Technologies

NordVPN Passes Third Independent No-Logs Audit

Deloitte concluded that NordVPN didn’t record or store any logs of user activity during its latest audit.

NordVPN, a CNET pick for one of the best VPNs, recently completed a third-party audit of its no-logs claims, the company said Tuesday. The audit was conducted by Deloitte — one of the «Big Four» auditing firms — between Nov. 21 and Dec. 10, 2022, which confirmed in its Independent Reasonable Assurance Report that NordVPN didn’t record or store any logs of user activity during the time of the audit.

«Nord guarantees a strict no-logs policy for NordVPN Services, meaning that your internet activity while using NordVPN Services is not monitored, recorded, logged, stored, or passed to any third party,» NordVPN says in its Privacy Policy. «We do not store used bandwidth, traffic logs, IP addresses, or browsing data.»

If a VPN provider doesn’t collect or store logs of its users’ activity, the provider wouldn’t be able to furnish any such data should authorities request it. Though a VPN’s no-logs claims can never be fully verified with 100% certainty, a third-party audit can offer substantial assurance that the VPN provider’s claims are genuine and is a key element in providing transparency to consumers.

As part of its assessment of NordVPN’s no-logs claims, Deloitte inspected the server configuration and deployment processes of NordVPN’s standard VPN, double VPN, obfuscated, Onion Over VPN and P2P servers. Deloitte found that, as of Dec. 10, 2022, «the NordVPN service is implemented as described.»

«Our users need to know that they can trust us. When people use a VPN service, they need to know that it won’t monitor their data,» NordVPN product strategist Vykintas Maknickas said. «They need to have confidence in the security and effectiveness of its features and infrastructure. That’s what our audit process is all about.»

NordVPN’s no-logs claims were previously audited and confirmed by PwC in 2018 and 2020.

Technologies

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for July 25 #509

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for July 25 No. 509.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a mix of easy words to find and unscramble and one whopping long one. But if you know the theme, that word is easy to decipher. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Step to it!

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Boogie shoes.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

HOGS, RICE, RICER, MUSE, CHAT, CHATS, GRAM, PANT, COAT, COATS, PARS, CARS, LASS, CLASS, CLASSY

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

MUSIC, COSTUME, RECITAL, TEACHER, CHOREOGRAPHY

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is DANCECLASS. To find it, start with the D that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind up and over.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for July 25, #305

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for July 25, No. 305.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition tested my breadth of sports knowledge. The blue category pays tribute to one of the greatest players of all time. See if you can figure it out. We’ve got hints and the answers in case you get stuck.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Rink-related.

Green group hint: The lower end of the Golden State.

Blue group hint: NFL G.O.A.T.

Purple group hint: You can also do this to your hair.