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Understanding Threat Protection in AdBlock VPN

What is Threat Protection?

Threat Protection is a security feature included with AdBlock VPN that adds an extra layer of defense while you browse. It combines tracker blocking and malicious site protection to stop threats before they ever reach your device.


How it works

When you visit a website, your device sends a request to connect to that site's address. Threat Protection checks that request against a list of known harmful domains as it passes through the VPN tunnel. If the site is flagged, the request is blocked immediately and the page never loads.

Because this happens at the network level — inside the VPN tunnel — threats are stopped upstream, before anything reaches your device.

Important: Threat Protection requires an active VPN connection

Threat Protection only works while your VPN is turned on. If you disconnect from the VPN, tracker blocking and malicious site protection are paused until you reconnect.


What Threat Protection covers

Tracker blocking

Stops third-party tracking scripts and domains from following your activity across websites. This prevents advertisers and data brokers from building a profile of your browsing behavior.

Malicious site protection

Blocks access to sites that are known to be harmful, including:

  • Phishing sites — fake pages designed to look like legitimate services (banks, email providers, etc.) in order to steal your login credentials

  • Malware distribution sites — pages that attempt to automatically download viruses, spyware, or other harmful software to your device

  • Known scam and exploit domains — sites flagged by threat intelligence databases as actively dangerous


How to turn Threat Protection on or off

Windows and Android

Go to Settings and toggle Block Ads & Trackers on or off.

iOS

From the Home screen, tap AdBlock VPN and toggle Threat Protection on or off.

Alternate option: Tap the Pause Blocking / Resume Blocking at the top of the app to pause or resume all protection (this pauses both Safari ad blocking and VPN/Threat Protection together).

macOS

From the sidebar, click AdBlock VPN and toggle Threat Protection on or off.

Alternate option: Click the Pause Ad Blocking / Resume Ad Blocking button in the bottom-left corner to pause or resume all protection (this pauses both Safari ad blocking and VPN/Threat Protection together).


Is Threat Protection included in my plan?

Threat Protection is available to all AdBlock VPN premium subscribers. Purchasing a VPN subscription also gives you access to an AdBlock Premium account for use on your other devices.