VPNpro research: this Chinese-linked company secretly owns 10 VPNs with 86 million installs

Innovative Connecting is actually a Chinese company that secretly owns 10 VPN products with a total of 86 million installs under its belt.

Recent research by the cybersecurity experts at VPNpro shows that the popular mobile VPN developer Innovative Connecting is actually a Chinese company that secretly owns 10 VPN products with a total of 86 million installs under its belt.

The study also revealed that two of those VPN products are under its other developer name, Lemon Clove, and another two by Autumn Breeze 2018.

Interestingly, most of the popular mobile-only VPNs that VPNpro analyzed are actually Chinese (run by Chinese nationals or actually located in China). Any data that is held in mainland China is wide open to access by Chinese authorities, confirming US Senators’ recent fears of American data falling into Chinese or Russian hands.

Innovative Connecting VPNs products

Innovative Connecting owns the following 10 VPN products:

1. VPN Master – Free Proxy
2. VPN Proxy Master (Pro)
3. VPN Proxy Master (Lite)
4. Turbo VPN
5. Unlimited Free VPN
6. HOT VPN
7. Snap VPN
8. VPN Robot
9. VPN Sofast
10. Turbo VPN Private Browser

Source: VPNpro

What is the relationship between Innovative Connecting, Lemon Clove and ALL Connected?

VPNpro’s research reveals that there is a clear relationship between these three companies. Innovative Connecting has more than a strong business relationship with Lemon Clove, which creates the popular Snap VPN and VPN Robot apps.

Lemon Clove and Innovative Connecting share the same secretary, Loo Ping Yoo, and key addresses. Both Lemon Clove’s website and Innovative Connecting’s website are the same, with only small changes in text.

If you search VPN Proxy Master on Apple’s App Store, you can see the developer name appears as ALL Connected, while Innovative Connecting listed as the developer on Google Play.

ALL Connected’s Turbo and Master VPN are on similar Cloudfront domains that link to Innovative Connecting. The App Store policy for VPN Master (developed by Innovative Connecting) is hosted on ALL Connected’s domain. All the policies for these VPN apps have the exact same broken English and typos.

Innovative Connecting’s Director seems to be Danny Chen, the well-known Chinese entrepreneur and CEO behind Linksure. Beyond that, the researchers discovered that the email address used to register turbovpn.co (developed by Innovative Connecting) also registered lemonclove.net, vpnsnap.com, and many others.

Source: VPNpro

Why does it matter if a company owns multiple VPN products?

There is nothing wrong with owning multiple VPN brands – but there must be transparency between the company and its users. Trust is the most important factor for most users of VPN services. Other than this, there are two further crucial issues

1. Privacy

In a recent US survey, 95% of internet users said they were either somewhat concerned or very concerned about their privacy. However, if VPNs are actually located in a 5/9/14 Eyes country, which are normally high-surveillance countries, or in a repressive country like China or Russia, users’ data is most likely already in those governments’ hands.

2. Security

If a VPN’s parent company is untrustworthy, including having weak security or actively engaged in malicious activities, it can be a big problem. This can lead to users’ data being stolen and sold on the black market, or even having their computers hacked into.

Bottom line

There are thousands of VPN companies out there, and unfortunately many of them have weak security and privacy features, or are outright malicious in wanting to steal or sell user data.

To help you find a trustworthy VPN, you should follow these steps below:

• carefully read the privacy policy of a VPN provider
• read in-depth reviews of a VPN company on different platforms
• ask for a recommendations on different communities and see their views
• check if the company is GDPR compliant
• read their privacy features
• check if they have had any scandals or breaches

With the right homework, you can find a trustworthy VPN that actually helps safeguard your online activity.

About The Author: Susan Alexandra is is a cybersecurity and privacy enthusiast. She is a small business owner, traveler and investor of cryptocurrencies. Susan’s inbox is open for new ideas and stories, you can share the story ideas to susanalexandra67(at)gmail(dot)com

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – VPNs, privacy)

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