Secure Browser: how to get anonymous browsing with IPVanish

Female hands typing on a laptop in neon light. A lock as a symbol of cybersecurity on a foreground. — (Image credit: Getty Images/Tatiana Maksimova)

At their core, VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) provide a cloak of anonymity – establishing encrypted connections to keep your location, IP address, and web habits from being made public.

Yet tunneling alone won’t keep you safe from sophisticated phishing scams and pervasive digital threats. So the best VPNs have steadily evolved into fully-fledged cybersecurity solutions; loaded with versatile features, flexible settings and powerful tools that offer multiple layers of defense.

One such example is IPVanish’s Secure Brower. Available with the provider's Advanced plan, it offers disposable cloud-based browsing that removes every trace of your online exploits, while simultaneously confining and annihilating a host of malicious files and malware.

What is Secure Browser from IPVanish?

Secure Browser is IPVanish’s remote browser isolation tool. Run on the company’s cloud-based servers, it’s a catchall for all kinds of security risks: malware, viruses, and sneaky tracking technologies like browser fingerprinting.

Typically, websites can glean wide-ranging details about your setup without your explicit consent, piecing together a range of system information (like your OS version, fonts, and timezone) to create a unique 'fingerprint' to track you all over the internet. But Secure Browser halts this insidious practice by offering up only its generic specs.

Functioning like an interactive video feed, you can type, scroll, copy, paste, and stream content using Secure Browser pretty much as you normally would. You can even click through on questionable links in the knowledge you won’t compromise your device's security.

Then when you close your browsing tab, all session data is immediately expunged, clearing your cache, cookies, history, and annihilating any rogue files that you may have encountered. And, as no data is loaded locally, there’s no evidence of your activity left on your device either.

You can currently use Secure Browser while connected to 10 different server locations (among them the US, UK, Australia and Spain), and enjoy the benefits of IP-spoofing and encrypted connections alongside comprehensive in-browser security.

Do I really need a secure browsing tool?

If might feel like overkill to some. But the option to boot up a secure browsing session is a great boon, especially for journalists and the privacy conscious.

In tandem with the system-wide protections of a VPN, Secure Browser offers an 'all-in-one' solution against those digital dangers that creep in through your browser. It’s also a great preventative against fingerprinting, that clandestine tracking technique that a VPN alone is helpless to prevent.

IPVanishIPVanish running on a laptop and phone — (Image credit: IPVanish)

For those who predominantly use their mobile to go online, then largely stream or access apps, paying the extra for Secure Browser might be redundant. Connecting to a VPN will fortify traffic across your entire device (not just at the browser level), with content filtering and cookie blocking tools available on many entry-level plans.

For everyone else, it’s a great extra for roughly $1 more a month (on a 2-year plan), adding a comprehensive layer of security to your devices. And for those living under repressive regimes, it’s a particularly useful way to cast a cloak of invisibility over any potentially prohibited activities.

How to get and use Secure Browser

Once subscribed to IPVanish VPN’s Advanced plan, there are three ways to access Secure Browser:

Secure Browser via the IPVanish app (Windows and Mac)

Log in to your IPVanish account portal here, navigate to Secure Browser, then select Activate Secure Browser.
Open your IPVanish app and select the Secure Browser option.
If prompted, click on Open a Secure Browser Tab.
Once Secure Browser is active, you can enter URLs in the address bar and browse as normal. Server location can be changed via the flag icon drop down menu.

IPVanish Secure Browser extension

Download the IPVanish Secure Browser extension for Edge, Chrome, or Firefox.
A pop-up message will request permissions on behalf of Secure Browser. Click Add Extension to accept.
For quick access, add IPVanish to your browser toolbar. Select the 'Extensions' icon and then click the pin next to IPVanish.
Click the IPVanish icon and log in to your account. The Secure Browser icon will display in color when active.
You can now securely enter web addresses into the URL bar.
Right click on the IPVanish extension for a list of options, e.g. Change Location
To end your session, either log out via Account Overview” click the IPVanish extension, or simply close the tab.

IPVanish account web portal

This option is useful if you don’t have admin rights on your current machine, or are using a browser that doesn’t yet have a Secure Browser add-on available (e.g. Opera, Safari):

Enter https://securebrowser.ipvanish.com into any browser window
If you’re on the IPVanish VPN Advanced plan, log in using your credentials.
Enter a website address and desired server location when prompted. Then click Browse.
From here, you can enter websites into the URL bar, change the country location, and open a new browser tab by selecting the green + symbol.
Log out via the hamburger menu and instantly erase your browsing history.

Daniel Pateman is a freelance writer, producing articles across the cultural spectrum for magazines like Aesthetica, Photomonitor, The Brooklyn Rail and This is Tomorrow. He also provides text-writing services to individual curators and artists worldwide, and has had work published internationally. His favourite film genre is horror (bring on Scream 5!) and he never tires of listening to Absolute 80s on the radio.