Why a VPN can be dangerous and how to avoid it

All information below applies to any device. That is, it doesn’t matter whether you use a VPN on a computer or any phone, be it an Android smartphone or an iPhone with iOS.
The risks and dangers lie not in what gadget will connect to the virtual private network, but in the companies themselves that provide the relevant services and in their reliability.

 

Free VPNs - real risks for the user

In addition to commercial ones, there are completely free VPN services and shareware ones that provide an application with limited capabilities and offer full access for a subscription fee. There can be serious risks when using both types.

The reason is simple - it takes a lot of money to maintain servers and you need to somehow compensate for the costs at the expense of those who use it for free, loading the servers and the infrastructure as a whole.

As a standard, in the characteristics of any VPN service website, users pay attention to standard parameters, for example, speed limits for accessing sites, connection stability, how much traffic is provided per day/month.
But the devil is in the details, everything is buried much deeper! Of course, not all VPNs do such things; there are already “old guys” that have earned a high level of trust over a long time.

 

Viruses, malicious code in programs

To connect to any VPN, we use special programs provided by the developer, which we install on our device. If checking a downloaded program with an antivirus shows not entirely clean results, you should think twice about it!
The result of introducing malicious code can be anything - from displaying advertising banners to gaining remote access to a computer (or smartphone).

 

Use of user personal data

Sharing or selling personal customer information is one of the most popular ways to offset the cost of running free VPNs.
Here's what it threatens for us, users (I'll list only the main ones):

• Redirecting traffic to partner resources that are of interest to the company. For example, you go to an online store, and you are redirected to another resource in order to make money on you through a third-party affiliate program.
• A device (it doesn’t matter whether it’s a computer or a phone) can be used as a separate “server” and other company users can connect through you.
• You give away the connection speed. Those. VPN services can sell your bandwidth and not only will sites and online applications open more slowly, but there is also a risk of falling under the influence of all sorts of communities that use your traffic for criminal purposes. The famous company “VPN Hola”, which had a high rating and tens of millions of installations at that time, once came across this. After the scandal, they now do not hide the features of their “free” VPN and have edited their privacy policy.
• If they sell data to third parties, whose goal, in turn, is to earn even more money from you, you can easily become a victim of cyber criminals who steal logins and passwords for sites and programs, even stealing money from accounts.
• The transmitted user information that companies collect can include literally everything you do on the Internet. For example, what sites you visit, what you look for in search engines and what you are interested in, what data you send and receive, where you connect to the network from.
• Showing you personalized advertisements, since your data can be transferred to advertisers who ultimately know what you are looking for and what you are interested in (which, in general, is quite harmless compared to the above).

For many companies, information about the sale, sending or storage of personal data is stated directly in the privacy policy (also known as “privacy policy”), i.e. They do not hide such actions.
What for? 99% of users never even open this page, let alone read it even when visiting it.
In this case, it turns out that all these matters are being carried out quite officially. After all, there are corresponding conditions that you accept when registering or when you become a VPN client. Read and sign.

Hola VPN

 

Betternet (aka Aura) do not sell their users' data except to those who use their FREE app.

 

Psiphon also transfers data to advertisers, but states this as openly as possible and even shows a list of who exactly.

 

But when everything is spelled out in the conditions, then at least on some level it is fair and you can refer to the inattention of users if something happens. But there are also many who are not registered, and the data leaks... Or it is said in the documentation in such a way that only a professional can figure it out.

After conducting inspections (for example, by the top10vpn resource) and publishing information about a number of VPN providers, they then changed their policy. But how can you trust a service that has already deceived you before?

 

Weak encryption, data leaks

Transferring important data (for example, to a bank) over the Internet, which, due to weak or absent encryption, is intercepted by someone else, is just as dangerous as doing it on an unsecured Wi-Fi network with the same password for all users.
If a VPN does not provide sufficient protection (and free versions of programs often do this), it is dangerous to use it.

 

Built-in advertising

So that the company can somehow compensate for its costs of supporting people who use the product for free, they are shown advertising.

It can appear both in the application itself when connecting or disconnecting (changing the IP address), and in other programs too - i.e. can follow you everywhere, from the home screen (or PC desktop) to pop-up windows in the browser.
And if in the first case there is nothing terrible at all, then few people can tolerate the second.

In this way, VPN owners either bring in new clients who are fed up with advertising and decide to buy full access, or make money by clicking on ads (if, in addition, they don’t sell you to other advertisers).

 

Are paid VPN services reliable?

All commercial VPN services have their basic advantages over any “free” ones that are looked at first.
However, some paid services also distinguished themselves. For example, VPN Hotspot, based on the results of an independent test, automatically redirected visitor traffic to partner sites.
One thing is for sure: there are many fewer commercial VPNs with an unpleasant “smell.” You can only get into trouble due to lack of experience and unwillingness to check the service provider.

 

Conclusions

Much can be done with user information, and there is ample evidence of cyber attacks and fraud, including theft of funds, due to the installation and operation of unreliable VPNs.

Therefore, if you need a VPN more than once, then it is better not to skimp on it.

You also need to understand that a VPN is not an antivirus; it will not protect against Trojans and viruses! Some people confuse these concepts, thinking that with VPN access you can feel completely safe, neglecting other basic security measures.

 

Read also - How to choose a good VPN