In a day and age when there is a constant attempt by everyone to steal your personal data A VPN can aid you in avoiding that by keeping your online connections safe and secure. While the promises of military-grade security or complete invisibility may entice you, Consumer Reports Yael Grauer suggests you look for more concrete evidence that the service you are considering is legitimate.

An excellent first step is compatibility. You should look for a service that is compatible with at a minimum the most popular operating systems, such as Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Then, you need to determine the number of devices that the service is compatible with, and how many simultaneous connections it can provide. You’ll also want to check the number of servers available and their locations around world. This will help you choose a server that’s close to home or provides high speeds when traveling across the globe.

Some services offer specialized features, like dedicated “Netflix servers” that remove geo-restricted sites from their websites, or extra security features, such RAM-only servers that erase data each when the service is rebooted, dark web monitoring, and security features to guard against threats. Check the ownership structure of the business and if it has had privacy scandals or data breaches in the past.

NordVPN was the top overall service we evaluated. It offers thousands of servers across 94 countries. It also your virus & threat protection is managed by your organization fix offers AES-256 encryption and ChaCha20. a reliable Kill Switch with split tunneling and an encrypted server. It’s also one of the few providers to publish its detailed no-logs policy and engages PricewaterhouseCoopers for annual audits. Its pricing isn’t cheap, however you receive a variety of features for your money and a generous long-term plan comes with a complete 30-day money back guarantee.