FlashVPN - Secure & private browsing

FlashVPN offers a Free VPN Proxy service that requires no configuration and enables one-click connection. Users benefit from premium bandwidth and experience no limitations on connection time. 

The key features of FlashVPN include:

1.Quick connection to the fastest VPN server with just One-click

2.VPN servers distributed across various locations - United States, England, and Japan

3.Ability to access geographically restricted websites

4.Unlimited connection time

5.Privacy protection through secure VPN encryption

6.Works without the need for system root access.

Privacy

A VPN provider's privacy policy is its opportunity to win your trust by spelling out exactly what data it collects, what it doesn't, and how it does its very best to protect your privacy at all times.

FlashVPN Free VPN Proxy's lack of a website meant we were already struggling to trust it, and it doesn't help that the privacy policy is accessed by an HTTP connection to a raw IP address (http://139.162.156.236/assets/privacy.html.) 

Checking the address out on Google, we found it was also used by LinkVPN and a number of now obsolete VPN apps, again with no real indication who was behind any of them.

The privacy policy claims: 'We do not monitor your traffic. The only thing we monitor if the IPs you are using to enter our servers are not blacklisted in respected Black lists databases, like spamhaus.org.'

Well, okay. Unfortunately, it spoils the effect by going on: 'We may disclose information we collect from you: To the law enforcement organizations, if we obliged to, and Information required in suspect of breach of the law.' So, it does collect information, then?

The policy certainly gives that impression, stating: 'We keep all information on highly secured servers based in United Kingdom and USA. All Information might be transferred to other servers we could use and we will take reasonably care with these possible transfers.'

We wouldn't take this too seriously. Our guess is that FlashVPN Free VPN Proxy is using a boilerplate privacy policy containing some cobbled-together sentences which tell users what it thinks they want to hear, and if it is collecting information, we'd be astonished if this is being 'carefully transferred ' to 'highly secured servers based in the United Kingdom and USA.'

This does mean we've absolutely no idea what FlashVPN Free VPN Proxy might be doing with your data, though, and the 'company' doesn't seem eager to tell us. If you place any value in the transparency or trustworthiness of your VPN provider, this probably isn't the service for you.

Permissions

App permissions can sometimes offer clues about their activities, and FlashVPN Free Proxy's are particularly interesting.

FlashVPN Free VPN Proxy asks for control over many network functions, much as you would expect for a VPN app: to view Wi-Fi connections, receive data from the internet, change network connectivity, and connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi.

It also asks for the 'phone status and identity' permission, which is a little more dubious. Does the app need to recognize when you're receiving an incoming phone call? We don't see why. This permission could be used to obtain your IMEI number, though, a unique identifier for your device. If a developer captured this during connection, it would allow building up browsing histories over time for individual devices.

It asks for the right to draw over other apps. That's not uncommon for apps which display ads, because full screen ads will always obscure something else, but it's still not a permission you should accept unless you trust the provider. (An app which can draw over others might be able to fool you into taking actions you wouldn't follow otherwise.)

The app asks for permission to read, modify or delete your photos, media, and whatever else you might be storing, too. Many legitimate apps do the same, and this doesn't necessarily mean FlashVPN will behave maliciously, but it leaves that possibility open. As the developer has given us absolutely no reason to trust it, that has to be a concern.