Pros & Cons
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- Award-winning device-level security
- Thorough identity and credit monitoring
- Dedicated resolution specialists help remediate identity theft
- VPN with no limits on bandwidth or servers
- Supports Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS
- Million-dollar identity theft insurance
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- Parental content filter not fully effective
- Password manager lacks advanced features
- Cannot actually prevent identity theft
Bitdefender Ultimate Security Specs
| $1 Million Insurance | |
| Antispam | |
| Antivirus | |
| Dark Web Monitoring | |
| Data Broker Opt-Out | |
| Firewall | |
| Flag Anomalous Transactions | |
| Identity Theft Remediation | |
| Monthly Credit Score | |
| Parental Control | |
| Password Manager | |
| Social Media Tracking | |
| Tune-Up | |
| VPN | Full |
You need antivirus protection, but a full security suite is even better for full device protection. Add a VPN to encrypt and obscure your connections, and your security extends even farther. But not every threat hits your devices or data. Bitdefender Ultimate Security starts with comprehensive security and adds identity theft detection and remediation. It actively foils some identity attacks, monitors for signs of exposure, and provides personalized help to remediate any issues that arise. This combination of award-winning device-level security with sweeping identity protection features makes it an Editors’ Choice winner. It shares this honor with Norton 360 With LifeLock, which also combines a powerful security suite with VPN and identity protection.
How Much Does Bitdefender Ultimate Security Cost?
Many security suites offer pricing tiers for one, three, five, 10, or even 20 licenses, with volume discounts that lower the per-device price as the number of licenses increases. With Bitdefender Ultimate Security, the price depends on both the number of devices you want to protect and the level of identity protection you want. At each tier, you can purchase an individual subscription or a family subscription. The former gets you protection for five devices and one identity, while the latter expands to 25 devices and five identities. Family subscriptions also include parental control.
Your basic Bitdefender Ultimate Security subscription costs $159.99 for individuals and $199.99 for families. Both prices are $30 more than the corresponding Bitdefender Premium Security subscription. You don’t get full identity protection at this level, though. The main addition is Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, which goes for $79.99 as a standalone product.
Upgrading to Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus raises those prices to $189.99 for an individual subscription and $269.99 for a family. This tier adds full identity theft protection and remediation with the standard million-dollar insurance coverage. At the very apex of protection is Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended, costing $249.99 per year to protect five devices and one individual or $349.99 per year to cover 25 devices and five individuals. The Extended tier adds additional identity protection features and enhances existing ones. For example, you get tracking of three credit bureaus rather than one, and the insurance doubles to two million.
Compared with pricing for security suites without identity protection, these figures seem high, but they align with the competition. Norton 360 With LifeLock starts at the Select tier, available at third-party retailers for a list price of $149.99 per year. On Norton’s own website, the product line starts with the Select Plus tier, which costs $189.99 per year, the same as Bitdefender Ultimate. With Select, you get security suite and VPN coverage for five devices; with Select Plus, that goes up to 10 devices. In both cases, you also get basic identity theft protection and 100GB of storage for backups. Upgrading to the Advantage tier adds enhanced identity theft features, protects 10 devices, and raises backup storage to 250GB. At the maxed-out Ultimate Plus tier, you pay $369.99 for every iota of identity protection, 500GB of storage, and protection for unlimited devices.
Note that these prices offer Norton identity protection to just one individual. At each tier, a family subscription (two adults) costs extra, and a family with kids subscription costs even more. The Norton pricing table maxes out at $819.99 per year, which gets you Ultimate Plus protection for the family and kids.
For $149.99 per year, you can get a McAfee+ subscription that lets you install security software on every Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and ChromeOS device in your household. However, that entry-level subscription doesn’t include McAfee’s identity theft protection service. To get that component, you must upgrade to McAfee+ Advanced ($199.99 per year) or McAfee+ Ultimate ($279.99 per year). If you want identity protection for the whole family, those prices go up to $269.99 and $424.99.
Here’s another view on the pricing for Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus. This bundle includes Bitdefender Total Security, Bitdefender Password Manager, Bitdefender Premium VPN, Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, and Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection Standard. Purchased separately, a year’s subscription for these would cost $109.99, $29.99, $69.99, $79.99, and $129.99, respectively. That sums to $419.95. That makes the bundle’s $189.99 price tag look like quite a deal, but only if you actually want all the components.
