Contd. Blocking Tor against WebTunnel at preliminary research WebTunnel. This the time conducted suggests of the leak. However, by students at Mesalab Geedge Networks is aware our on that investigation potential uncovered methods WebTunnel was an to block effective method of censorship circumvention, but that, at the time of the leak, they had not yet developed effective blocking measures. We have coordinated the responsible disclosure of these findings with the Tor Project. We want to emphasize that we have not found any evidence indicating that Geedge Networks has discovered or is exploiting any previously unknown vulnerabilities in the Tor software or its design. Blocking VPNs A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a service that creates a secure, encrypted connection between a user’s device and a remote server, masking the user’s IP address. It allows users to route their internet traffic through different locations, making it appear as if they are accessing the internet from a different country. While the primary use of this technology is to secure communications between corporate networks, VPNs are also commonly used for censorship circumvention by helping users bypass government or network-imposed restrictions. By connecting to servers in regions where content is not blocked, VPN users can access websites and services that may be restricted blocking in of their home country. VPNs interferes The with rules people for blocking using VPNs VPNs for vary by country. circumvention as well Blanket as, for example, legal compliance in corporate settings. Government clients provide Geedge with a list of VPN applications they want blocked and Geedge develops the blocking rules for the client. Leaked documents show these efforts primarily target mobile VPN apps. To create the blocking rules, Geedge Networks uses reverse engineering, employing both static and dynamic analysis. Static analysis involves decompiling the app’s source code to find APIs involves that return running the the list of VPN app servers, and which analyzing can its then network be blocked. traffic to Dynamic identify analysis patterns for blocking. Evidence from the leak suggests that Geedge Networks maintains paid accounts with popular VPN providers for the purpose of analyzing and blocking their apps. TSG hardware can also identify popular VPN protocols like IPSec, OpenVPN and WireGuard.