPN.
The Microsoft Edge Safety Network is now available to some users, and one of our Edge Canary installations has also received the feature.
As highlighted in the supporting documentation, Edge Secure Network uses Cloudflare to encrypt traffic through one of the largest DNS’s in the world. Similar to VPN services, Cloudflare VPN for Microsoft Edge prevents online tracking by encrypting traffic and keeping your location private.
Internet service providers cannot monitor your activity because IP addresses are replaced by Cloudflare and data is routed through an encrypted tunnel to create a secure connection, meaning the result is a secure web experience even when browsing insecure URLs or web pages with HTTP or use an untrusted SSL certificate.
Other benefits:
- Microsoft Edge Tracking Protection makes it harder for hackers to access your browsing data.
- Block data sharing with public Wi-Fi.
- Because traffic is routed through Cloudflare and your IP is blocked, your data cannot be linked to your browser.
Is Edge Secure Network a VPN alternative?
While Edge Secure Network serves the original purpose of a VPN by encrypting your data with Cloudflare, it does not provide any form of in-place protection.
Edge allows you to browse the web using a Cloudflare IP address, but the location is similar to your regional address. This is because Cloudflare Warp (which appears to power the Edge Secure Network) was not designed with geo-spoofing in mind.
Therefore, the server cannot be changed. This means Edge’s VPN can’t be used to watch geo-restricted content on Netflix or Prime, but you can still use it to unblock services blocked by your ISP.
A full-fledged VPN or VPN extension, on the other hand, gives you more control over your location and IP address, and most services offer a huge network of servers to choose from.
Another problem is that users only get 1 GB of free data per month, and you need to sync this feature with your Microsoft account. This doesn’t make sense because Cloudflare Warp is a free service.
It’s unclear if the company is working on any paid plans, but supporting documents indicate that Microsoft will take user feedback into account.
Edge’s Secure Network might be a great solution to prevent or reduce online tracking, but can it replace your VPN app or extension? maybe not.
This feature is currently rolling out to Canary users, so if you want to try it soon, don’t forget to download Edge Canary and visit the page Edge://vpn.