Getting Started With Bitdefender Ultimate Security
As with most modern security services, you manage Bitdefender through an online portal called Bitdefender Central. Once you’ve activated your license in Bitdefender Central, you can immediately install the security suite, password manager, and VPN on the current device or send a link for installation on another device.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)The identity theft service is handled entirely through Bitdefender Central. That means you can check alerts, update settings, and connect with support from any computer. I cover these services in detail below.
Bitdefender Total Security Supplies Device Protection
When you install device-level security from Bitdefender Central, it installs Bitdefender Total Security. The protection you get for your devices is the same as Total Security because it is Total Security. That being the case, there’s no need to repeat my review of that product here. Do please click the link above and read all about it. I’ll summarize here very briefly.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Editors’ Choice winner Bitdefender Total Security is built on Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, an Editors’ Choice in its own right. The antivirus boasts a cornucopia of features that, in terms of sheer numbers, beat many security suites.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Total Security could also qualify as a cross-platform, multi-device suite, as it protects devices running Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Admittedly, the Windows edition offers the largest feature set, but Bitdefender Antivirus Plus for Mac receives top marks from independent testing labs, and the Android app is a comprehensive mobile protection suite. Again, you can learn more by reading my separate review of Total Security.
Bitdefender Premium Security Adds Full VPN and More
Bitdefender Total Security includes a VPN, but it’s limited to 200MB of VPN bandwidth per day. Any bandwidth-intensive activity, such as streaming video, will quickly burn through that daily limit. In addition, you don’t get a choice of VPN server location. The VPN just connects to whatever server it deems most efficient.
Upgrading to Bitdefender Premium Security, the tier just below Ultimate Security, gets you the full VPN experience. Bitdefender Premium VPN installs as a separate program with features that vary depending on whether you use it on Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS. Bitdefender Premium also expands the Scam Alert feature to the AI-powered Scam Protection Pro, complete with the Scamio Pro chatbot that helps you understand scams. If you have a Google or Outlook email account, the Premium edition’s Email Protection feature identifies dangerous messages in the cloud, so you get protection on every device.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)I’ve covered the bundled components of Premium Security thoroughly in a separate review. Please peruse that article for a full understanding. Bitdefender Ultimate Security's distinguishing feature is its identity theft protection and remediation, which I’ll cover in detail here.
Adding Digital Identity Protection to the Mix
The basic Bitdefender Ultimate Security package bundles Bitdefender Premium Security and Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection, which are available separately for $79.99 per year. This tool helps you take charge of your online digital footprint, scanning legitimate sources for data you may want removed and flagging any data breaches that could expose your personal profile.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)You won’t find this tool on the Utilities page in Total Security, or anywhere else in that app. Rather, you go to your account at Bitdefender Central and use it directly from there.
From this tool’s main dashboard, you can view your overall security score and take actions to improve it, such as deleting compromised accounts or changing your password. I’ve covered this component in detail in a separate review. And yes, there is some overlap with this suite’s full identity theft protection service.
Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection
Taking charge of your digital footprint is nice, but full-scale identity theft management is better. As noted, you get that when you purchase the Plus or Plus Extended tier of this suite.
Activate Your Identity Protection
Identity protection is platform-agnostic, so it’s naturally managed through Bitdefender Central. Don’t forget to log in and set up this service—you’re paying for it, after all! Like any such service, Bitdefender can’t completely prevent identity theft, but it can notify you when problems arise and help you resolve them quickly. IdentityForce, a TransUnion brand, powers Bitdefender’s identity theft protection system. Note that Avast One Platinum, ESET Home Security Ultimate, and Malwarebytes Ultimate also partner with TransUnion, though the features they offer differ.
When you upgrade to Ultimate Security Plus, you’ll find a new item, Identity Theft Protection, available in the Bitdefender Central left-side menu. Click it and agree to the terms and conditions, then fill in your contact info, consisting of your full name, birthdate, phone number, and physical address. Next, you’ll confirm a disclosure from TransUnion, enter your SSN, and supply a one-time code sent by TransUnion either as a text message or voice call.
