If you thought VPN service providers were safe, think again. NordVPN just announced that it was hacked in 2018, leaving its customers in a state of shock and fury. There had already been rumors that the company’s security was vulnerable. Some even went as far as making a claim that the company had already been hacked. Now, the company has officially confirmed it. The reason why NordVPN has been hacked is probably because it used an expired internal private key.
Why do people use VPN services?
Many people are increasingly dependent on VPNs to access the internet. There are many reasons why people prefer to use VPN these days.
- Governments are increasingly banning websites and making even regular sites inaccessible.
- Censorship tools have become stringent, and authorities are regularly spying on web users.
- Folks use VPN in order to bypass censors and access websites that are banned.
- Some users use VPN to maintain confidentiality, especially in countries where one could be jailed for minor reasons. Journalists and reporters often use VPN to maintain anonymity.
- VPNs channel all browsing through a pipe, which ensures privacy is protected.
- People also use VPNs to access sites that are not available in their countries. All the content on Netflix and Hulu may not be available in some countries.
What is NordVPN going to do?
NordVPN has been busy trying to calm down its users. IT maintains that it does not track, collect or share users’ private data. In addition, the company representatives confirmed that it has a “zero logs” policy, which means, browsing history is not recorded. NordVPN also blamed a data center in Finland, where it rents its servers.
Unfortunately, justifications and blame-shifting may not help NordVPN to regain the trust it had built over the years. Most people are averse to risks, and when it comes to VPN people are doubly cautious. Considering how whistleblowers and even regular internet users are being censored and scrutinized, NordVPN users may feel very vulnerable at the moment.
Right now, most people are fuming that the company spent millions on marketing and advertising, but very little on actual security. Certainly, NordVPN will have a lot of cleaning up to do. It needs to start with revamping its security measures. It may also need to calm down its investors and customers alike. How it is going to do that is something that we can tell in the coming few days.
