Millions and millions of people today are using a free VPN service for their mobile devices, due to the fact that these free VPN apps are available in abundance on the app store. However, don’t think that because there are millions of people using the free apps, it means that these are good apps for you to use. The recent security research has discovered that a big percentage of these free mobile VPN applications are dangerous to use, since they are embedded with malicious source codes that are designed to risk the user’s data. Moreover, most of these apps are rated high on the app store, so anyone might be tempted to try the app and use its private connection service without the slightest doubt about its security.
While a big percentage of these mobile apps are malicious, there are still a good number of VPN apps that can be used for light browsing on your mobile device. In other words, there are still a considerable number of apps that are fairly safe to use, albeit it is not recommended for you to use these apps for online transactions, or any other purposes that require your full privacy. It is still important, though, for you to determine the bad VPN apps, so that you don’t be a victim of these bad applications. Here are 5 big signs of a bad and malicious mobile VPN app:
1. It Is Embedded With Malicious Coding When Scanned With Antivirus Software
When you install these free VPN applications via the official app store, you might not realize that these apps contain malicious source codes embedded in it. You might think that it works properly after you open it, without any problem. But, you shouldn’t rely on the appearance of the apps. You have to scan it with proper antivirus software that supports for mobile app scanning, to know exactly whether these apps are good or bad. Most of the time, bad and malicious virtual private network apps can be easily detected by your antivirus software. If you discover that an app has malicious coding, stop using the app and uninstall it immediately.
2. It Quickly Drains Your Mobile Phone Battery
Using a VPN app on your mobile device shouldn’t affect your battery too much, since it uses the regular internet connection that you have, and it merely encrypts the connection. So, if you find out that the app is draining your mobile phone battery too much, while you only use the internet normally, then there is a big chance that the mobile app is malicious. It might send malicious data to the third-party servers and creates constant communication with those servers, which end up draining your mobile device’s battery quickly.
3. It Makes Your Internet Connection Very Slow
A good mobile VPN application will use your normal internet connection without slowing down the speed of your connection at all. Unless you are connecting from a location with lack of wireless signal, you should be able to connect to the internet using VPN with normal speed. However, with malicious mobile virtual private network apps, your normal mobile connection can be slowed down due to various reasons. These reasons include constant data transmission that you don’t authorize, slow server performance, server overload, and so on.
4. It Performs More Data Transmission That Eats Your Bandwidth
When using a bad and malicious mobile VPN app, you should take a look at the data consumption of your mobile device. If the mobile device shows that it uses more data on your connection, it means that the VPN connection might eat your bandwidth by performing more data transmission. Usually, this often happens, since malicious VPN services will keep on transmitting data even when you are idle. This constitutes an unauthorized data transmission, and you should stay away from a service that does this.
5. It Disturbs Your Regular Phone Operations
Did you see that your regular phone operations are getting disturbed after installing that particular VPN app? For instance, you might discover that it is getting more difficult to call someone from your contact list, or you might notice that your SMS app is not functioning properly. Also, if you notice that somebody is trying to log into your social media accounts, then it is a big sign that your mobile VPN app is dangerous. A trustworthy VPN app will not have this type of behavior, and it will always keep your phone secure without disturbing its regular operations.
Those are the 5 big signs of a bad and malicious mobile VPN app. Once you discover this app on your mobile device, make sure to uninstall it immediately and restart your device. Also, make sure that you don’t download these types of apps for your mobile device again. For a true protection for your online activity, you should only use a reputable and trustworthy VPN app from a well-known VPN company.