The Hub Offers an Identity Overview
Once you’ve gotten through that initial signup, you’ll see nine tabs: Hub, Identity Vault, BreachIQ, Alerts, Credit, Transactions, Resources, Support, and Account. If you’re not using the Ultimate Plus Extended edition, Transactions won’t appear.
The identity protection console opens to the Hub, a page that summarizes important facts and events. A large panel on this page invites you to contact a resolution specialist if you ever experience identity theft. Another panel prompts you to prepare for the possibility of a lost or stolen wallet.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)You’ll also see a panel titled Let’s Get Started, with five big prompts and a percentage complete score. You’ve already reached 20% by creating your profile. Clicking "Add your Additional Information" takes you to the Identity Vault page, where you can record additional personal data for monitoring. This is also where you link Bitdefender to your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube), so it can watch for “posts that could be perceived as violent, are using profanity, or could be categorized as cyberbullying or discriminatory." Each of those actions takes you closer to 100% completion. I’ll discuss them in detail below.
Lost Wallet Assistance
Setting up Lost Wallet Assistance earns you another 20% toward completing your initial tasks. This step involves reviewing your physical wallet and entering details for everything in it. You can record one or more of these item types:
- Bank Account
- Combination
- Credit/Debit Card
- Customer Rewards Card
- Driver's License
- ID Card
- Medical ID Card
- Passport
- Social Security Card
This step is separate from recording your personal items for dark web tracking. In this case, you fill in every little detail, including the card issuer’s website and customer service phone number. I can’t help but think it would be convenient if Bitdefender could somehow link wallet items with monitored items.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Discover Additional Resources is the final item on the Let’s Get Started list. Clicking this takes you to a page with identity protection resources. More on that below.
Now that you’ve reached 100%, you can hide the prompt to take startup actions, leaving the Hub as a quick overview of your identity protection.
Record Personal Data in the Identity Vault
You’ve already worked with the Identity Vault page while setting up your account. You can return here anytime to edit or expand your recorded identity data. On the Monitored Info page, you can record one of each of the following:
- Address
- Date of Birth
- Driver’s License
- Mother’s Maiden Name
- Social Security Number
Those are typical one-off items, though McAfee lets you track two driver’s licenses, and Norton monitors up to five physical addresses. You probably already took care of these during setup. Do look over the page and consider recording additional entries for these categories:
- Bank Account
- Credit/Debit Card
- Medical Insurance ID
- Passport
- Phone
You can enter five passports and 10 each of the other types. The Identity Vault includes a separate Secure Storage tab that lets you upload scanned images of important documents, such as passports, up to 100MB.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)As soon as you enter your personal data, Bitdefender starts scanning the dark web and known breaches, alerting you to any issues it finds. I’ll discuss alerts below.
Bitdefender Monitors Your Social Media
In addition to recording personal info, you can use the Identity Vault page to link Bitdefender with your social media accounts. Social media monitoring, managed by Bitdefender partners Sontiq and ZeroFox, warns if you post what seems to be personal information or if your posts (or their comments) seem inappropriate. For example, a comment saying a YouTube video “sucked” got a warning.
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(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Bitdefender tracks your accounts on Facebook, Twitter (now called X), Instagram, and YouTube. Yes, that list is a bit dated, especially given how many people are dropping X in favor of BlueSky or Mastodon. And where’s TikTok? In testing this feature, I discovered that you no longer connect Ito nstagram unless you have a professional account. In addition, though I tried over and over, I could never get it to correctly accept my X account.
Rather than rely on Bitdefender or another third party to police your social media posts, you may want to simply raise your own consciousness. Lock down your accounts so only your friends can see them, and look over every post to make sure you’re not oversharing.
BreachIQ Rating Scores Your Exposures
While Bitdefender alerts you to all types of dark web data detections, the BreachIQ page focuses on known data breaches that include your personal information. This page has five tabs: ID Safety Score, My Breach Exposures, Action Plan, Search Breaches, and FAQ.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)For each breach, My Breach Exposures lists the date, Breach Risk Rating, and up to two exposed data types—you can click a link to view any additional exposed data types.
Clicking ID Safety Score reveals your risk score, from 0 (least protected) to 100 (most protected), along with some risk factors that went into the rating. As for what to do about a bad score, proceed to the Action Plan page.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Your marching orders on the Action Plan page include more than 20 specific actions you must take yourself. Congratulations! You’ve already accomplished one by setting up dark web scanning. Strengthening multi-factor authentication for your online banking is another priority.
