Does Your AI Agent Need a VPN? The Company Behind Norton and Avast Thinks So

Does Your AI Agent Need a VPN? The Company Behind Norton and Avast Thinks So

You might use a VPN yourself, but have you considered giving one to your AI agent? It might be more important than you think.

Headshot of Ajay Kumar
Headshot of Ajay Kumar

Ajay has worked in tech journalism for over a decade as a reporter, analyst, product reviewer, and editor. He got his start in consumer tech, breaking Android news at Newsweek before going to PCMag, where he reviewed hundreds of smartphones, battery packs, and chargers as a Mobile Analyst. He also worked at Lifewire, a Dotdash Meredith brand, as a Tech Commerce Editor, putting together tested best-of lists and assigning product reviews across categories including smart home, uninterruptible power supplies, generators, and automotive tech. Most recently, he was Section Editor, Mobile at Digital Trends, spearheading his team's coverage of breaking news, features, reviews, roundups, deals, and more across a variety of mobile products, including phones, wearables, VR headsets, batteries, and chargers. If you want Ajay's advice about anything tech, especially solar panels, UPS, batteries, EVs, and charging technology, you can reach him at ajkumar@cnet.com.

Expertise 13+ years of experience in consumer product reviews, buying guides, best lists, and tech news across a variety of tech categories. As a homeowner, Ajay is also familiar with the unique electrical issues that can crop up in a prewar apartment building.

A VPN, or virtual private network, is an important tool for privacy and security. It works by hiding your IP address from public view, helping you access content that might be region-restricted or censored. Many VPNs, like Windscribe, also offer additional features, such as ad blocking. 

But it may never have occurred to you to give your AI agent VPN access, too. 

If you use OpenClaw, ChatGPT or one of the many other LLMs with access to the internet, your autonomous AI agent can now take advantage of the same privacy and security features. 

Gen Digital's VPN for AI agents, from the company behind big names like Norton and Avast, will now let you route your autonomous AI agent through its VPN for Agents. It's available through the Gen Agent Trust Hub and powered by Norton VPN

"Using a VPN with an LLM can provide several advantages, such as keeping your identity private. Your internet provider won't be able to see your AI agent's activity, or that you're using an AI agent," said Moe Long, CNET senior editor. 

"You can also unblock regional content in an LLM. Running your VPN through an AI agent may let you avoid traffic throttling or blocked access. Gen's VPN for AI Agents works with multiple AI agents, doesn't require any downloads or client setup, and has multiple tunnel tech that lets you run several agents simultaneously through a VPN." 

VPN image hovers above a person at a computer

A VPN offers improved security and privacy for your internet activities, preventing an ISP and other actors from tracking you. 

Panchanut Chobjit/Getty Images

Long said more people are turning to AI agents, but those agents often access the internet without additional protection, meaning your IP address is associated with all their activities. That means not only does your ISP see your activities via the AI agent, but the agent also can't access regional content or bypass throttling or restricted access.

Windscribe recently debuted OpenClaw agent support, and Gen Digital now has a VPN that supports multiple LLMs, including OpenClaw and ChatGPT

Atila Tomaschek, CNET senior writer, said that Windscribe expresses it in its blog post, where the company notes: "If your agent gets a little too enthusiastic and triggers a security challenge or lands on a blocklist, it's your digital reputation on the line, and potentially your entire home network that takes the hit."

The OpenClaw AI logo

OpenClaw is one of the major AI agents that will be able to take advantage of VPN services.

OpenClaw

"Perhaps most importantly, your ISP can't distinguish between your own internet traffic and that of your autonomous AI agent," said Tomaschek. "But with this integration, as well as with Windscribe's, the VPN encrypts the agent's traffic as well, so basically you're protected from whatever your agent might autonomously get up to on the internet." 

A representative for Gen Digital did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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Headshot of Ajay Kumar

Ajay has worked in tech journalism for over a decade as a reporter, analyst, product reviewer, and editor. He got his start in consumer tech, breaking Android news at Newsweek before going to PCMag, where he reviewed hundreds of smartphones, battery packs, and chargers as a Mobile Analyst. He also worked at Lifewire, a Dotdash Meredith brand, as a Tech Commerce Editor, putting together tested best-of lists and assigning product reviews across categories including smart home, uninterruptible power supplies, generators, and automotive tech. Most recently, he was Section Editor, Mobile at Digital Trends, spearheading his team's coverage of breaking news, features, reviews, roundups, deals, and more across a variety of mobile products, including phones, wearables, VR headsets, batteries, and chargers. If you want Ajay's advice about anything tech, especially solar panels, UPS, batteries, EVs, and charging technology, you can reach him at ajkumar@cnet.com.

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