Study of 281 Free Android VPN Apps Finds Traffic Leaks, Unencrypted Data, and Tracking

AI Summary

A study of 281 free Android VPN apps from Google Play found that apps with over 2.4 billion combined installs exhibit basic security failures: 29 apps leak user traffic outside the VPN tunnel, and others transmit unencrypted data or embed tracking SDKs. Security practitioners advising end users should treat free VPN apps as untrusted by default and reference this dataset when evaluating enterprise BYOD policies.

Read full article → https://thehackernews.com/2026/07/study-of-281-fre…

Relevance score: 72.0/100

# More from July 11

1
URGENT - Progress Tells ShareFile Customers to Shut Down Storage Zone Controllers Over Security Threat The Hacker News
2
Progress urges ShareFile admins to shut down servers over “credible” threat BleepingComputer
3
Exposed Hacker Server Reveals WP-SHELLSTORM Backdooring Thousands of WordPress Sites The Hacker News
4
Ransomware Negotiator Gets 70 Months in Prison for Aiding BlackCat Attacks The Hacker News
5
Hackers Use Fake Microsoft Entra Passkey Enrollment to Gain Microsoft 365 Access The Hacker News
6
Hackers exploit critical auth bypass in Gitea Docker image BleepingComputer
7
Six New U-Boot Flaws Could Let Malicious Images Crash Devices or Run Code at Boot The Hacker News
8
Attackers Exploit 'Ill Bloom' Vulnerability to Drain $3.1 Million From Cryptocurrency Wallets The Hacker News
10
Microsoft Patches Defender ‘RoguePlanet’ Vulnerability SecurityWeek