Privacy protection company Surfshark is among the first VPN providers to receive an official seal of approval from AV-Test, an independent IT security institute from Germany. Institute's initial research of the VPN market highlighted Surfshark for its reliable protection in third-party Wi-Fi networks and exceptional streaming capabilities. The report also stated that Surfshark is one of the few providers that offer additional blocking tool against advertising.

"VPN industry has seen a rapid rise in growth, following an increasing number of new market entrants. Such competitive but homogeneous industries heavily rely on marketing claims and pose quite a challenge for users making a purchase decision," says Naomi Hodges, Cybersecurity advisor at Surfshark. "Tests completed by an independent third-party professionals give us an ability to inform the public about the general state of the service and substantiate our claims of privacy and performance".

The test pitted Surfshark against ten other VPN providers to evaluate its performance and security practices. Due to various requirements of user groups, AV-Test examined VPN providers in the scope of five criteria: usability, security, privacy, speed, and transparency. Institute's in-depth analysis commended Surfshark for its flawless job in securing users' IP addresses. The comprehensive review stated that Surfshark application enables its users to browse the internet securely from tracking by providing the highest standard of data encryption. Additionally, it enhances protection from malware attacks.

Surfshark was one of the very few providers which develop solutions beyond VPN functionality and create additional value for its users by offering ad tracker and advertising blocking tool.  

"The test shows that providers of VPN software are serious and are implementing the promised protection measures. That is why all products receive a positive certification from the laboratory," the authors of the AV-Test report stated in their final judgment.

For the past fifteen years research team of AV-Test institute have been examining internationally relevant IT security products with a primary focus on antivirus apps. Germany based institute develop their in-house systems which guarantee that test results remain uninfluenced by third parties.