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- Option to bundle Security Suite antivirus
- VPN unblocks multiple streaming platforms
- Exclusive to Windows
All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
- All About Cookies makes money when you click the links on our site to some of the products and offers that we mention. These partnerships do not influence our opinions or recommendations. Read more about how we make money.
- Partners are not able to review or request changes to our content except for compliance reasons.
- We aim to make sure everything on our site is up-to-date and accurate as of the publishing date, but we cannot guarantee we haven't missed something. It's your responsibility to double-check all information before making any decision. If you spot something that looks wrong, please let us know.
CyberGhost Security Suite stands as a powerful addition to CyberGhost's virtual private network (VPN), boasting a solid antivirus and privacy tools for comprehensive cybersecurity. Developed in collaboration with renowned security company Intego, the suite’s antivirus protection is both robust and reliable.
It offers features like Privacy Guard, which helps increase your privacy across browsers and apps, and the Security Updater, which diligently updates apps vulnerable to cyberthreats.
On the downside, during our testing, Security Suite struggled to identify and block a phishing attempt, and it’s available only on Windows.
In this in-depth CyberGhost Security Suite review, we will dissect the suite’s security features, assess its value proposition through pricing and compatibility, and weigh its pros and cons to give potential users a complete picture of its efficacy and worth.
- Real-time protection against malware, trojans, ransomware, and more
- Security Updater scans for and spots apps that need updating
- Includes privacy-friendly CyberGhost VPN
- No phishing protection or firewall
- Available only for Windows
Our experience
Prices and subscriptions
Security features
Test results
Compatibility
Customer support
Alternatives
FAQs
Bottom line
CyberGhost Security Suite review at a glance
Price | $1.00-$4.50/mo + cost of VPN |
Max # of connected devices | 7 |
# of servers | Unlisted in 100 countries |
VPN protocol | OpenVPN, WireGuard, IKEv2/IPsec |
Encryption | AES-256 |
No-logs policy | No logs |
Headquarters | Bucharest, Romania |
Netflix access | Yes |
Malware scans | Manual and scheduled |
Real-time protection | Yes |
EICAR test results | 2/3 |
Firewall | No |
Phishing protection | No |
Compatibility | Windows |
24/7 customer supprt | Yes |
Learn more | Get CyberGhost Security Suite |
How we test and rate antivirus software
We use our proprietary grading rubric in all of our testing, which considers ease-of-use, third-party testing scores, internal testing scores, price, compatibility, and features offered, among other metrics.
This means that our testing process is designed to ensure that the product isn't too confusing, protects as it claims, and offers you a lot for a reasonable price. We download and run each program on our own computers on home networks, just like you would. Our ratings reflect the real-world performance of the antivirus product. This ensures that we can recreate a similar experience for you and give our best advice on whether or not it's worthwhile.
To learn more about how we test, check out our full antivirus testing methodology here.
Our experience with CyberGhost Security Suite
Setting up and navigating through CyberGhost Security Suite was smooth and intuitive. Once the Security Suite was downloaded, the antivirus tab prompted us to download Intego antivirus.
Intego kept all the important antivirus features on the main screen: Quick Scan, Full Scan, and the Real-Time Protection toggle. If you expand the screen, you'll also find additional options like your activity history, quarantined files, the ability to schedule scans, and more.
We were impressed by how quickly Intego completed our scan. The full scan was less than 10 minutes, while the quick scan took half a minute. It detected the EICAR test files in our recylcing bin and moved them over to quarantine.
We do wish the quarantine results were more explicit about what kind of threats were found. But ultimately we were happy that the antivirus detected the test files, proving it can keep us protected in case of malware.
CyberGhost Security Suite prices and subscriptions
If you wish to add the CyberGhost Security Suite to your VPN, it costs $1.00-$4.50/mo + cost of VPN. Both CyberGhost VPN and the Security Suite add-on have three subscription terms: one month, six months, and two years.
CyberGhost With Security Suite | CyberGhost VPN | |
1 month | $4.50/mo + cost of VPN | $12.99/mo |
6 months | $3.25/mo + cost of VPN | $6.99/mo (billed every six months) |
2 years | $1.00/mo + cost of VPN | $2.03/mo (billed every two years) |
We compare CyberGhost and the Security Suite features in the table below.
