NordVPN, one of the world's largest and best VPN providers, has announced a new security feature that alerts users if their online accounts have been compromised by a third party.

Called Dark Web Monitor, the new feature scans a list of compromised credentials (a set of email addresses, passwords, and usernames) posted on cybercrime forums. If an account linked to an email address appears, it alerts the NordVPN user.

Such functionality is already provided by many of the best identity theft protection services, some of the best anti-virus suites, and even one or two of the best password managers.

But according to Nord, the Dark Web Monitor differs from other dark web scanners in that it "works continuously" and provides results in real time. (Tom's Guide could not confirm that claim.)

"Your data could be sold somewhere on the Dark Web without your knowledge," says Vykintas Maknickas, product strategist at NordVPN. It's impossible to protect yourself when you don't know where the threat is coming from." That's where NordVPN's Dark Web Monitor comes in."

"It does the job for you by scanning the dark web and alerting you about exposed credentials," he added."

Thus, you can take immediate action to protect yourself."

McNickus warned that many people reuse passwords across different online accounts, and cybercriminals can access "the complete ecosystem of accounts" once they know users' passwords.

That is true, and passwords should never be reused, at least for accounts containing sensitive personal or financial information.

According to NordVPN, Dark Web Monitor allows users to improve their own data security, and credential stuffing (automated computer scripts that keep thousands of stolen usernames and passwords until a match is found). credentials) until it finds a match.

NordVPN claims the Dark Web Monitor alerts users to data breaches so that they can change their passwords immediately and cybercriminals cannot damage or attempt to steal identifying information.

This new feature is only available on NordVPN's iOS app. However, it will be offered next to Android VPN users, and other platforms are expected to offer this feature in the near future.

To set it up, users will need to update NordVPN's iOS app and enable this feature through the app's settings. This feature will only monitor compromised accounts linked to the email address you signed up with NordVPN.

NordVPN also confirmed that a new split tunneling feature will be available for Windows 10 VPN users later this month.