Free VPN Puts China's Citizens at Risk |

⬇ Our trusted data leak checker ⬇ https://cnews.link/personal-data-leak-check/ Looking for the most relevant news in the cyber security & tech fields? CLICK HERE 👉 https://cnews.link/NEWS-182/ The Cybernews research team has discovered a leak in a free VPN aimed at users in China that could put its citizens at risk of persecution by the authoritarian regime. Free VPNs are particularly popular in countries where internet usage is closely policed, namely China and Russia. Users of the Airplane Accelerates app may therefore be troubled to hear that its private network service might not be so private after all. On July 7th, a Cybernews researcher discovered an open ElasticSearch instance containing 626 gigabytes of VPN connection logs during a routine check-up. This amounted to a database containing a colossal 5.7 billion entries, including sensitive info like user IDs, what IP addresses users were connecting to and from, domain names, and timestamps. Aras Nazarovas, the researcher who lead the information stated that: “this leak is significant because the leaked data could be used to de-anonymize and track the users of this app”. He further went on to state that “analysis of the Android app also shows that it is capable of functioning as spyware, and has remote code execution capabilities.” Given that Airplane has received around 3,000 reviews on the Chinese version of the App Store alone – as opposed to the global version where the numbers are much lower – it is reasonable to assume the actual number of users across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android could run into the tens or perhaps even hundreds of thousands. In a regime like China, that could mean a lot of users getting into trouble if the app exposes their internet usage to the authorities. Further investigation revealed that the company responsible for the freeware app is based in Australia. Furthermore, on the topic of user privacy, Cybernews also found that the Airplane app requested a suspiciously high number of permissions, ranging from access to camera and audio recording to reading and modifying contacts, external storage, and installing packages. While the company website also features a privacy policy, it is not clear from the wording or context whether it applies specifically to the VPN app or another service. This lack of clarity appears to have created a legal gray area that could potentially leave the app’s users vulnerable to having their data shared. Cybernews reached out to AP Network to alert it to the problem shortly after discovering it. Having received no response after waiting for a month, it has decided it is in the public interest to share this story. 🔥 ESSENTIAL CYBER HYGIENE KIT / Get discounts 🔥 —————————————————————————————— 🔐 Best VPN in 2022 - NordVPN: https://cnews.link/NEWS-NordVPN-67/ 💥 Most feature-rich antivirus - Norton: https://cnews.link/NEWS-Norton-67/ 🔑 Most secure password manager - NordPass: https://cnews.link/NEWS-NordPass-67/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About us: our dedicated team of security researchers and investigative journalists regularly delves into previously unexplored depths of online security and privacy in order to shed light on stories that often have an unseen influence on the online world at large. A number of our investigations and reports have been featured by industry-related publications and global news leaders like Forbes, PC mag, and Techradar. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keep up to date with the latest news: ➡️ Visit our site https://cybernews.com/ ➡️ Check out our merch https://cnews.link/merch/ ➡️ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cybernewscom/ ➡️ Twitter https://twitter.com/cybernews ​ #cybernewsbyai #technewsbyai #cybernews

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