CyberGhost VPN | CyberGhost Security Suite | |
Price | $2.03–$6.99/mo | $1.00-$4.50/mo + cost of VPN |
# devices supported | 7 | 7 (Windows only for antivirus) |
Manual and auto scan | ||
Phishing protection | ||
Firewall | ||
Real-time protection | ||
Ransomware protection | ||
Parental controls | ||
Performance optimization tools | ||
VPN |
CyberGhost Security Suite features
CyberGhost Security Suite comes with antivirus protection powered by Intego’s antivirus software, a powerful VPN, security updates, and privacy recommendations for across your device with Privacy Guard.
Despite its advanced features, it isn’t without shortcomings, though.The suite lacks phishing protection and doesn’t display details about the targeted ads it protects against.
Additionally, while its antivirus protection was effective, the antivirus scans didn’t identify every type of malware, highlighting areas for improvement.
Malware and antivirus scan
The Intego antivirus protection offers an array of available scanning options: custom, quick, full, and scheduled.
After you’ve selected your scan type, the antivirus feature automatically quarantines any malware or other threats that are found, while providing you with an option to delete them all.
Specialized scans like rootkit scans are not offered as an option. Despite this, the antivirus feature stays up to date with the latest virus definitions from the antivirus cloud database every few hours.
Real-time protection
With CyberGhost Security Suite, you're always protected under the watchful eyes of its real-time protection.
For example, when the antivirus feature detects malware from a downloaded file, it's automatically blocked and quarantined, while real-time protection alerts are provided simultaneously. This ensures a seamless and secure user experience.
Real-time protection can be easily toggled on or off from the antivirus tab.
Ransomware protection
With Intego, CyberGhost Security Suite delivers a solid defense against malware, Trojans, viruses, adware, ransomware, and zero-day threats in real time.
CyberGhost VPN
CyberGhost VPN is a blend of user-friendliness and top-notch security. Its based in Romania, a country celebrated for its stringent privacy laws, and it has a strict no-logs policy thats been routinely audited.
It includes impressive features like specialty servers for gaming, torrenting, and streaming, as well as a content blocker to protect against ads and trackers.
Plus, CyberGhost offers competitive pricing with plans starting as low as $2.03/mo (billed every two years), while offering an expansive server network of servers in 100 countries.
Privacy Guard
Privacy Guard provides privacy recommendations across your device. There are basic and advanced optimizations for Microsoft functionalities, app privacy toggles for apps from the app store, specific options for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, and more adjustments you can make to disable the intrusive features of your operating ssytem.
Security Updater
Security Updater scans your apps for vulnerabilities while simultaneously checking if any of them require an update. This ensures that your apps remain secure, especially since outdated applications may have vulnerabilities that are only patched with the latest app update.
By keeping your apps up to date, you decrease the risk of running vulnerable apps on your system.
Another cool feature we like about Security Updater is its notifications system. Real-time notifications can be provided when app vulnerabilities are detected, as well as when it’s time for an app to get updated.
CyberGhost Security Suite test results
All antivirus programs we review undergo three types of tests:
- Scan speed: Run various malware scans to measure how long the scans take and if they impact our device performance
- EICAR tests: Use cyberthreat test files to safely check if the antivirus works
- Third-party tests: Review independent organizations that have tested these programs
Since Intego has only submitted its macOS program for third-party testing, we'll focus on CyberGhost Security Suites's scan speeds and EICAR test results. The scans were quick and efficient and it easily blocked the malware test files (but failed the phishing test).
Scan speeds
- Result: Fast
With Intego, you can run quick scans and full device scans. You can also run a custom scan on a specific file or folder.
Scan type | Time spent |
Quick scan | 25 seconds |
Full scan | 7 minutes, 48 seconds |
The quick scan and full scan were completed in no time and didn't seem to affect our device performance.
EICAR test results
- Result: 2/3
We used several testings files created by the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) to determine the efficacy of CyberGhost Security Suite.
The tests encompassed various malware detection scenarios, including manual downloads, drive-by downloads, and phishing sites.
Test | CyberGhost Security Suite score |
Malware detection | Pass |
Drive-by malware downloads | Pass |
Phishing detection | Fail |
With the malware tests, CyberGhost Security Suite excelled. It instantly identified and blocked the "malware" files in real-time.
