VPNs Secretly Owned By Chinese Firms
Virtual Private Networks are significant in ensuring secure connections and privacy when using the internet; it is no wonder the number of users keeps increasing. There seems to be a lot of competition in the VPN service provider space, with several companies contesting for significant portions of the expanding VPN market.
The owners of these VPN service providers are crucial to customers, mostly because of the data laws that come with their geographical locations. It is interesting to learn that some of these service providers are not transparent with users regarding their owners and parent companies’ location.
Chinese Firms That Secretly Own VPNs
Hidden owners and locations are not a great way to build trust, especially if you’re a VPN service provider. Users need to trust that their VPN service provider will continue to keep them safe despite pressure from any government or organization. This is why VPN companies’ locations are vital to them.
It has come to light that some Chinese firms secretly own VPNs. This raises concern as to why these firms decide not to be transparent with their users. A VPN owned by a Chinese company means that the Chinese government can legally demand users’ data. It can be a bad idea to use these VPNs, as privacy is a central feature of VPNs. Let’s check out some of these companies:
1. Innovative Connecting
Innovative Connecting is also called ALL Connected Co. Based in Singapore, it concentrates on the development of mobile VPN applications. There is limited information about it on its official site. You will, however, find out that its product development unit is situated in China if you look at its LinkedIn page.
Innovative Connecting develops several mobile VPN applications: VPN Proxy Master Pro, VPN Master, VPN Proxy Master Lite, TurboVPN, Solo VPN, and VPN Sofast. Aside from those VPNs, it is also connected to four other VPN applications, amounting to an overall of ten. Further research shows that it is related to two different companies: Lemon Clove and Autumn Breeze. Lemon Clove has the same address and board secretary as Innovative Connecting. Their websites are also very similar.
Lemon Clove develops VPN Robot and SnapVPN, while Autumn Breeze develops Hot VPN and Unlimited Free VPN Monster. Overall, that amounts to ten VPN applications.
Let’s take a peek at some of these VPNs:
a. Turbo VPN
Despite its mobile applications having numerous downloads, this is not a safe VPN to use. Turbo VPN is an example of fame not equating quality. Stay away from this VPN if you value your privacy, as it will release your information if requested by the government. Despite its no-log policy, it collects data regarding where you’re connecting from, where you’re connecting to, the size of data, and other analytics data. It is also full of unwanted ads, risky permissions, malware, and DNS leaks. In summary, using Turbo VPN is a risk that you might not be willing to take.
b. VPN Proxy Master
Here is another famous free VPN service provider. The problem with most free VPNs is that since they are not making any money from subscriptions to their service, they look for alternative ways to make do. It has advertising partners like Facebook, UnityAd, Vungle, and AdMob. VPN Proxy Master has a nosy logging policy and lacks extensive security features. It is better to find an excellent alternative VPN if you are not a fan of these features.
c. Solo VPN
Another VPN that offers free services in exchange for unwanted ads popping on your screens. There are no extensive or exciting components in this VPN. You cannot confidently say this VPN is secure as there is no concrete information on this. It also has no DNS leak protection. In summary, this is another free VPN you want to avoid.
d. Snap VPN
Minor security features, nosy logging policy, no torrenting, lack of popular streaming support, and aggressive ads are features of this mobile VPN application. Although it uses strong encryption to protect your data, it still does not guarantee your privacy.
e. Unlimited Free VPN Monster
This Android-only VPN service provider’s free version will expose you to aggressive ads. It lacks essential security features and doesn’t seem to offer any information about the type of encryption it uses. Although it is clear about the data it collects, it has not been transparent about its owners and location. The lack of transparency is enough reason to avoid Unlimited Free VPN Monster.
Innovative Connecting not being transparent to the users of these seven applications is worrying. What else are they hiding if they cannot be truthful to their users? It is advisable to stay away from their applications until you can confidently trust that your data is safe in their hands.
2. SuperSoftTech
SuperSoftTech officially operates in Singapore, but it belongs to Jinrong Zheng: a Chinese citizen living in Beijing. He has developed many mobile applications that usually begin with “Super.” Mobile applications developed by him include SuperVPN, VPN Payment Tool, and LinkVPN. Let’s take a brief look at one of these VPNs:
a. SuperVPN
SuperVPN is one of the famous mobile VPNs. It has over a hundred million downloads on Google Play Store. It has the same privacy policy as LinkVPN, which is from the same developer. Its privacy policy gives hints that it might oblige if a superior authority requests your data because it scans IPs against a blacklist.
SuperVPN also stores data in the US and UK according to its privacy policy; however, it is unclear what data this VPN collects and stores. Since users don’t require an account to use SuperVPN, it is confusing why there is a need to store any user data. Although this application has the necessary security protocols to keep you secure, it requests unnecessary permissions from your device. Accepting some of these permissions can leave your data vulnerable. Other things to be worried about include the number of unwanted ads you will encounter and potential malware infection. Read more about SuperVPN at this article written by Forbes.
3. Other Chinese Firms
There are a few other firms that have concrete links to China, and they include the following:
a. Newbreed Network
Newbreed Network has about six VPN applications to its name. It claims to operate in Singapore, but the websites of a couple of its VPN applications are in Chinese. VPN Green, SGreen, MasterVPN, NodeVPN, TXVPN, and AirGO Fast are applications with links to Newbreed Network.
Hotspot VPN
The director of Hotspot VPN is Chinese and is resident in China. VPN applications include Free VPN, Hotspot VPN, Secure VPN, and Easy VPN.
Hi Security
Hi Security holds three VPNs: Hi VPN Free, Hi VPN Pro, and Net Master. These applications are part of Shenzhen HAWK Internet, a company under TCL Corporation, a notable Chinese company.
LEILEI
LEILEI owns Yunfan VPN and Bit VPN.
Trustworthy Free VPNs To Try
Most of these VPNs with secret Chinese owners offer free services. This is perhaps the main reason why they have so many users. Finding a reliable free VPN service provider should not be a problem. Here are a couple of VPNs you can trust to keep you secure:
1. ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN operates from Switzerland. Industry-standard encryption and security protocols ensure that your devices are safe when browsing the internet. It also has a kill switch to prevent your IP address from exposure. More security features will require you to upgrade to a paid plan. Its apps are compatible with every main platform.
ProtonVPN does not have a bandwidth limit on its free version. So you can use it without the fear of being cut off. You can access servers in only three countries, but you cannot unblock streaming content or use it for torrenting. Upgrading to a paid plan is still cheaper than most VPNs, and you get excellent features.
2. Windscribe
Windscribe is a Canadian-based company that boasts of a strict No-Log Policy. Despite receiving over thirty requests to release data, they continuously prove to be trustworthy by declining each time. The free version comes with a full suite of security features, including a kill switch, multi-hop, DNS/IPv6 leak protection, secure hotspot, and stealth mode. Many free VPN applications cannot boast of having half of these features.
Although its speed is not great, you will have no problems unblocking streaming sites depending on the location of the server you select. The only slight issue is that it has a bandwidth limit of 10 GigaBytes per month. Overall, Windscribe is reliable and does a great job of protecting you.
Conclusion
Trust is an essential feature of the VPN market, and VPN service providers must be transparent to users about their owners. These Chinese firms discussed here have not been forthright with the general public and their users. Privacy and security are the two crucial features of VPN applications. A company has no business in the VPN market if its users cannot trust them to keep their data safe and secure. It is vital for you as a user to know which VPN providers you can trust and those you can’t.