However, the report named two VPNs (VPN super free and Super fast Hot VPN) to have terribly failed in protecting users privacy and thus, described as "essentially broken and not fit for purpose."Īpart from the above, the report said that about 66% (99 of the apps) asked for unnecessary permissions that are classified as "dangerous" in official Android developer document.Ģ5% (33 of the apps) asked to track users location, while 38% (57 of the apps) requested access to users personal information while another unspecified number of the VPN apps made intrusive permissions which included the use of camera, microphone, access contacts and even send text messages without the users knowledge. Now this DNS leaks defeats the purpose of a VPN itself.Ībout 38 apps were found in the report to have suffered from DNS leaks.Īlso Read: How to get free proxy servers that give free internet on any network in the worldĤ apps suffered from WebRTC or (Web Real-Time Communication) leaks, while 2 apps suffered from IP leaks which reveals the VPN user real IP address instead of the one assigned by the VPN service provider.
The DNS requests are then made through the ISP DNS servers which exposes the users browsing history and online activity to be tracked by their ISP and other third party DNS operators. Three of the biggest problems identified in the report that exposes users true identity are DNS leaks, WebRTC leaks and IP address leaks.ĭNS leaks occurs when the VPN service provider secures Internet traffic of the user by tunneling contents of Web pages and messages but then fails to force DNS requests via its encrypted tunnel. The risk index was created by Top10VPN to "help consumers avoid inadvertently using flawed apps that compromise their privacy and security." The 150 apps were tested for effective encryption, viruses and malwares, browser leaks, dangerous app functions and behaviours, and as well a full network test to check other security flaws and performance related issues. It's just a matter of time before you discover what those hidden expenses actually are, and that is what also happens to you when you opt for the service of a free virtual private network (VPN).Īccording to a risk index carried out on the 150 most popular free VPN apps in the Google Play Store, the results revealed that 25% of the apps do not adequately protect user's privacy due to DNS leaks, and about 85% of the apps had questionable permissions or hidden functions that also threatened users privacy. They say that nothing is free, even those that are offered for free has some hidden expense(s) attached to it.
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