The virtual private network (VPN) is having a moment due to massive marketing budgets as well as influencer collaborations. But navigating the ever-growing market can be difficult and claims of features and benefits aren’t always correct. Consumer Reports’ online security expert Yael Grauer recommends searching for open-source get more software, reproducible builds and current support for protocols that are industry-standard.
CyberGhost’s zero-logs policy is a major selling point. It guarantees not to record your online activity or IP address. Applications are available for the majority of operating systems, and come with 256-bit encryption, a kill button leak protection, as well as the option to connect using an unrelated port. It also scored higher on our tests of internet speed than many of the other VPNs we tested, although it could be a coincidence or a result of the shaping of traffic by your ISP. It also offers a variety of additional tools, including Threat Protection, Onion over VPN and Double VPN.
Nord is another alternative that performed well in our tests. This includes a solid performance in our geoblocking tests and streaming testing. Its apps are robust and a bit user-friendly but the mapping-based interface can be a bit cumbersome on smaller screens. It’s compatible with a variety of routers and Kodi TV set-top boxes. It also has one of the broadest geographical reach of our selections. It’s a great option for watching Netflix abroad and has dedicated Windflix servers for this purpose. It recently introduced a new feature known as Perfect Forward Secrecy which protects the data by using a unique key for each session. This makes it much more difficult for hackers decrypt past activity.