VPN services do not guarantee complete anonymity on the Internet and do not protect against phishing or viruses. Little-known VPN services may collect and sell data about user activity, said Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy and federal coordinator of the "Digital Russia" party project.
The demand for VPN services in Russia remains. But along with popularity, the number of misconceptions is also growing. Many users are confident that a VPN provides complete anonymity, hides all activity, and reliably protects against any threats. In practice, this is not the case.
The deputy noted that a VPN does provide traffic encryption, but does not make the user completely anonymous. Sites track you using cookies and service authorizations. Free or little-known VPN services may collect and sell data about your activities. In recent years, many such cases have been recorded.
Nemkin claims that a VPN does not protect against phishing, viruses, malware, and Trojans that penetrate the device through third-party resources.
Only competent behavior and good cyber hygiene will protect against them. And when using insecure passwords, open Wi-Fi, or autofilling personal data, a VPN will no longer help. A VPN is just a tool for masking an IP address and encrypting a channel. It does not cancel all other layers of the digital footprint that we leave: authorization in services, digital fingerprints of the device, login history.
Earlier, Roskomnadzor blocked about 150 VPN services. The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media proposed new measures regarding scientific and technical information about VPN services.
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More than half a million information resources in Russia have been blocked or restricted