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General News of Wednesday, 9 June 2021

Source: www.mynigeria.com

VPN can expose your bank accounts, data to hackers - APC warns Nigerians

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The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has cautioned Nigerians about the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) in accessing social media content.

According to the party, this could ultimately expose users to cybercrimes and heinous activities of hackers.

It also said warned that bank accounts and data of users of the communication platform are vulnerable to hackers.

These alerts were contained in a statement yesterday in Abuja by the Secretary to APC Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John James Akpanduoehehe, The Nations said.

The party scribe said the warning became necessary as some individuals had decided to access Twitter at all cost, following the suspension of its operations in the country.

The statement reads: “All Progressives Congress (APC) alerts Nigerians to the many risks involved in accessing contents, especially the social media using the Virtual Private Network (VPN), which is vulnerable to the heinous activities of criminal hackers who can steal data and money in bank accounts.”

The party chief warned legitimate private and public entities operating in the country to avoid the many dangers of exposing themselves to cybercrimes through the use of VPN, which he said is not adequately secured.

“This advisory is necessary because despite the massive compliance by Nigerians to the Federal Government’s suspension of Twitter operations in the country, some individuals have resorted to VPN to assess Twitter, whose unwholesome activities were detrimental to peace and public order in the country.

“Those using the VPN are advised to desist in their own interests because of its risks, which include data theft, illegal access to strategic company documents and possible economic espionage.

“The APC emphasises that VPN users expose their devices to vulnerabilities because the network allows third parties access to personal data and changes user location to another country, which compromises data integrity. Your record can be traced to another country that is not yours, with all the risks it entails.

“Many individuals and organisations using VPN have lost their investments after compromising the security of their devices. The APC strongly advises that Nigerians should avoid installing or using VPN to access social networking sites in order to protect their privacy and security online. This is in our individual and collective interest.”