gifts
With just a few days left before Christmas, overwhelmed shipping services might fail to deliver your gifts on time. Of course, you could always get a last-minute digital gift-card or subscription — but the fact is that everyone who might be interested in a Netflix or Spotify account probably already has one. And Telegram Premium? That’s a little awkward just now.
But there is a solution! Why not give the gift of an increased level of daily security this festive season? (A dull idea? Beats socks, surely?!) Many people know they should protect their data and online activity, but don’t have the time or energy to do so. A service that ensures their privacy is therefore not only an unusual gift, but a genuinely helpful one too.
Privacy services are generally paid for — with a few rare exceptions. After all, maintaining servers to store data and developing hack-resistant software comes with a cost. Without subscription fees, these services would have to sell user data to advertisers — just like Google and Meta do — which would defeat the point. So a year-long subscription to a privacy-enhancing service has financial value as well.
With our recommended services, your giftee can replace unsafe office applications, note-taking services, and messengers with privacy-focused alternatives that don’t misuse stored information.
But before making a purchase, keep in mind two key points:
First, services designed for communication or collaboration, such as encrypted messengers, are useless to gift to a single person. Who will you message if none of your friends use the app? It’s probably better to gift such a service to an entire group.
Second, privacy tools may offer less convenience and functionality compared to popular alternatives that prioritize less on security. Whether this compromise proves critical will depend on the recipient’s needs and habits.
With these provisos duly noted, let’s explore some high-quality privacy-oriented alternatives to popular services that would make great gifts this Christmas or New Year.
Office applications
Personal diaries, research-paper drafts, and financial calculations are becoming harder to protect from prying eyes. Services like Google Docs have always been completely online — sparking both concerns about leaks, and debates over how Google processes stored data. Microsoft has been trying to catch up in recent years, including with a host of questionable features even in its offline Office suite such as auto-saving to OneDrive, optional “connected experiences”, and LinkedIn integrations. Storing data in the cloud isn’t necessarily problematic in itself, but there are concerns that documents can be used for ad targeting, AI training, or other unrelated purposes.
Is it possible to combine collaborative document editing and cloud storage without these concerns? As it turns out, yes. A less feature-rich, yet convenient and private alternative to Google Docs and Office365 is the CryptPad service. You can work together on documents, slides, spreadsheets, and whiteboards, while storing all data on servers with end-to-end encryption.
If you want (and have the needed tech-wherewithal), you can set up a CryptPad server independently. However, there’s no need for ordinary users to do so. The developers themselves maintain the cryptpad.fr server, offering paid plans for increased storage and other benefits. Plans are available for €5, €10, and €15 per month, with discounts for annual payments. You can explore other public CryptPad servers here.
VPN
Although we’ve written repeatedly about the benefits of using a VPN, let’s remember once again that a VPN is not a standalone privacy tool. However, when used correctly alongside other tools, a VPN can indeed help enhance privacy. For example, it can protect against surveillance by your internet provider or Wi-Fi hotspot owner, and secures your data from hackers sitting at the next table in a cafe. There are thousands of VPN services to choose from, with people using them for a variety of practical ends. But free VPNs always come with a question: how do they remain free? After all, maintaining a VPN service has its costs. Alas, the adage “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product” applies here too.
That’s why we recommend using a trusted, paid VPN instead of just some random one from the internet. Choose a paid-only service from a company with proven expertise in cybersecurity. For example, a fast and unlimited VPN like can be purchased either can be purchased either independently, or as part of the Kaspersky Plus or Kaspersky Premium subscriptions.
Messengers
While popular messengers like WhatsApp and Signal already provide end-to-end encryption, there’s still room for improvement when it comes to privacy. Both apps require a phone number for registration, and WhatsApp, as part of the Meta empire, collects metadata about users’ social connections.
The Threema messenger is free of these issues. Threema allows registration with a random ID and doesn’t require a phone number. It also enables users to manage the trust level of their contacts. For example, you can verify encryption keys by physically being near your conversation partner. While similar verification features exist in Signal and WhatsApp, they’re buried deep in menus. Threema, on the other hand, shows the trust level right next to the contact’s name.
The app is paid, but affordable — €6 for lifetime usage.
Note-taking apps
There are tons of note apps out there — and every smartphone comes with its own — but data synchronization between devices often lacks robust encryption. We compared several private note apps in a separate article, so here we’ll just remind you that one of the best options for securely storing notes is Obsidian, a very powerful app with rich functionality. Obsidian itself is free, but its encrypted note synchronization service, Obsidian Sync, costs around $48 per year.
Browsers and email
You’ll be hard pressed to find a gift subscription to a private browser or email service, as browsers are generally free — even private ones. Meanwhile, the privacy of a specific email service doesn’t mean much when emails are still sent via standardized, open communication channels to recipients who don’t use private services.
However, your everyday online activities can be made significantly more private by using Kaspersky Premium. This is the most advanced version of our comprehensive home user protection, with maximum privacy protection functionality. Thanks to Private Browsing and Webcam and Mic Control, Kaspersky Premium minimizes your digital footprint on the internet, and prevents more dangerous threats like spyware and phishing. The Safe Money feature protects your finances when shopping/paying online, while Identity Theft Check notifies you of any data leaks and advises on how to address them.
On mobile devices, Kaspersky Premium not only prevents harm from phishing and malware, but also protects against surveillance from AirTags or stalkerware. And of course, Kaspersky Premium includes the Kaspersky Password Manager, the unlimited high-speed Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection, and even a year of Kaspersky Safe Kids protection.
Any of these gifts is a perfect way to share your care — ensuring the privacy and security of your loved ones in the year ahead.
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