CyberGhost Security Suite doesn't come with phishing protection, so we weren't surprised that we could access the test page with no blocks. We hope CyberGhost incorporates phishing protection in the future for a more robust security suite.
VPN tests
We've also tested CyberGhost's VPN capabilities. We test the following categories with each VPN:
- Speed tests: Calculate how much VPN server connections around the world impact our internet speed
- Netflix: Check if VPN can successfully unblock streaming services like Netflix while connected to global servers
- Leak tests: Evaluate if VPN leaks DNS and WebRTC data and if the kill switch prevents leaks
Overall, CyberGhost had a mixed bag of results. It dropped our speeds at a high rate and the kill switch failed to keep our IP address private. However, it passed both DNS and WebRTC leak tests and unblocked several Netflix libraries.
Test | Results |
Speed | Decreased our speeds by an average of 64% |
Netflix | Unblocked Netflix U.S., Canada, and U.K. |
DNS leak | Passed, no DNS leaks |
WebRTC leak | Passed, no WebRTC leaks |
Kill switch | Failed, did not end all incoming and outgoing internet connections when disconnected |
CyberGhost Security Suite compatibility
As for compatibility, Security Suite is unfortunately available only for Windows. Here are the versions you can use it with:
- Windows 10
- Windows 11
CyberGhost Security Suite customer support
CyberGhost offers 24/7 live chat support with friendly and helpful chat support agents who assist you with any inquiry you have.
We reached out to clarify specific features, like if it includes ransomware protection. The agent replied within seconds and clearly provided answers to our questions.
Moreover, CyberGhost support’s online guides are articulate and detailed, making the troubleshooting process straightforward.
Top alternatives
CyberGhost is a solid security bundle, but what if you're looking for more from your antivirus? The following providers have features that CyberGhost lacks, like a firewall, phishing protection, and more:
Antivirus | |||
Star rating | |||
Price | $29.00–$49.00/yr (first year only) | $29.99–$249.99/yr | $29.99–$99.99/first yr |
# of devices protected | 4 - 8 | Unlimited | 1 - 10 |
Malware scans | Manual and scheduled | Manual and scheduled | Manual and scheduled |
Real-time protection | |||
EICAR test results | 2/3 | 3/3 | 3/3 |
Firewall | |||
Phishing protection | |||
Compatibility | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chrome, Edge, Opera, Safari | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge | Windows, Mac, Android, iOS |
Extras | Password manager, ad blocker, VPN | Parental controls, performance optimization tools, VPN | Password manager, VPN, dark web monitoring, parental controls, privacy monitor, identity theft protection, cloud backup |
24/7 customer support | |||
Learn more | Get TotalAV | Get McAfee | Get Norton 360 |
FAQs
What is CyberGhost Security Suite?
CyberGhost Security Suite is a comprehensive add-on to CyberGhost VPN. It provides antivirus protection, privacy recommendations, and notifies you of apps that need to be updated.
How good is CyberGhost Security Suite?
The Security Suite stands out with real-time antivirus, privacy enhancements, and a solid VPN. Based in Romania, it assures stringent data privacy and offers a no-logs policy while being backed by a 45-day money-back guarantee, offering users confidence and security.
Is CyberGhost a Russian company?
No, CyberGhost is based in Romania, known for its strict data privacy laws. Users benefit from strong legal protections against privacy infringements, ensuring a secure and private online experience.
This is further supported by its transparency report, which is publicly posted to the CyberGhost website and documents its no-logs policy, independent audit results from Deloitte, and all legal requests the VPN service provider has received.
Bottom line: Is CyberGhost Security Suite worth it?
If you’re considering an arsenal of high-performing security tools, then CyberGhost Security Suite is a top choice to explore. The suite gives users a complete defense system with strong antivirus protection, privacy recommendations, and the extra security of a VPN.
Despite its strengths, CyberGhost Security Suite doesn't come with phishing protection. It’s also available only for Windows, so Mac and Linux users won’t have Security Suite as an option — though you can still use CyberGhost VPN.
Considering the balance of features, price, and its 45-day money-back guarantee, CyberGhost Security Suite presents a compelling package for those seeking a comprehensive cybersecurity solution.
If you find the suite falling short in specific areas, you can compare options like the best VPN services and the best antivirus software.