A study shows that requests for a VPN in Russia rose by nearly 2,000%.

With access to web content from outside Russia increasingly restricted, the demand for a virtual private network, known as a VPN, has risen nearly 2,000%.

This was revealed by data from Atlas VPN, which was announced on Tuesday. The data reflects the average number of Atlas VPN app installs in Russia from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store between February 1, 2022 and February 28, 2022.

According to Atlas VPN, the surge in signups and installations started very visible on February 16, the day of the first organized cyber attacks against Ukraine. However, interest decreased significantly.

“We expect interest in VPNs to continue at these levels over the coming weeks…however, if major events continue, we could see an uptick in the numbers,” the company commented.

Enable encryption of the Internet user’s IP address To allow access to some sites that are restricted in a specific geographic area, the VPN also encrypts online activities.

So the system allows unrestricted access to news sites such as the BBC and social media such as Facebook and Twitter, which were recently restricted by Russia’s internet regulator, Roskomnadzor.

In 2019, Roskomnadzor asked major VPN providers to connect to the state’s central information system. Only Kaspersky complied. Since then, there have been several waves of VPN services being blocked, although the use of this technology is still legal.