Russia along with Iraq, North Korea and China is at it again, claimed Hillary Clinton, and seemingly, for all the right reasons. A Russian hacker suspected of breaching the US Democratic National Committee has released internal financial documents, donor lists and secret memos which were flagged as ‘private and confidential’. However, Russians officials have denied any involvement whatsoever stating “someone must’ve forgot their password”. The news made the presumed presidential nominee speak out and vow to focus more on cyber security, citing it as an eminent threat to the US.
On the other hand, Russian lawmakers recently passed a bill requiring cryptographic encryption backdoors in all messenger apps along with encoded email servers having a large user base. This move is aimed at granting unrestrained access to Russian intelligence agencies within the country. Russia also has an “out-load” list of websites. The websites on this list are blocked in Russia because they are deemed inappropriate for Russian internet users. This clearly undermines the right of users to have unrestricted access to the content of their choice.
The bill introduced by Russian lawmakers has a strict fine of $15,000 and it could potentially negatively affect the likes of WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber, since they provide encrypted, secure messaging service to their users. If these apps refuse to comply with the new rules, then it would not only spell trouble for these apps, but their users as well. Come to think of it, the companies are damned if they provide security and encryption to their users and damned if they don’t provide the same. Can it get any more ironic then this?
It’s clear that the Russian government will keep coming after companies by pushing them to create a backdoor, which will in turn sabotage cyber security of their users. If this bill is put into practice, then hundreds of millions of Russian users will be at a huge risk.
How do you protect yourself against backdoors?
The best way for Russian and other internet users to safeguard themselves against prying eyes is to have their entire data channel encrypted!
This can be easily done with PureVPN, which employs military-grade 256-bit encryption. PureVPN is based in Hong Kong – a place with relaxed internet and data retention laws. PureVPN encrypts your entire connection and has a network of 550+ servers based in 140+ countries. This gives you a supreme level of privacy and security so you don’t have to worry about any backdoor bill prying on your private data.
Check PureVPNs Review
If hackers or governments do get a hold of your data, all they’ll be getting is gibberish information, which will be of no use to them. Don’t be naive thinking that your data is of no use to the government. It could take only one message to trigger a false alarm about you.
