VPNs are one of the most trusted ways of browsing the internet anonymously. These small apps let you access region locked content on the web, and most of them encrypt all your browsing traffic so that no one on your network can see what you are doing on the internet.
VPNs are especially easy to install on Android Devices and Google’s Chrome browser, and they don’t require the user to have the technical knowledge, but you might want to be a bit more careful from the next time you install any VPN apps on Android.
A group of researchers from CSIRO’s Data 61, UNSW Sydney, UC Berkeley and Malaysia’s UCSI conducted a research on VPN apps for Android. And they found that among a ton of VPN apps that are available on Google Play, many are insecure who inject ads on your pages, contain malware and even leak your personal data.
The researchers looked at 283 VPN apps on the Play Store, and they found that over 38 percent of these VPN apps contain some malware.
In addition to that, almost 18 percent of apps don’t even encrypt your browsing data and 16 percent VPN apps rerouted traffic through other users’ devices.
Here are 10 of the worst offenders, you can study about the research in detail in this PDF.
Many VPN companies spend a ton of money for Advertising, promotion and affiliate programs and this is why it is tough for average users to find an honest advice.
“Before buying or installing any VPN apps, you should do some research so that you can be sure about the safety of your data. Additionally, here’s a great rule to remember- if an application is free, it’s probably monetizing its user in some other way. So if you want to be risk free, do not hesitate to make a little investment towards a premium VPN application.
SO, PLEASE GIVE ME A LIST OF SAFE VPNs WE MAY USE… I WAS USING SUPER VPN, I NEED TO USE A FREE ONE, SO I NEED HELP CHOOSING A REPLACEMENT SINCE I DO NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES AT MY DISPOSAL TO GENERATE SUCH A LIST. WE NEED SUBSTITUTES FOR THESE, (I KNOW I NEED FREE). I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE HEADS-UP, BUT NOW I NEED INFO, PLEASE. I WAS USING THE VPN BUILT INTO OPERA BUT IT WAS PRETTY SLOW. HELP!
CHEERS!
JEFFREY.
Take a look at tunnel bear VPN, it’s not free but it’s easy to use and they have a good privacy policy.