Thomas and Øyvind's Actual Security Stack in 2026
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Why We're Sharing This
We review security tools for a living. People ask us what we actually use. The honest answer is that our personal choices are not always the same as our top recommendations — because we have different priorities than most users, and different risk profiles.
Here is exactly what we use, what it costs, and why.
Thomas's Stack
VPN: NordVPN (2-year plan) I travel frequently for NorwegianSpark business. I connect to hotel WiFi in several countries per year. NordVPN's NordLynx protocol has never meaningfully slowed my connection, and I have tested its kill switch in real network interruptions. It works.
Monthly cost: ~$3.09
Password Manager: 1Password Families Five family members, one subscription. My wife was resistant to password managers until she saw 1Password's onboarding. Now she uses it without thinking about it. The Watchtower feature caught two compromised passwords in her vault within the first week.
Monthly cost: $4.99
Antivirus: Bitdefender Total Security Covers my Windows work machine, my wife's Mac, and our shared family laptop. I chose Bitdefender after running comparative tests — it has the highest detection rates with the lowest performance impact of anything I tested.
Monthly cost: $5.00 (effectively — $59.99/year for 5 devices)
2FA: Authy + YubiKey 5 NFC Authy for most accounts. YubiKey for my email, 1Password, and banking — the accounts where a compromised 2FA code would be most damaging.
One-time cost: YubiKey ~$50. Authy is free.
Total monthly: ~$13
Øyvind's Stack
VPN: ProtonVPN (Plus plan) Øyvind prioritises privacy philosophy over speed metrics. ProtonVPN's Swiss jurisdiction, independent audits, and Secure Core architecture align with his view that trusting any single company with your traffic requires careful vetting.
Monthly cost: $9.99
Password Manager: Bitwarden Premium Open source, independently audited, self-hostable. Øyvind has the technical background to evaluate the codebase. $10/year is the right price for what it delivers.
Monthly cost: $0.83
Antivirus: ESET Home Security ESET's granular configuration options match how Øyvind approaches security — he wants to see and control exactly what the software is doing. Performance impact is minimal.
Monthly cost: $3.33 (effectively)
Identity Protection: Aura (Individual) Øyvind's email appears in 4 historical breaches. Ongoing monitoring is not optional at that point.
Monthly cost: $12
2FA: Bitwarden TOTP + Aegis (Android) TOTP built into Bitwarden for most accounts. Aegis (open source Android authenticator) for accounts where he wants completely separate storage.
Total monthly: ~$26
What We Both Agree On
Neither of us uses SMS 2FA for critical accounts. Neither of us reuses passwords. Neither of us clicks links in emails without verifying. These habits are the baseline — the tools are the second layer.
The combined monthly cost of a solid security stack is less than a single restaurant meal. The cost of identity theft cleanup is 200+ hours and $1,343. That arithmetic is not difficult.
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Reviewed by Thomas — NorwegianSpark · Last updated: 8 April 2026