The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned Nigerians against the resort to using the Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access the banned microblogging platform, Twitter.
The party in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, warned that many private investments have already been scammed as a result of using VPN.
The statement signed by the National Secretary of the APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, said there are many risks involved in accessing contents, especially social media, using the VPN which, according to him, is vulnerable to the heinous activities of criminal hackers who can steal data and money in bank accounts.
Akpanudoedehe further 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, according to him, is not adequately secured.
He said the advise was necessary, noting that, despite the massive compliance by Nigerians to the federal government’s ban of Twitter, some individuals in the country have resorted to VPN to access the social media platform “whose unwholesome activities were detrimental to peace and public order in the country.”
Part of the statement reads: “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 emphasizes that VPN users expose their devices to vulnerabilities because the network allows third party- 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 in order to protect their privacy and security online. This is in our individual and collective interest”.
