Seven Hong Kong VPN providers accused of exposing private user data – Engadget

A minimum of some of the details went offline, although it was visible in IoT online search engine Shodan.io for 18 days.
Among the providers, UFO VPN, claimed that it couldnt lock down its information rapidly due to pandemic-related personnel modifications. It also preserved that the logs were just used for efficiency monitoring and were allegedly anonymized. CompariTech and VPNMentor say UFOs claims are incorrect, however, pointing to sample information that points out explicit names. As it stands, the zero-log claim is clearly incorrect.
The incident highlights the issues with white label VPN services. Its all too simple for some companies to rebrand services without being held to represent their claims. It might be better to stick to significant brand names if youre concerned about the privacy of your information.
A data leakage like this not only weakens the privacy of these VPNs, however risks making it simple for authorities to crack down on dissidents. While its uncertain how much of the info was made public, this could easily leave the VPN firms customers scrambling to switch suppliers and change login information.