Twitter ban: Desist from VPN, APC warns Nigerians

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged Nigerians against using the Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access social media.

The APC said it is vulnerable to the heinous activities of criminal hackers who can steal data and money in bank accounts.

Secretary of the party’s Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe, in a statement, today cautioned 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 it said was 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 in the country 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 that entail.

“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 to protect their privacy and security online.

“This is in our individual and collective interest,” the party said.

The federal government had last Friday suspended Twitter operations in the country after accusing the site of encouraging crises in the country.

However, many Nigerians are still using Twitter via VPN and other applications which protects their location and allow them to change it at will.