Many of the remaining items are similar actions, such as setting up USPS Informed Delivery, installing an antivirus that includes phishing detection, and requesting a PIN from the IRS. Check these off as you accomplish them. There are also more nebulous items, such as advice to beware of social engineering and watch out for spam.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Finally, there’s a page where you can search for any data breaches related to a specific company. I don’t see the value here. The identity service should already be telling you what breaches were relevant.
Deal With Personal Data Exposures
One excellent way to improve your security is to review all the exposures reported by BreachIQ. When you open one for details, Bitdefender goes all-out. You get a full list of all the personal data types exposed in the breach, as well as a list of the kinds of problems that could result from the exposure, and you can expand each danger type into a full explanatory paragraph.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)In most cases, the breach warning includes the affected website. You should naturally change that site’s password right away. When you’ve done everything you can, there’s a button to archive the warning. On the flip side, if you discover a serious problem, like a site that identity thieves have locked you out of, another button opens a case with Bitdefender’s experts.
Alerts and Cases
The Hub page shows your five most recent alerts; for a broader view, check the Alerts page. Opening any listed item gets you a detailed view. You’ll find breaches reported here as well, but in quite a different way from BreachIQ. Clicking for details opens a pop-up with a description of the breach and remediation advice. As with the BreachIQ details, you can click a button to archive a solved problem or click another to open a case.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)It may seem tedious, but you need to go through these one by one. Take any necessary action and then archive the item. That way, any new alerts stand out. If you’ve responded to any of your alerts by opening a case with a Resolution Specialist, a separate page helps you track those open cases. You may also find a button that opens the full BreachIQ description of the exposure.
Social media alerts show up here as well. If you’re prone to oversharing, Bitdefender’s warnings may be useful, though, of course, they come after you’ve already revealed too much. I’m less impressed with warnings about posts considered inappropriate in some way. It's best not to mention the band Pussy Riot or talk about Law & Order creator Dick Wolf.
IDShield offers similar social media monitoring for data exposure, but keeps that feature separate from its Reputation Management system. That’s a good thing because Reputation Management proved wildly unreliable in testing, for example, identifying photos of garden plants as weapons. IDX Complete handles things more like Bitdefender, with a similar flood of alerts.
Credit Services, Scores, and Reports
The setup processes mentioned above don’t include configuring Bitdefender to track and manage your credit score. To launch your credit protection, open the main dashboard and click Credit. The resulting page has four tabs: Credit Score, Credit Report, Credit Simulator, and Freeze My Credit. The main Credit Score page pulls your score from TransUnion. Those who’ve paid for the Plus tier also get scores from Equifax and Experian.
You can view details of your credit reports on the corresponding page in the identity dashboard or print them out for reference. If you choose to print, put in a fresh stack of paper—it can be a lot. Bitdefender updates your credit report just once a year. Note that you can get your annual reports from all three credit agencies for free without involving Bitdefender. Like Aura, Bitdefender checks your credit score once a month. Aura also lets you freeze your Experian credit with a click, with links to freeze the other two bureaus as well. With Bitdefender, freezing credit is a DIY process, though the service provides all the necessary links.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)If your credit score is low, you surely want to improve it. If you have a high score, you want to avoid driving it lower. With Bitdefender’s (or rather, TransUnion’s) Credit Simulator, you can get a preview of how almost 20 financial events could affect your score. These include, among other things, adding a new credit card, paying off all your cards, taking out an auto loan, and declaring bankruptcy. Of course, the estimated new score isn’t guaranteed, but you can learn a lot by experimenting in the simulator. Who knew canceling your oldest credit card could decrease your credit score?
Resources for Identity and Credit Protection
To complete the startup configuration tasks from the Hub page, you had to at least glance at the Resources page. Take another look; this page is loaded with useful tools and information, divided into Calculators, Forms, and handling of Junk Mail & Calls.
