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

A study of 281 free Android VPN apps found widespread security and privacy issues, including traffic leaks, unencrypted data transmission, and tracking behaviors. Many apps failed to properly encrypt traffic, with five apps vulnerable to tunnel hijacking due to unencrypted configuration downloads. The research highlights poor maintenance, weak encryption practices, and misleading trust signals like Google's 'Verified' badge, undermining user privacy expectations.

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