How We Research & Recommend
Secure4Peace is written by Peter, who is not a certified security professional and doesn’t claim to be. This site grew out of his own experience with stolen login details and data breaches. Because readers make real decisions based on what we publish, this page explains exactly how we research each topic, how we choose products, and where our limits are.
What we have and haven’t tested
We’ll be direct about this. We have not personally lab-tested the products we currently link to. Every recommendation is based on the research process below. If we personally test a product in the future, the page will say so clearly, along with what we tested and for how long. We will never describe a product as “tested” when it was only researched.
Our research process
- Start with the problem, not the product. Every guide begins with a real situation (a hacked account, public Wi-Fi, a break-in, a phishing text) and the free steps that fix it. Products come second, and only when they actually help.
- Check official sources. For safety and security claims, we rely on sources like the FTC, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, CISA and NIST, and we link to them. Where a page lists sources, it notes the date we checked them.
- Read the specifications and the fine print. What does the product actually do, which devices does it support, and what is left out of the headline price?
- Look for independent evidence. Examples include published third-party security audits (such as audits of a VPN’s no-logs claim) and results from independent antivirus testing labs. A company’s own marketing is not evidence.
- Read the complaints, not just the praise. We look for patterns in low-star owner reviews: billing and auto-renewal surprises, poor support, reliability problems. A recurring complaint can rule a product out.
- Check privacy and ownership. Who owns the company, where it is based, what data it collects, and whether it has had security incidents. When two brands we mention share an owner, we say so.
- Compare the real price. Many security subscriptions advertise a low first-year price that rises at renewal. We point that out.
- Say when free is enough. Plenty of good protection costs nothing: the password manager built into your browser, two-step verification, a credit freeze. If a free option covers your needs, we tell you.
How affiliate links fit in
Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That is how the site pays for itself. Here is how we keep it from steering our advice:
- No brand pays to be featured or ranked.
- A product must pass the research above before we link to it, whether or not it has an affiliate program.
- We mark affiliate links on the page, and our full Affiliate Disclosure explains the details.
- We say so when brands are related. For example, NordVPN, NordPass and Surfshark are all part of the same parent company, Nord Security.
Keeping pages current
Security products and scams change quickly. When a product becomes unavailable, a price changes significantly, or official guidance is updated, we revise the page and add a dated note explaining what changed.
Spotted a mistake?
If you find something outdated or wrong, please email cal2@secure4peace.com. Corrections are taken seriously and fixed promptly.