Does iOS 18.5 (22F76) protect against Fake Captcha AdWare

The VPN you're using is doing absolutely nothing to protect your privacy or secure your data. It's actually doing exactly the opposite.

Get rid of it. Using a VPN to access the Internet is ineffective at best.

There is no such thing as "adware" on an iPhone. The only place to get apps is the App Store. Everything in the store has been vetted. There is no "adware" there. The only way to get adware would be to jailbreak your phone or install a management profile giving the profile author control over your device including the ability to silently install malicious applications.

If you installed a VPN profile, as opposed to manually configuring the built in VPN client, it's entirely possible that the VPN itself is the root of your problems.

iPhone can be compromised, though available information indicates that is rare and targeted, the tooling expensive, and the adversaries exceedingly well funded.

If you believe yourself a target for that tooling, you will want specific help tailored to your case, as the discussions and questions are well out of bounds around here and for good reason.

If that is not the case here, then remove the “coffee shop” VPN, and use the existing end-to-end connection security.

The “coffee shop” VPN apps add a second and variously weaker known-credentials tunnel to the first end-to-end connections, and the associated servers are perfectly positioned to capture personally-identified network activity. Some of the add-ons can further use the VPN end-point for routing third-party network traffic as well, meaning that local network activity can increase greatly as others are routed through the same ISP connection.

If you want privacy in addition to connection security, use iCloud+ Private Relay and ODoH. Or use a built-in VPN and run your own Algo VPN server, or similar.

wndavis wrote:

So it sounds like you’re telling me to ditch Verizon Protect digital secure safe web. Does your caution apply to that?

“Coffee shop” VPNs badly solve a problem that hasn’t existed for a decade or so, but badly solve it in a way perfect for collecting personally-identified metadata.

Outside of tasks such as geoshifting for website testing or CDN testing or related, there’s just no need for a “coffee shop” VPN, and there are better and privacy-focused solutions — including iCloud+ Private Relay with ODoH — available.

VPNs used for connecting into the internal network of an affiliated organization, or those running their own VPN servers using a mid-grade firewall or hosted Algo or otherwise, are different cases, and can be or are appropriate.

So it sounds like you’re telling me to ditch Verizon Protect digital secure safe web. Does your caution apply to that?

Yes. I am absolutely telling you to ditch that. It's no better than any other so-called security package for iPhones. They are all worthless.

FWIW, AT&T's Active Armor is also garbage.

Thank you!