- A 500 GB leak reveals the “Great Firewall in a box” from China sold to four countries
- The DPI Kit Kit Hand key detects and blocks VPN traffic
- Citizens face more strict online restrictions, with some VPNs fighting to avoid blocks
A massive data violation has revealed that China is selling the same deep package inspection technology (DPI) that feeds its great Firewall to four authoritarian regimes.
The escape of September 11, 2025 originates in Gedge Networks, a company linked to the development of China’s great firewall. More than 100,000 documents, and 500 GB of data, which reveal detailed filtration plans and DPI technology that feeds the China Internet censorship system.
China’s movement marks a strategic change of internal control to a commercial export model that monetizes censorship. It offers authoritarian governments a play book prepared to close foreign media, enforce state narratives and suppress dissent, deeply impacting citizens and their digital freedoms.
Although VPN’s best services help fight censorship, they face growing struggles against increasingly strict restrictions.
A “Great Firewall in a box”
The Chinese government is infamous for using the Great Firewall to regulate all online activity within its borders.
The Firewall also uses DNS manipulation, IP blocking, keyword filtering and real -time traffic formation to create an integral barrier, blocking foreign news sites, social media platforms and any other content considered politically insensitive, all while registering user activity for state surveillance.
The Great China Firewall (GFW) experienced the escape of larger internal documents in its history. More than 500 GB of source code, work records and internal communications have been exposed, revealing details about the development and operation of GFW. Filtration originated … pic.twitter.com/ddddtkz7wSeptember 13, 2025
Gedge Networks, whose main scientist Fang Binxing has been called “Father of the Great Firewall”, produces hardware, firmware and patented liaison door software that executes the DPI engine.
The Mesa Laboratory at the Institute of Information Engineering contributed algorithms that teach Great Firewall to the tools used to avoid censorship, such as VPN and Proxy tools.
Bundados, they form a key key, a complete and ready product to use, that Great Firewall Report researchers describe as a “great firewall in a box.”
The researchers rebuilt the export path through the cross reference of three data sources: load manifest, traces of the data center and code annotations.
Citizens face a new censorship as the VPNs fight to avoid blocks
The arrival of a large firewall kit prepared in countries already known for limited freedom of Internet changes everyday life on the Internet for millions.
Constant surveillance erodes privacy and can put citizens at risk, particularly activists, journalists and complainants, simply by speaking freely.
Even the most solid virtual private network (VPN) tools fight against defenses in China layers, such as deep learning classifiers that can detect obfuscation protocols. The exported DPI engine inspects real -time traffic, acknowledges distinctive hands used by many commercial VPNs, and accelerate speeds or block the connection directly.
However, users in affected locations can still avoid restrictions with the best VPN for China, all of which use advanced VPN obfuscation tactics. Some, such as Nordvpn and Proton VPN, have even introduced personalized stealth protocols to address this challenge.
It is a classic cat and mouse game. As censorship becomes more sophisticated, VPN developers must continually evolve to keep a step forward and help citizens access a free internet.
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