The number of average daily downloads for VPNs in Russia has increased by more than 1000%. With that, Surfshack, a popular VPN provider, said the last time that the company had seen this much increase in sales was when the Hong Kong Security Law was passed in China.
Russia Sees Over 1000% Increase in VPN Downloads
According to the story by Independent.co.uk, Russia has seen an increase of more than 1000% in VPN usage over the course of the last month. This is as citizens are now looking to get information coming from out of the country with the increase of external sanctions as well as international censorship.
Russia has reportedly blocked external news organizations, including the popular BBC and other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. A number of companies have also pulled their services from both Belarus and Russia, including Microsoft, Apple, Sony, and even Google.
Estimates Show the Average Daily Downloads Increased from 16k to 700k
As per Top10VPN, the search traffic for VPN acronyms has increased in the past 30 days. The increase of VPN searches, as per the website, has increased by a massive 1092%.
AppFigures reported that downloads for Russia's "top VPN software" have increased from just 16,000 average daily downloads to 700,000 per day ever since February 24. The number of average daily downloads has increased by a whopping 4375%.
Surfshark Compared Current Boom to China's Surveillance Laws Period
Surfshark compared the current situation to when China increased its surveillance laws. As per the company's statement to Bloomberg, the last time a similar increase in sales happened was when the Hong Kong Security Law was passed in China in May 2020.
As per the article by Independent.co.uk, there is a possibility that tools like VPNs could become a "necessity" for citizens of Russia should the country decide to disconnect from the Internet completely. This is something that Russia tried to experiment with back in 2019 should the whole country suffer significant cyberattacks, as seen in an article by BBC.
Ministry of Digital Development Published Two Documents on Cyber Measures
Hacking groups, including Anonymous, have reportedly been trying to disrupt operations in Russia along with a "volunteer IT army." In addition, the Ministry of Digital Development published two different documents outlining certain measures that the country wants its own state-owned websites to take coordinated actions in order for them to defend telecommunication services across the Internet.
VPNs work by shifting the user's IP address from their country or location to another one to avoid certain prohibited websites. With the increase of VPN use in Russia, more and more users are trying to bypass the restrictions imposed in the country.
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Written by Urian B.