HOW TO SHOP FOR A VPN

So what should you do when looking for a paid VPN service?

1. LOOK FOR TRANSPARENCY

One way to ascertain the credibility of a VPN provider is through transparency. A leadership page with real names and faces provides more trustworthiness than an anonymous company.

2. LOOK FOR LOGGING

Look for a privacy policy that states the nature of logs. Some VPNs will keep minimal logs to maintain the service, but at the least, they shouldn’t keep traffic logs.

3. LOOK FOR OPEN PROTOCOLS

Shop for a service that supports open source protocols like OpenVPN. Open source means that anyone can audit the code, making it less likely to compromise the protocol.

4. LOOK FOR GLOBAL SERVERS

A solid VPN will have servers around the world. This increases your odds of getting reliable and fast connections.

5. LOOK FOR THE ‘14 EYES’

If you’re especially paranoid, you’ll want to avoid VPNs based in the ‘14 eyes.’ These are countries that are known to spy on citizens and can force VPNs to give up private data.