APC lists dangers of social networking through VPN

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alerted Nigerians of the many risks involved in accessing contents, especially 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.
In a statement issued yesterday by the National Secretary of the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), John James Akpanudoedehe, the party 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 is not adequately secured.
It said this advice is necessary because despite the massive compliance by Nigerians to the federal government’s suspension of Twitter operations in the country, some individuals in the country have resorted to VPN to assess Twitter whose unwholesome activities were detrimental to peace and public order in the country.
The statement said “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 that entails.”
In addition, the party said many individuals and organisations using VPN have lost their investments after compromising the security of their devices, adding that 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.