Cyberstalking Suspect Arrested After VPN Providers Shared Logs With the FBI

From Bleepingcomputer

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VPN providers often advertise their products as a method of surfing the web anonymously, claiming they never store logs of user activity, but a recent criminal case shows that at least some, do store user activity logs.

The case in question is of Ryan Lin, a 24-year-old man from Newton, Massachusetts, arrested on Thursday, October 5, on charges of cyberstalking.

According to an FBI affidavit published by the US Department of Justice, Lin is accused of harassing and cyberstalking an unnamed 24-year-old woman — referred to under the generic name of Jennifer Smith — between April 2016 and up until his arrest.

It all started with a Craigslist ad
The two met after Lin answered a Craigslist ad and moved in with Smith and her two other roommates. The FBI says that soon after Lin moved in with Smith, she was the victim of multiple hacking, harassing, and cyberstalking incidents.

Investigators believe that Lin got access to passwords of some of Smith's online profiles because Smith didn't have a lock on her room door, and didn't password-protect her computer.

Authorities say that Lin allegedly accessed Smit's Apple iCloud account from where he downloaded personal photos, and also her Google Drive account from where he took her private journal.

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So now that we know that VPN companies can't be trusted to not keep logs what is a privacy concerned internet user to do now?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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