NordVPN

The problem is NordVPN offers a malware component from a third party. this app disables the SoftRAID Monitor from loading at startup, so your drives are not able to report problems.

This is not the VPN, it is their malware app.

they have never contacted us for how to fix this, but it is their bug, not ours. The VPN is OK, the malware add on is not.

What do you mean by malware app? As in, the NordVPN app is considered malware, or a malware scanner or something?

@itchyrat1108 

no. they offer an add on. Its not through the "App store", only if you purchase direct from them. (I imagine its extra money)

Its nothing to do with the VPN. I imagine some company convinced them if they offered "malware protection", they would sell more VPN clients. But it has no business disabling installed software from approved Mac developers.

Ah ok, that's good to know. I don't have that add-on so I'm assuming that there will be no issues in that case?

Another follow-up question: I upgraded to SR 8.1 but the driver is still v8.0. The options to reinstall/uninstall the driver are both greyed out. Any idea why or how to update the driver?

@itchyrat1108 

MacOS now controls what driver version will load. Users have no control over the driver version.

Silly me to update SoftRaid today, and now I get this message. I had NordVpn installed before without issues

I will not de-install NordVPN what's going on here??

I have only NordVPN installed and no Malware addon. Can SoftRaid be a bit more specific? What are we talking about here???

@steve223 

If you do not install the malware separate package, there is no issue.the problem is when their malware protection blocks the SoftRAID Monitor from loading, so the SoftRAID App fails to launch

@softraid-support ok given this is not installed why would I get the warning message

your alerts should be more precise than as the SoftRaid app does launch. I spend now 1h researching this for no reason it seems

@steve223 

Sorry, but as things change over time and we do not know (Nord has never reached out to us), we just put a generic message from the Application.) the help page has more details, which we can update as needed.

I'm really confused about labeling NordVPN's Threat Protection as malware. That's a pretty serious accusation, considering malware is defined as "intentionally harmful software designed to damage computers and networks." I've been using NordVPN for ages and did quite a bit of research on their Threat Protection feature.

Let's be real here - NordVPN is one of the biggest VPN providers out there, with millions of users worldwide. If their software was actually malware, wouldn't we be seeing massive reports about this everywhere?

Could you share what exactly makes their protective features "malicious" or "harmful"? Because from what I can see, this looks more like a standard software compatibility issue rather than actual malware.

Look, I get it - the software doesn't play nice with SoftRAID. But calling it malware just because it interferes with your software? That seems like a stretch.

Given that NordVPN has a way bigger user base, wouldn't it make more sense for SoftRAID to reach out to them and work on fixing these compatibility issues?

I'd really appreciate if you could:

1. Share actual evidence of malicious behavior (not just compatibility problems)
2. Explain what specific harmful actions you've detected
3. Let us know if you've tried working with NordVPN to resolve this

Just trying to understand the situation better here, because this kind of claim needs some solid backing.

@steve223 

Its not NordVPN. Its their optional malware component. You cannot get that component from the App store.

Its not up to us to figure out how their malware add on alters your MacOS installation.

According to many experts we have consulted, MacOS, keeping it up to date, is all the "malware" protection you need and the experts we consulted claim that most "malware" protection actually adds more exploitable holes than they close. MacOS has more engineers dedicated to preventing holes in MacOS than any of these companies.

Just don't install the extra add on. NordVPN is fine, we have stated that from day 1.

Nord has never reached out to us to figure this out, so we cannot do anything about it. We sent a query a couple years ago.

@softraid-support this is NordVPN's response to my email:

Hello,
 
Thank you for your letter.
 
We can assure you that our Threat Protection feature is not malicious. It is used by millions of our customers, and the core purpose of the feature is to protect your device, not harm it. 
 
Nonetheless, we thank you for bringing our attention to this matter. We have forwarded this information to the relevant teams to see whether anything can be done regarding SoftRAID flagging it as malware.
 
Please note that our support is available 24/7, you can always contact us via email or chat >here<! 

Do not hesitate to drop us a message in case of any additional inquiries!

@steve223 

Maybe that will help. We do not call Nord malware. We say that the malware add on component alters MacOS in a way that can prevent the SoftRAID app from loading. (it may block the SoftRAID Monitor from launching at startup)