Antivirus and malware software maker Malwarebytes has entered the VPN space with the announcement today (April 23) of the launch of Malwarebytes Privacy

Malwarebytes Privacy is currently only available for Windows (7 and above), with Mac, Android, iOS, and possibly a Chrome OS version coming "soon" [Annual subscriptions are $5999, and bundled with Malwarebytes Premium antivirus software is $8999 Both packages cover up to five devices

According to Malwarebytes, Privacy has more than 180 virtual servers in 30 countries that can appear to customers as if they were in those locations; Malwarebytes guarantees that Privacy does not retain user logs

Most importantly, it uses a "newer, faster VPN protocol," according to the Malwarebytes Privacy website We confirmed with Malwarebytes that the protocol is WireGuard

This suddenly changes the game: WireGuard is lighter and faster than the currently widely used OpenVPN and IKEv2/IPsec protocols, and is just now being offered to users by major VPN services NordVPN yesterday (April 22 NordVPN added WireGuard yesterday (April 22), and Mullvad added WireGuard to its iOS app just last week

Rival anti-virus companies Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, McAfee, and Norton already offer VPN services, and some have for years However, to our knowledge, none offer WireGuard

The current industry trend is to add non-virus features to antivirus products, such as backup software, cloud storage, identity theft protection, and password managers, to provide customers with a fully comprehensive security package

In line with this trend, Malwarebytes describes its VPN service as "the first product in an emerging suite of privacy products"