The trusted VPN app that Android users are known to frequently use has been identified as a major security threat by institutions like CSIRO and UC Berkeley. In addition to the usual threat of adware and Trojans, the VPN app may accidently enable user tracking abilities.
Other issues that have been identified as a threat in this category are the traffic interception mechanisms that carry the risk of confidential data being wrongly exposed. This threatens the user's confidentiality.
VPN is supposed to help the user access internet without any interference. It allows you to bypass third party monitoring and censorship keeping your browsing private.
Now that there are loopholes in the security set-up, the application is likely to end up defying its very purpose. Phone Arena further elaborates that the analysis of VPN services revealed various applications carrying such virus threats. Users have been relying on VPN for quite some time and these security issues can cause major problems.
The two worst offenders identified in this category are OkVpn and EasyVpn. A large number of application were found to be avoiding encryption of outgoing data. This accentuated the risk of snooping.
HotspotShield and WiFi Protector VPN were even injecting transcripts to track user behaviour. Additionally, some of these applications were also found to be forcefully redirecting people to e-commerce sites and actually making money out of their purchases.
While the security threat about VPN services could be a major cause of concern, the results of the study may not be entirely reliable. For starters, the analysis did not take into consideration paid applications. Even the iOS applications were not a part of this analysis.
Trust in the VPN service provider is of paramount importance. Life Hacker further elaborates that many of these service providers are actually able to provide the required protection to simplify the analysis.
Watch the review of the VPN Master below:
