The virtual private network (VPN) is in a flurry due to huge marketing budgets and collaborations between influencers. It’s a challenge to navigate through the burgeoning VPN market, and many of the claims made about its capabilities and benefits may not be accurate. Consumer Reports online security expert Yael Grüner suggests looking for open source software, reproducible builds and up-to date support for industry-standard protocols.
CyberGhost’s zero-logs policy is a major selling feature. It claims that it will not record your online activity or IP address. Apps are available for most major operating systems, and come with 256-bit encryption, a kill button leak protection, as well as the option to connect using an unidentified port. It also scored higher than most VPNs in our internet speed test, though this could be due to shaping traffic by your ISP. It also comes with additional tools, such as Threat Protection, Onion Over VPN and Double VPN.
Nord is another option that has a high score in our tests, including an impressive performance in our testing of geoblocking and streaming. The apps are extremely powerful and user-friendly. However, a map-based user interface may be a bit difficult to navigate when used on smaller screens. It is compatible with a range of routers, Kodi TV set top boxes and has the most geographic reach of our picks. It’s a great choice when watching Netflix overseas and has dedicated Windflix servers specifically for this to serve this. It recently added a feature dubbed Perfect Forward Secrecy, which secures information with a new key for each session. This makes it harder for hackers decrypt past activity.