Anton Nemkin, a member of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, stated that the use of VPN services has long ceased to be a safe way to protect confidentiality. According to him, a whole range of risks has formed around such services, which are actively used by cybercriminals.
Many free VPNs do not actually provide the stated level of security: they can collect data about users, transfer traffic to third parties, and even contain malicious modules, Nemkin emphasized. As a result, a person transfers personal information and activity history to unknown operators.
A separate problem is that fraudsters themselves actively use VPNs to hide their geolocation and complicate the investigation of crimes.
Spoofing an IP address allows attackers to mask the sources of phishing attacks, mass mailings, or attempts to hack accounts. As a result, the traces of the crime can lead through several countries and dozens of servers, which significantly complicates the operational work of law enforcement agencies.
The deputy also noted the increase in the number of malicious applications masquerading as popular VPN services.