On the Calculators tab, you’ll find a variety of financial calculators. For example, you can quickly compare two loans or credit card deals. If you’re considering refinancing your mortgage, a simple calculator lets you see how much you’d benefit. TransUnion hosts all these calculators; they aren’t just links to resources on other websites.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)The Forms page includes templates for letters ranging from a general complaint to a credit dispute resolution letter. It also offers resources such as consumer action handbooks, consumer contacts for major corporations, and contacts for federal, state, and local consumer protection offices.
Junk mail and unwanted phone calls don’t directly threaten your privacy and identity, but they’re annoying and might cause you to miss important communications. The Junk Mail & Calls page contains links to external sites where you can remove yourself from direct marketing lists, opt out of preapproved credit offers, and reject specific direct mailings.
Dedicated Resolution Specialist
What if dark web monitoring reveals that your details are for sale? What can you do if someone else uses your Social Security Number, for example? Bitdefender makes getting help easy. Some alerts come with a built-in button to open a case. You can click the Support tab and fill out a report. Or you can just pick up the phone and talk directly to a dedicated identity theft resolution specialist.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Like almost every service in this field, Bitdefender promises to spend up to $1 million to remediate an identity theft event. Upgrading to Ultimate Plus Extended raises that figure to $2 million. As always, this comes with some restrictions. For example, if you lose your job due to identity theft, Bitdefender covers lost wages, but at no more than $1,500 per week for up to eight weeks. The insurance covers up to $1,000 in eldercare and childcare costs. And so on.
As always, I can’t test this service’s ability to help with recovery from identity theft. I can report that it’s very easy to open a case.
What Do You Get By Upgrading to Extended?
As noted, Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus includes Bitdefender Identity Theft Protection Standard. Upgrading to Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended costs $60 more for an individual subscription and $80 more for a family plan. This upgrade raises your identity theft protection to the Premium level. What does that mean?
Tracking Unusual Transactions
Upgrading from Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus to the Extended edition adds monitoring for anomalous transactions. The difference is visible, as a Transactions tab appears in the Hub. Bitdefender can monitor various banks, credit cards, and other financial accounts.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)To get started, select your financial institution and supply your online login credentials for that site. The site may require additional verification, such as a code texted to your phone. Once the account has been registered, click Set Alert Preferences to continue setting up.
By default, Bitdefender alerts you if a purchase, withdrawal, transfer, or uncategorized transaction over $300 takes place. In each case, you can change the trigger amount or set it to monitor only specific accounts. You can also view all your recent transaction activity right inside Bitdefender Central. This can be quite handy if you’re searching for a charge but don’t remember which account you used.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Aura, IDShield, and Norton also offer their own transaction alert systems. Aura doesn’t worry about transaction types; it lets you set thresholds separately by category: bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investments. Norton watches for various anomalous events, including changes that don’t fit your normal pattern and increased charges in recurring payments. IDShield offers a collection of specific triggers, including high credit account balance, large credit card purchases, large account withdrawals, low account balance, net worth change, and portfolio value change.
More Credit Bureaus
The Plus-level service gets monthly credit checks and yearly credit reports from TransUnion. You get those checks and reports from all three bureaus when you upgrade to Plus Extended. For comparison, Norton doesn’t offer monthly credit checks at the basic Select level—you get that at the Advantage level, which costs an additional $100 per year. And if you want Norton to supply credit checks from all three bureaus, you need the Ultimate tier, which costs another $100 per year.
More Money for Reimbursement
I mentioned that upgrading raises the insurance cap from $1 million to $2 million. I doubt the average case would come close to even a single million, but if your net worth is huge, you might benefit from this upgrade. Note that the sub-limits on things like travel expenses don’t change.
Upgrading also adds a separate ransomware resolution fund of up to $25,000. Another $25,000 is reserved for remediation of problems caused by social media account takeover.
Other Plus Extended Features
In addition to monitoring your credit card and bank accounts for anomalous transactions, Bitdefender’s Plus Extended service alerts you to possible fraudulent transactions in your investment accounts. It tracks court records for signs that your identity is being abused, so you don’t find yourself arrested for a crime someone else committed in your name. And it watches for spurious address-change events, which can be part of a full-on identity-theft push. As with similar services, you don’t see these features in action unless they catch an attack.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Ultimate Security
Bitdefender Ultimate Security combines award-winning device protection, VPN privacy, and robust identity theft monitoring and recovery into an all-in-one premium security package.