Rene Millman

NordVPN has become Crystal Palace’s Official VPN Partner in a deal featuring digital campaigns to educate supporters about phishing, scams, malware, trackers and risks associated with public Wi-Fi. The partnership is NordVPN’s second major Premier League sponsorship in a week, following its agreement with Aston Villa. Crystal Palace’s Paul O’Brien and NordVPN’s Bob Brinklow said the collaboration will promote practical online-security guidance, while supporters can receive four months free with a two-year NordVPN plan.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham was targeted by a scammer impersonating senior US aide Susie Wiles, illustrating how personal smartphones and private messaging apps can bypass otherwise sophisticated government security defenses. Surfshark security manager Miguel Fornes argued that attackers increasingly exploit people rather than firewalls, while generative AI has made convincing voice and identity cloning accessible to ordinary criminals. The incident highlights the growing importance of scam protection alongside traditional antivirus and enterprise security measures.

Proton VPN reported a sharp increase in sign-ups from Oman after widespread reports that TikTok had become inaccessible, with usage reaching 600% above baseline and later remaining more than 200% above normal. Although some users regained access, the sustained demand suggests that disruption may continue. Oman has not officially confirmed a block, and its telecom regulator previously attributed a similar TikTok outage to technical problems. Proton VPN representatives condemned the suspected restrictions, saying they could harm free expression, political discussion, and e-commerce. The article explains how VPN encryption and foreign servers can help users bypass ISP-level restrictions and notes Proton VPN’s popularity because of its uncapped free plan and no-logs policy.

A European Parliament-commissioned study recommends mandatory EU-wide measures to block illegal live sports streams within 30 minutes, including real-time blocking orders affecting ISPs, CDNs, VPNs, and DNS resolvers. The proposal draws on Italy’s Piracy Shield system, but experts warn that imprecise IP and DNS filtering could block legitimate websites and threaten online privacy. The study calls for narrowly targeted, time-limited blocks with judicial or administrative oversight, while acknowledging that fragmented, expensive legal sports subscriptions contribute to piracy. The recommendations are not yet law, but EU review of digital copyright rules could lead to faster and more harmonised enforcement.

Proton appears to be exploring a privacy-focused web browser after advertising for a software engineer with Chromium-based browser experience. The proposed browser could include anti-fingerprinting, content blocking, reduced telemetry and fewer third-party dependencies across macOS, Windows and Linux, but there is no confirmed release plan. Proton users have reacted negatively, objecting to another Chromium-based browser and urging the company to focus on bugs and missing features in existing services such as its calendar. Proton declined to comment.