Surfshark One Antivirus Review: Can a VPN Really Protect Against Malware?

Surfshark is a quick and dependable digital personal community with hundreds of servers worldwide, making it the most effective VPN subscriptions obtainable. When you pay a bit extra for Surfshark One, you additionally get Surfshark Antivirus.

When you’re like me, you could be skeptical {that a} VPN service can compete with the most effective antivirus software program. I went hands-on with Surfshark One and checked the lab outcomes to see how nicely it prevents on-line threats and protects towards malicious downloads.

specification

Ranges and costs

Surfshark has three pricing tiers and it can save you extra with an extended subscription. The least costly choice consists of Surfshark’s well-rated VPN service, however no malware safety. Surfshark Starter prices $15 per 30 days, $48 for the primary 12 months, or $56 when you pay for 2 years up entrance. Lengthy-term plans renew at $60 per 12 months.

So as to add real-time antivirus prevention and scanning, you want a subscription to Surfshark One. The worth jumps to $18 per 30 days for this additional safety, $3 greater than you’d pay for VPN alone. When you subscribe for one 12 months, it is $54, or $70 for 2 years. After that, renewal is $79 per 12 months.

Avira is the one different antivirus service I’ve examined that provides a month-to-month subscription. For $10 a month, Avira Prime protects 5 gadgets and features a VPN. Nonetheless, its long-term plans are costly.

An improve to incorporate Surfshark’s antivirus safety is sort of reasonably priced, and new subscribers get 4 months free with any one- or two-year plan. Whereas it is a widespread incentive amongst VPNs, even the most effective antivirus offers lack bonus months.

The dearer choice, Surfshark One+, consists of all the above options and provides Incogni, a private knowledge removing service that makes ongoing requests to knowledge brokers to take away your knowledge from promoting and profiling lists. It prices $21 per 30 days, $96 for the primary 12 months, or $112 for the primary two years. Renewal is $99 per 12 months.

Surfshark does not provide a free malware instrument, however there may be good free antivirus software program when you do not wish to pay for a premium resolution.

design

In my 2024 evaluate of Surfshark, I discovered it to be the most effective and quickest VPNs I’ve ever examined. I discussed the malware safety options, however did not go into element on that facet of the service.

Setup is straightforward and the installer shared details about the app alongside the best way. Since it is a VPN first, there is a second step to getting malware safety. I chosen the antivirus tab from the left sidebar and put in that function.

Surfshark Antivirus prompted me to run my first fast scan to examine for viruses. Inside seconds, a pop-up window reported that my pc was clear, and the app confirmed me varied antivirus settings.

By default, Surfshark Antivirus provides real-time and browser safety. The app scheduled every day fast scans and weekly full scans on the present time. I desire scans to be achieved once I’m away from my pc, so I modified the time to early within the morning.

I bypassed the non-compulsory webcam safety function as I can tilt down to dam my Obsbot Tiny 2 Lite’s digicam. It is a smaller and extra reasonably priced mannequin of the Obsbot Tiny 4K webcam that I reviewed in 2022.

I enabled computerized quarantine deletion to utterly take away contaminated information after 60 days in quarantine.

Options

My earlier expertise left me skeptical {that a} VPN may compete with devoted antivirus software program. After I reviewed Surfshark in 2024, it failed all of Wicar’s malware assessments. I checked once more and was happy that Surfshark Antivirus detected and blocked 12 out of 13 downloads and exploits. Ideally, it ought to have caught all of them, however the missed vulnerability solely impacts programs operating Home windows 8.1 or older.

Nonetheless, I needed extra assurance concerning the energy of the antivirus. AV-Check is an impartial safety laboratory that evaluates the effectiveness of antivirus software program. Software program builders should pay for testing, and Surfshark Antivirus has solely two entries: December 2022 and June 2024.

Within the newest AV-Check analysis, Surfshark Antivirus earned an ideal safety rating, detecting 225 zero-day assaults and 14,498 malware samples.

Nonetheless, Surfshark Antivirus solely detected 95% of lively zero-day threats in 2022 assessments. Cybersecurity has a low tolerance for failure, so the rating for that interval was 4.5 out of a attainable six.

Confirmed antivirus software program like Norton can boast excellent safety outcomes for greater than a decade. It’s troublesome for newcomers to compete with established options, even at decrease costs.

SUPPORTING

Surfshark provides stay chat assist and brokers can be found 24/7 to assist with account points. I used to be glad with the responsiveness in my evaluate of its VPN providers, however I checked once more to search out out if the brokers had been ready to reply antivirus questions.

After offering my title and e-mail tackle, I used to be rapidly linked to stay assist. Responses had been pleasant, informative and immediate. I requested about iOS assist for Surfshark Antivirus. The agent stated it wasn’t obtainable but and had no data on when Surfshark would offer malware safety for my iPhone.

Privateness and safety

Surfshark solely collects the info needed to supply the service you’re paying for. As a VPN firm, privateness is paramount and there are common privateness and safety checks by impartial researchers for verification.

I could not discover any historical past of safety breaches, and Surfshark’s privateness coverage makes it clear that it does not promote or share your e-mail with third-party advertisers.

Is Surfshark One Proper for You?

Surfshark launched its antivirus function in August 2021, so it is comparatively new and untested. The perfect antivirus software program undergoes frequent testing to make sure reliability and earn bragging rights when scores are excessive.

In June 2024, Surfshark Antivirus earned an ideal safety rating from AV-Check, however has not been rated since. The 2022 check revealed early weaknesses. You will get higher antivirus outcomes from main options like Bitdefender. However, Surfshark has a stronger VPN and decrease subscription costs.

Surfshark provides full cross-platform assist for its VPN service, however the antivirus isn’t obtainable on iOS. iPhone safety is superb, however it isn’t proof against viruses. When you suppose you want malware safety in your iPhone, you might have considered trying one other antivirus resolution.

Surfshark provides a wonderful VPN service with a low-cost choice so as to add real-time antivirus safety and malware scanning for Home windows, macOS and Android to strengthen the built-in safety of your gadgets. I belief Surfshark One as a secondary antivirus for my Home windows PC when mixed with a extra established resolution like Home windows Defender.