In a day and age when there is a constant effective method for business evaluation attempt by everyone to steal your personal information A VPN can assist you in avoiding this by keeping your online connections safe and secure. But while sweeping claims of military-grade encryption or complete digital obscurity might be appealing, Consumer Reports’ Yael Grauer suggests that you search for more concrete signs that a service is legitimate before you make a commitment.

The best place to start is compatibility. You should look for a service that can support at a minimum the most popular operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Also, you should check the number of devices the service supports, as well as the number of simultaneous connections it allows. You should also check the number of servers that are available and their locations around world. This can help you choose a server that’s close to your home or offers fast speeds when traveling abroad.

Some services offer specialized features, like dedicated « Netflix servers » that unblock geo-restricted sites, or additional security features, such as a RAM-only servers, which wipe data every when the service is rebooted, dark web monitoring, and security measures to protect against threats. Find out the ownership structure of the company and if it has had any privacy scandals or data breaches in the past.

The most reliable overall service we tried was NordVPN which has thousands of servers spread across 94 countries AES-256 encryption and ChaCha20, a reliable kill switch, split tunneling and obfuscated servers. It’s also one of the few providers to publish its detailed no-logs policy and engages PricewaterhouseCoopers for annual audits. The cost isn’t cheap but you get a lot for your money. A generous long-term plan includes a 30-day guarantee on money back.