Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Apple and Google\u2019s mobile stores have been hosting several popular \u201cprivate browsing\u201d apps operated by a company connected to a Chinese cyber security firm blacklisted by the US government.At least five free virtual private networks (VPNs) available through the US tech groups\u2019 app stores have links to Shanghai-listed Qihoo 360, according to a new report by research group Tech Transparency Project, as well as additional findings by the Financial Times.Qihoo, formally known as 360 Security Technology, was sanctioned by the US in 2020 for alleged Chinese military links. The US Department of Defense later added Qihoo to a list of Chinese military-affiliated companies.TTP\u2019s report, which also found that 20 of the 100 most downloaded apps on Apple\u2019s app store have Chinese owners, warns that \u201cmillions of Americans are inadvertently sending their internet traffic to Chinese companies\u201d.The revelations come in a climate of rising concerns in the US about Chinese tech companies and the national security risks they may pose. VPNs allow users to sidestep geographical restrictions on websites and firewalls, offering an encrypted connection to a server through which they can access content that would otherwise be blocked in their country. But connecting to the network also gives the VPN oversight of the user\u2019s internet activity. China\u2019s national security laws require all companies and individuals to co-operate with state intelligence investigations and to hand over data if asked.\u00a0\u00a0The five Qihoo-linked apps \u2014 Turbo VPN, VPN Proxy Master, Thunder VPN, Snap VPN and Signal Secure VPN \u2014 were available on Apple and Google\u2019s US stores as of last week. After the FT contacted Apple for comment, Thunder VPN and Snap VPN were pulled from its store. According to estimates from Sensor Tower, three of the apps in the portfolio have received more than 1mn downloads from the Apple\u2019s App Store and Google\u2019s Play Store combined in 2025.\u00a0The portfolio is operated by Singapore-based Innovative Connecting Pte, which is in turn owned by Lemon Seed Technology, based in the Cayman Islands, according to the app listings and Singapore business records.Qihoo told investors it paid $69.9mn for Lemon Seed and two other companies in January 2020. In May that year, the US added Qihoo to its trade blacklist, known as the entity list. The move cut it off from US technology and potentially endangered its VPN apps, which entirely target global users as they are off limits in China.By September, Qihoo said it had decided to sell. It told investors it was \u201crethinking its overseas strategy\u201d and had sold what it called \u201cProject L\u201d for $70.1mn. It did not disclose a buyer.\u00a0But the Guangzhou-based subsidiary of Qihoo set up in December 2019 to employ the developers in China running the apps remained part of Qihoo.\u00a0In 2021, the subsidiary\u2019s name was changed to Guangzhou Lianchuang Technology. In 2023, it was finally sold to a newly established Beijing firm for Rmb1, according to local business records seen by the FT.\u00a0The Beijing firm\u2019s majority owner was named Chen Ningyi. A man with the same name has run Qihoo\u2019s phone security department and is the sole director of Lemon Seed.\u00a0When the FT recently visited Guangzhou Lianchuang\u2019s office, two developers said they were working on the foreign VPNs and that their company was tied to Qihoo.\u00a0\u201cYou could say that we\u2019re part of them and you could say we\u2019re not,\u201d said one of the programmers, without providing a name. \u201cIt\u2019s complicated.\u201dIn recent recruitment listings, Guangzhou Lianchuang says its apps operate in more than 220 countries and that it has 10mn daily users. It is currently hiring for a position whose responsibilities include \u201cmonitoring and analysing platform data\u201d. The right candidate will be \u201cwell-versed in American culture\u201d, the posting says.Apple and Google both have policies prohibiting VPN apps from using or collecting user data without their consent, with Apple expressly prohibiting them from sharing any data with third parties.\u00a0The apps themselves have their own privacy policies, but Matthew Green, a cryptography expert at Johns Hopkins University who has audited the security of individual VPNs, said it was not easy to ensure they were being followed.\u201cVPNs are a big exception to [Apple\u2019s phone privacy efforts], because they attach themselves to the root network connection of your phone,\u201d with all online activity going through the VPN service, Green said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a very binding promise, and not something that is very easy to enforce.\u201dApple removed VPN apps \u2014 which allowed users to bypass China\u2019s firewall \u2014 from its App Store in China in 2017, in a move developers decried as a sign of the company siding with state censorship. Google withdrew from China in 2010 and its Play Store is not available in the country.Apple said it was in full compliance with the relevant laws and regulations and that it would take action to remove apps that break its strict VPN rules or otherwise make them comply. It added that its app store rules did not restrict the ownership of apps by citizens or corporations in specific countries. Google said it was \u201ccommitted to compliance with applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws\u201d, and that \u201cwhen we locate accounts that may violate these laws, our related policies or terms of service, we take appropriate action\u201d.In January, Google announced it was introducing \u201cverified\u201d badges for VPN apps on the Play Store that took extra steps to prioritise safety. Turbo VPN received a \u201cverified\u201d badge.Innovative Connecting Pte said the content of the article was not accurate and declined to comment further. Guangzhou Lianchuang declined to comment. Qihoo and Chen Ningyi did not respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Apple and Google\u2019s mobile stores have been hosting several popular \u201cprivate browsing\u201d apps operated by a company connected to a Chinese cyber security firm blacklisted by the US government.At least five free virtual private networks (VPNs) available through the US tech groups\u2019 app stores<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-260155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}