Many VPN apps on Apple’s App store can’t be trusted, a security researcher warns.
Jonny Evans for Computerworld:
I’m told Apple is at last looking into the privacy and security of free VPN apps made available across its platforms, following a report from researcher, Simon Migliano.
Migliano claims that almost 60 percent of the most popular VPN apps are actually owned (sometimes opaquely) by Chinese companies. The researcher also found that as many as 77% of these VPN apps may have what he calls “serious privacy flaws”,including no privacy policy at all, generic policies with no mention of VPN or no detailed logging policy. Migliano claims Apple is not enforcing its third-party data-sharing ban against VPN apps, with 80 percent of the top free VPN apps “in breach of the rules”, he said. Many are sharing data with third parties, he claims.
He explains that Apple is now looking into his claims, though no action has yet been taken… To its shame, given the nature of Miglianos claims, Google has not responded at all at time of writing, the researcher said.
“If I were pressed to recommend a free VPN, it would be a toss-up between TunnelBear and Windscribe as they operate on the freemium model, which means they don’t need to run invasive ad trackers and have revenue to fund a safe network,” Migliano said.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve used TunnelBear VPN for years with good results.
Yet another example (as if we needed more) of how Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, et all, have gotten fat and lazy with customers bearing the brunt of their lack of effort.
Sh!tcan Tim Cook!
Armchair quarterbacks are always the most informed. /s
I am glad to see morons such as yourself so pleased with the half assed job Tim Cook has done.
Your expectations for Cook could NOT be any lower.
Sh!tcan Tim Cook!
Pathetic whining! There is no other company that comes remotely close to Apple in terms of security. If 100% perfection is your only acceptable performance standard, you are going to be sorely disappointed in life.
Just recently saw Tim in his new speedo at Apple HQ and let me tell you–he is most definitely not fat. That man is fine. Did i mention he has an Auburn tattoo on his..
Shouting “security/privacy here,” and then to learn that a majority of the “add security” apps on the App Store are leaky, is w/o excuse Mr. Cook. It’s also another example that encourages holding anything Chinese with skepticism, at least.
Windscribe has been my choice for the last two years…I’m glad to see it wasn’t on the Chinese hijacked list.
I would never, ever use a “free” VPN service. They have to be covering their costs somehow and absolutely none of those “free” services will tell you each and every way they monetize your traffic. Thus for those “free” services the “private” absolutely must be compromised in some way.
I know of no VPN service that is 100% private in all modes and manners, but there are some out there that are better than others.
I routinely use multiple paid VPN services, but if I absolutely had to suggest just one it would be Private Internet Access. I’ve had less trouble with sites with that one than most others. I still have issues like with sites like Amazon Prime video, but those examples are rare.
Agreed. It goes back to the old adage “If it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is”
TunnelBear works for me!
How would you know what data TunnelBear or other VPNs skim and resell? Anyone?
Express VPN. Expensive but worth every penny.
I’m doing NordVPN right now – serves me really well. Honestly, I haven’t tried any others so I can’t really compare, but Nord seems to be a high level service.
Has anybody looked into https://protonvpn.com/ and Proton Mail?