[February 21, 2018]

100M People Worldwide Download AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield in 2017, Bringing Total Users to 600 Million

AnchorFree, the world's largest Internet Freedom Platform utilized by users for security, privacy, and access to global content, today announced its Hotspot Shield™ app has reached 600 million user downloads across 200 countries, protecting users online and enabling access to all of the world's information globally. This influx in downloads comes at a critical time as security threats and government censorship are on the rise.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180221005529/en/

Major Global Events for Online Privacy (Graphic: AnchorFree)

In the last 12 months, 100 million users alone downloaded Hotspot Shield™. Recent internet crackdowns-as well as catastrophic cyber events like the Equifax data breach, which impacted approximately 145 million people in the U.S.-have fueled the exponential demand for a reliable solution that helps people restore their essential human rights for privacy, freedom of information, and speech. The grwth in downloads placed Hotspot Shield as the #1 top grossing productivity app on the iPhone (News - Alert).

AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield technology has been integrated by 60% of the world's largest security companies to provide Wi-Fi security, privacy, and access to their users. App developers are also protecting their customers by integrating the technology into their apps. The Hotspot Shield technology also preserves net neutrality by preventing Internet Service Providers from censoring, throttling, slowing down or in any way discriminating against any app developer.

"We believe that control over our digital lives, including the safety of our online data and access to all of the world's information, should be in the hands of the people, not in the hands of large corporations, governments, and hackers," said David Gorodyansky, founder and CEO of AnchorFree. "We are committed to providing our award-winning Hotspot Shield™ app for free to every person on the planet. Enabling users to secure their data, bypass content roadblocks, and prevent throttling from Internet Service Providers is part of AnchorFree's mission."

As breaches like Equifax reveal, people across the globe are actively seeking to protect their personal information online. The Hotspot Shield™ app encrypts all internet traffic on the user's devices by sending it through AnchorFree's secure servers. This allows people to safely and anonymously browse the internet, while securing everything the user does on their computer or smartphone.

Another important factor influencing Hotspot Shield's™ popularity was the discovery of serious vulnerabilities such as the KRACK, which rendered virtually every Wi-Fi connection in the world insecure unless protected by a VPN. With billions of connected devices on the market, cyber-attacks are at a record high, and people are seeking out technology to help protect themselves.

In 2017, more than 2 million Americans downloaded Hotspot Shield™ in the first 30 days after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) rolled back regulations that prevented Internet Service Providers from collecting and selling user data. Millions more followed after the FCC voted to repeal the Net Neutrality rules in December.

In some countries, the number of Hotspot Shield™ users already exceeds 10% of those countries' total population.

About AnchorFree

AnchorFree's mission is to provide secure access to the world's information for every person on the planet. AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield™ application is the world's largest internet freedom & privacy platform. Hotspot Shield has been downloaded by 600 million people globally, putting users in control of their privacy, security, and enabling access to all of the world's information. Hotspot Shield™ is the most popular mobile security application on the Apple (News - Alert) App store and is among the top 100 most popular mobile applications overall globally.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180221005529/en/

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