REVIEW – Norton 360 Premium

With our current digital lifestyles and privacy reliant on multiple devices, public access points and saved passwords, it’s hardly surprising that modern cyber threats are on the rise. Whilst consumers express great concern about their privacy, one-third of New Zealanders have been affected by online crime in 2018, with most saying they accept certain risk to make life more convenient. 
NortonLifeLock has launched its new product offering, Norton 360, which boasting powerful layers of protection for ones connected the world and a solution to better protect personal data. 
Norton 360 provides the following features. 
Real-time threat protection. 
Device Security is the heart of Norton 360’s functions, with protection against malware, ransomware, spyware, viruses, phishing and more. Up to five separate devices can be protected via the premium subscription.

Norton 360 boasts a virus protection promise, stating that NortonLifeLock experts are available to help keep devices virus-free, or money will be refunded. Thankfully, the three devices I installed Norton 360 were virus-free according to my quick scan report cards, so I was not able to test this guarantee myself.

The device security user experience is fairly intuitive. Most will be accustomed to the ‘always running’ or ‘set and forget’ style of device security. Users can deep dive into Security, backup and performance menus to fine-tune, optimise or better understand results of historical scans.

During the scan above on the 28th of November, 2019 tracking cookies were detected and automatically resolved for me. Scan history is then made available to provide full details of the threat and even suggest how many other Norton 360 users have been affected by this also.

Having this level of detail about potential threats provided a comforting peace of mind, as was able to look into historical events and the actions taken on my behalf.
One feature of the device protection I welcomed was SafeCam, which manages webcam access for individual programs. A small popup notification appears whenever an application is running that either requests or has access to the webcam. SafeCam allows you to allow or restrict these access levels, or even automatically allow or disallow applications completely.
With even Mark Zuckerberg covering webcams with tape in an act of paranoid safety, it is a nice inclusion to the Norton 360 offerings.
Secure VPN
Norton 360 boasts of an integrated secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) service with ‘bank-grade’ encryption. The purpose of Norton 360’s Secure VPN is to encrypt your details such as location, chats and emails. Think of it as an extra piece of mine if you are using unsecured wireless connections and public access points. Norton Secure VPN also includes a native ad blocker services when the VPN is active.
Users familiar with VPN services and providers may be disappointed to learn that streaming services that offer geo-restricted content such as Netflix will detect a North Secure VPN and block content. Torrent traffic disables Norton Secure VPN connection also, so P2P users beware.

Those points aside, as someone who travels regularly with a smartphone and laptop and is often reliant on Hotel wifi, having this additional functionality provides a welcome piece of mind.
Password Manager
Norton 360 provides a user name and password manager via a handy google chrome extension, which can generate and store strong passwords for new logins, credit card information, addresses, notes and sync across multiple browsers, computers and devices.
The built-in password generator allows you to set the length from 4 to 64 characters, and control the inclusion (or omission) of letters, mixed case, symbols and numbers. With the ability to generate and store complex password structures, this functionality should provide peace of mind for all like myself with terrible password memory.
The password manager also comes with an iOS or Android app for further security when mobile.
Summary
With additional features such as parental controls and up to 100GB of cloud backup storage for important files, Norton 360 offers a comprehensive range of services designed to provide users of all skill levels.
With the Norton 360 subscription pricing starting from $99.99 RRP annually, this comprehensive ‘all-in-one’ protective solution is an easy to use protective solution that should provide peace of mind and better digital personal data protection.