In an age where everyone seems to be trying to steal your personal information in the current climate, a VPN can assist you in avoiding this by making your connections secure and secure. While the promises of military-grade security or anonymity may be appealing, Consumer Reports Yael Grauer advises that you should look for more evidence to prove that a service you are considering is legitimate.

Begin by checking compatibility. The service should support at least the popular operating systems such as Windows, macOS and Linux, Android, and iOS. Then you want to check the number of devices that the service supports, and how many simultaneous connections it provides. It is also important to know the number of servers available and their locations around the world. This can help you select the server closest to your home or one that offers speedy speeds when you travel abroad.

Certain services offer specific features, such as dedicated ‘Netflix servers that do not block geo-restricted platforms, or extra security measures, including RAM-only servers (which wipe data each time the service reboots), dark web monitoring and threat protection. It is also important to verify the structure of ownership for the company, and whether it has any previously reported privacy breaches or data breach scandals.

The best overall service we tried was NordVPN which has thousands of servers across 94 countries AES-256 encryption, ChaCha20 encryption, a reliable kill switch, split tunneling and obfuscated servers. It’s also one of allvpnnow.com/top-10-avast-vpn-problems/ the few providers to publish its detailed no-logs policy and engages PricewaterhouseCoopers for annual audits. The prices aren’t cheap, however, you’ll get a lot for your money. A generous long-term plan includes a 30 day money-back guarantee.