Persistence of other free VPNs may indicate financial benefit for both Apple and Google.
Google and Apple were reported by the Tech Transparency Project to have continued hosting free VPN apps linked to Chinese companies in their respective app stores.
Numerous free VPN apps previously identified by TTP had been associated with China-linked cybersecurity firm Qihoo 360, including Turbo VPN, VPN Proxy Master, Signal Secure VPN, and Snap VPN.
While both Snap VPN and Thunder VPN had been removed from the Apple App Store, the persistence of other free VPNs may indicate financial benefit for both Apple and Google, said TTP researchers.
This could present a significant privacy and national security threat to the U.S., months after the TTP disclosed that over a fifth of such apps on the U.S. Apple App Store had been under Chinese firms, according to
Hackread.
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
