The virtual private network is being rolled out in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and three other countries for Windows and Android. It's part of Mozilla's strategy to expand revenue options for its Firefox browser. Credit: Olivier Le Moal / Getty Images Mozilla last week launched its virtual private network (VPN) in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and three other countries, part of its strategy to expand revenue opportunities for its Firefox browser. Dubbed Mozilla VPN, the service costs $4.99 per month and is available for devices running Windows and Android. Besides the U.S., Canada and the U.K., Mozilla VPN is also available in Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. The service will be offered on macOS and Linux devices “soon,” while the iOS version is currently in beta, Mozilla said. For the monthly fee, users can access the VPN from up to five devices. Mozilla kicked off a VPN preview – then tagged Firefox Private Network – nearly a year ago that relied on a browser extension and was free to users within the U.S. The Firefox Private Network was seen as the first of the paid services Mozilla would eventually introduce – another might be online storage – in an attempt to create new revenue streams to augment what the organization is paid to make specific search engines the Firefox default. It’s not clear what portion, if any, of the fees for Mozilla VPN will be retained by the browser maker. (The supplier of Mozilla’s VPN servers, Swedish-company Mullvad, sells VPN service for the flat rate of €5 per month, the equivalent of $5.72 a month at the moment.) Although Firefox Private Network utilized Cloudflare’s proxy servers, Mozilla switched to Mullvad, an open-source creator and maintainer of a global network of proxy servers. Mullvad’s policies appear to be a good fit with Mozilla’s overarching attention to privacy: Mullvad logs “nothing whatsoever that can be connected to” an account, which is labeled with a number rather than a user name. Mozilla VPN will use the WireGuard open-source protocol – it promises better performance and less power consumption than rival standards. Mullvad supports WireGuard. VPN usage exploded in March when the coronavirus pandemic forced businesses and governments to shutter, then send employees home to work from there. In most cases, those people needed a VPN to remotely access organization data, ensuring that the transmissions back and forth between home and office or agency servers was secure. VPN usage in the U.S. climbed by over 120% between March 8 and March 22, for instance. It’s unlikely that Mozilla VPN will benefit from that work-at-home requirement. Workers would have been long equipped with VPN, almost certainly by their employer. Mozilla made its case for VPN without citing the above. Instead, the firm ticked off general security and privacy reasons for using VPN, including broad-based anonymity and encryption when using public Wi-Fi, such as that in classrooms and coffee shops. Mozilla did hint at the endemic chaos of 2020, though. “In a world where unpredictability has become the ‘new normal,’ we know that it’s more important than ever for you to feel safe, and for you to know that what you do online is your own business,” Mozilla said in a July 15 post to its main blog. Users can register with Mozilla VPN here. A Firefox account – used primarily for syncing copies of the browser on multiple devices – as is a credit card. Related content news analysis Apple confirms it will open up the iPad in Europe this fall The latest efforts to comply with Europe’s Digital Markets Act mean developers can offer to side load apps to both iPhones and iPads in the EU. Apple has also taken steps to improve what it offers to smaller and non-commercial developers in the By Jonny Evans May 02, 2024 6 mins iPad Apple Mobile Apps news Udacity offers laid-off US workers free access to its courses for 30 days Sign-ups will be available over the next 30 days By Lucas Mearian May 02, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry IT Jobs IT Skills opinion Why you’ll soon have a digital clone of your own AI isn’t going to replace you at work. You will. By Mike Elgan May 02, 2024 7 mins Augmented Reality Generative AI Virtual Reality news analysis Workers with these AI skills are getting cash premiums As AI deployments become more critical to digital transformation projects, organizations are struggling to find skilled workers to support the new technology, so they're paying premiums for prospective hires or current employees who obtain the n By Lucas Mearian May 01, 2024 7 mins Generative AI IT Jobs IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe