Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus identity theft protection review: Taking online security to the next level

By combining Bitdefender’s premier security suite with TransUnion’s credit monitoring, reports and identity insurance, Bitdefender’s Ultimate Security Plus Extended takes online security to a new level by covering the most important aspects of protecting an active online lifestyle. By integrating it all into the Bitdefender Central software, Ultimate Security Plus Extended is one of the best identity theft protection services to use while also covering your devices against dangerous malware.

In addition to monitoring and $2 million of identity insurance, the service provides credit scores and reports while giving the ability to freeze your credit at a tap. Its premier viral scanning, password manager and access to an unlimited VPN for secure communications are icing on the online cake.

Happily, Ultimate Security Plus Extended does all this for roughly the price of similar services that don’t include Bitdefender’s traditional protective elements. This makes Ultimate Security Plus Extended a potential bargain that no family should do without.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended: Costs and what’s covered

With a traditional security suite, identity insurance and credit monitoring, Bitdefender tries to be all inclusive with several plans. It includes the company’s premier traditional protection along with TransUnion credit monitoring and identity insurance.

To start, Ultimate Security Plus Standard has the basics, like real-time protection, ransomware rollback of affected files and conventional malware scanning. The plan includes $1 million in insurance to make your online world right again in the event of an identity crisis. It includes things like payday loan monitoring and single bureau credit monitoring and reports but falls short of the mark without home title alerts.

It starts at $119.99 (or $11.99 a month) for the first year although the price rises to $189.99 annually or $18.99 a month after that. It’s a bargain for those seeking minimalist coverage that includes Bitdefender’s Digital Identity Protection.

To get three bureau monitoring, Bitdefender’s top Ultimate Security Plus Extended plan costs $149.99 per year or $14.99 a month for the first year and $249.99/$24.99 after that. The plan increases the insurance amount to $2 million and adds things like investment account alerts and change of address notifications. This top plan matches McAfee’s extra $25,000 of ransomware protection.

It lacks things like a couple plan but Bitdefender has family versions of its identity protection. The Ultimate Security Plus Standard subscription costs $179.99 a year for the first 12 months and $269.99 after that or $14.99/$26.99. The Extended version is priced at $199.99 for the first year and $349.99 after that or $19.99/$34.99 a month. Either way, these plans are roughly half the price of some competitors.

The company has a coveted A+ grade by the Better Business Bureau, while TransUnion lacks ratings by the consumer protection organization.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended: How we tested

In the late spring, I signed up for and entered my personal data into Bitdefender’s Ultimate Security Plus Extended interface. Every couple of days, I checked for credit changes, dark Web scans and other features for three months using notebooks, tablets and phones. At the end I cancelled the service.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended review: Setup

I started by creating an account and installing the software. Along the way, I needed to verify my existence several times.

After the service collected information about me, the dashboard popped up and I needed to add my personal data and then authenticate it with TransUnion. This was followed by entering my Social Security number twice and verifying (once again) myself with a text message code.

Nearly done, I added my social media accounts for monitoring, abuse and cyberbullying. The service covers FaceBook, Twitter (aka X), Instagram and YouTube. It ignores Linkedin, WhatsApp and TikTok, however.

I finished by loading the app on my Samsung Galaxy S25 phone. All told, it took nearly 13 minutes, half the set up time I encountered the last time I used the product.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended: Credit scores, reports and monitoring

Using IdentityForce as a credit score and monitoring provider frees Bitdefender to concentrate on what it does best: hunting malware and protecting a system’s integrity. On the downside, while the others have a common user experience, Ultimate Security Plus Extended has several different looks, depending on what you’re doing.

The downside to this means that to get to the identity services, the system has to connect with the internet to get to IdentityForce. The data is fully encrypted for security.

The base subscription includes monitoring and credit reports from TransUnion but my Extended account ups that to include Equifax and Experian for full three bureau coverage. While I was not able to get an instant credit report, they are available on a quarterly basis, not monthly as is the case with many competitors.

There’s daily access to updated Vantage 3.0 credit scores that parallels the computations of the FICO rating. I like the fever chart of its changes over the last several months. At any time, I was able to start a credit freeze with TransUnion or turn it off with a click.

While it would have been overkill for me, Ultimate Security Plus Extended can track up to 10 bank and investment accounts. It looks after key personal info, like driver’s license, passport and credit cards. The plan recently added payday loan monitoring but still does without home title alerts if someone is trying to steal my home with fraudulent paperwork. It promises to alert me to an address change that might be a warning that something’s amiss.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended: Insurance and services

With up to $2 million of identity-theft insurance and restoration experts on call, Ultimate Security Plus Extended mirrors others in this crowded market. Underwritten by Lloyd’s, it lacks the ability to increase the coverage to $5 million for a family.

This area is covered by TransUnion to take into account the gamut of activities needed to get your life back. The help should be all you’ll need other than patience. There’s help from specialists like accounting, investigative and legal services to do things like getting a new passport and driver’s license.

The plan will reimburse you for up to $2,000 for travel and pay you $1,000 a week in lost pay to go to hearings, meeting with experts or any other restoration activity. On the other hand, the coverage includes an extra $25,000 of ransomware insurance, matching McAfee’s treatment.

Should your wallet get lost or stolen, Bitdefender can help with cancellation of recorded credit and debit cards as well as starting the process for getting new ones. It lacks emergency cash to get whole if you’re on the road, however.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended: Notifications and alerts

In addition to the expected text and email alerts, Ultimate Security Plus Extended shows if you have any notifications that haven’t been looked at or addressed. They reside behind the bell in the Bitdefender Central interface’s upper right. Open it to see what the details are and if any remediation is needed.

The range of alerts is wide, including anything from dark web scans for your personal info to covering court proceedings, like a bankruptcy. The transaction alert has a threshold that can be set for any amount: too low and it’s overkill; too high and you might miss some fraud.

My three months with Bitdefender Ultimate Plus yielded 22 alerts. Of them, three were my monthly security reports.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended review: Interface and Extras

Bitdefender offers mobile apps for iOS and Android and a web-based interface, the identity theft portion is only available through the online version of Bitdefender Central, making it a little harder to quickly get to the right data.

In the web browser, the Bitdefender central dashboard covers everything, including covered systems and current threats on the main page while the app doesn’t include credit information.

The tabs along the left add access to features like the SecurePass password manager, VPN and credit scores. The center of attention is the Identity Theft Protection section, although it was slow to load these details. The Hub sums everything up, from credit scores and access to a restoration specialist to help with a stolen wallet and social media monitoring.

The Tabs include categories like credit scores, the encrypted vault for your personal info and access to the Breach IQ details. There’s also places for Support and extra resources, like credit card and loan comparisons.

Switching to the Bitdefender app on my Galaxy S25 phone is easy, although the dark mode can be a bit oppressive. The dashboard shows how many devices are protected, the number of blocked threats with the parental controls and Security News items.

While the Devices tab at the bottom shows details for protected devices, the Notifications displays unresolved items, like dark web scans or configuration details. The More tab has a Network Scan feature that interrogates the current Wi-Fi connection and delivers the local and external IP addresses along with the number of devices online.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended review: Features and antivirus protection

I used the service’s BreachIQ feature often to see if my data was being exposed. The program not only provided me with an identity Safety Score (mine was an 85) but shows data leaks along with the date and a rating. Ultimate Security Plus Extended can help with actions to mitigate exposure and tracks them but lacks the ability to wipe personal data from brokers.

In addition to dark web monitoring for my personal info, any of the Ultimate Security plans provides access to Bitdefender’s Scam Alert, an AI-powered utility that analyzes text, images and audio to tell the difference between legit software and fraud. It takes upwards of 30 seconds to perform the analysis.

A big step forward for Bitdefender is the added Credit Simulator. It not only lets you try out scenarios for paying off debt quickly or slowly but can factor in new credit cards and extra credit enquiries.

In addition to Bitdefender’s world class malware and ransomware protection, Ultimate Security Plus Extended includes Bitdefender’s VPN, which provides secure access in over 110 countries, including out of the way places like the Isles of Man and Jersey; there are 20 connection points in the U.S. alone.

Its new SecurePass password manager can store an unlimited number of log-in credentials and store them in encrypted form, while the included Digital Identity Protection plan can find your data on the dark web (if it’s there) and check if data breaches matter for you.

Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus Extended review: Verdict

By pairing the latest in identity protection from TransUnion with Bitdefender’s leading malware protection software, the company’s Ultimate Security Plus Extended does a good job of covering all the bases. It includes the company’s world-class malware defenses, password manager, scam alerts and VPN access, but swings a little too far towards traditional antivirus defenses.

While it covers the credit world well with three bureau monitoring and a credit freeze button, there’s no home title change monitoring and the slow response can be someplace between annoying and frustrating. Plus, the reports are available quarterly and many of the newer elements use differing interfaces.

For Bitdefender, our verdict is “nice try,” but it’s time to integrate the various elements of Ultimate Security Plus Extended better to make it seem like it’s all cut from the same cloth.