Can a VPN Stop Infostealer Malware? What It Blocks and What It Can't

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The short answer: a VPN cannot remove an infostealer once it is on your computer, and it cannot stop that malware from sending your data out. What a good VPN with threat blocking can do is make it harder for the infection to happen in the first place. Knowing the difference matters, because infostealers are now one of the most common ways people lose their accounts.

This guide explains what infostealers are, how they get onto ordinary computers, where a VPN fits, and the simple habits that protect you most.

What Is an Infostealer?

An infostealer is malware built to do one job quickly: collect everything valuable on your device and send it to a criminal. That usually includes:

• Passwords saved in your browser
• Session cookies, the small files that keep you signed in to email, banking and social media
• Saved credit card details and autofill data
• Cryptocurrency wallet files
• Screenshots and basic system details

The stolen bundle, often called a "log," is sold on criminal markets. Buyers use it to take over accounts, commit fraud, or break into the victim's workplace.

How Big the Problem Is

Infostealers are spreading at industrial scale. Between March and May 2025, Microsoft identified more than 394,000 Windows computers infected with one infostealer alone, Lumma, before it led a global takedown that seized about 2,300 malicious domains.

This week, Australia's signals intelligence agency said it had broken into the back end of a criminal's operation using the Amadey malware and cut it off from about 180,000 infected computers worldwide. According to ABC News, Amadey was hidden inside free software and used to steal personal data and logins for sale on the dark web.

Personal devices carry work risk too. Verizon's 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report found that 46% of infostealer-infected systems with corporate logins were unmanaged devices holding both personal and business credentials, most likely personal computers used for work.

Why Stolen Cookies Are So Dangerous

Many people assume two-step sign-in protects them. It helps a lot against stolen passwords, but infostealers often take your session cookies too. A session cookie proves you have already signed in, including the two-step check. If a criminal copies it into their own browser, some services may treat them as you until that session expires or is revoked. That is why a full sign-out from every device, not just a password change, is part of cleaning up after an infection.

How Infostealers Get on Your Computer

Infostealers almost always rely on you running something. The most common routes are:

• Cracked or "free" versions of paid software, game cheats and mods
• Fake download sites and search ads that copy real software brands
• Fake CAPTCHA pages that tell you to paste a command into your computer. See our guide to ClickFix fake CAPTCHA attacks.
• Phishing emails and messages with malicious attachments or links
• Malicious browser extensions, including fake VPN add-ons. See fake VPN extensions in Chrome.

Are Macs and Phones Safe From Infostealers?

Not entirely. Most infostealer infections still hit Windows PCs, but criminals also build stealers for macOS and spread them through fake app downloads, fake browser updates and copies of popular paid apps. A common trick on Mac is a download page that asks you to enter your system password or to override Apple's security warning to "open anyway." Treat those prompts as a red flag unless you are sure the app came from the developer or the Mac App Store.

Phones are harder to infect this way because iPhone and Android apps normally come through official app stores, which review them. The risk rises when you install apps from outside the store, sideload "modded" apps, or approve unusual permissions. On any device, the same rule applies: if software is free when it should not be, it is usually paying someone else.

What a VPN Can and Cannot Do

What a VPN cannot do

• It cannot remove malware. A VPN is not antivirus software. If an infostealer is already running, it can read what is on your device.
• It cannot stop the data from leaving. The malware sends stolen data over the internet like any other app. A VPN encrypts the trip, but the data still reaches the criminal.
• It cannot protect you from a file you choose to run. If you install a cracked program, the program does what it was built to do.

What a VPN with threat blocking can do

• Block known malicious sites before they load. CyberFence's Web Shield checks domains against lists of known malware and phishing sites. If you click a bad link or a fake download page, Web Shield can stop the page from loading, so the file never reaches you. It relies on reported threats, so brand-new sites may not be listed yet. Learn more in how DNS filtering works.
• Make domain-based connections harder. The same blocking applies to known malicious domains your device tries to reach, which can include some malware infrastructure on threat lists. It is a helpful extra layer, not a promise to catch everything.
• Protect your logins on public Wi-Fi. AES-256-GCM encryption keeps others on hotel, airport and coffee shop networks from intercepting your traffic, which closes a separate route to account theft.

For the bigger picture, see whether a VPN protects you from malware and what a VPN does not protect you from.

Habits That Keep Infostealers Off Your Device

1. Never install cracked software, cheats or "free" versions of paid apps. This is the single biggest source of infections.
2. Download only from official sites and app stores. Type the address yourself instead of clicking search ads.
3. Never paste commands a website tells you to run to "prove you are human."
4. Use a password manager instead of saving passwords in your browser, and lock it with a strong master password.
5. Turn on two-step sign-in everywhere, and prefer an authenticator app or passkey over text messages.
6. Keep your operating system and browser updated, and keep the built-in security tools turned on.
7. Separate work and personal use where you can, so one infection does not expose both.

If You Think You Are Infected

1. Disconnect the device from the internet.
2. Run a full scan with your operating system's security tools or a reputable antivirus. If in doubt, have the device professionally cleaned or reset.
3. From a different, clean device, change your most important passwords, starting with email, then banking.
4. Sign out of all sessions in your email, bank and social accounts to kill stolen cookies.
5. Watch your financial accounts and consider a credit freeze.
6. Tell your employer's IT team if you used the device for work.

CyberFence also offers Breach Monitor as a separate product, not part of the $7.99 plan, which watches for your email address in data breaches. See what Breach Monitor is.

The Bottom Line

A VPN will not save you from an infostealer you install yourself, and nothing honest would claim otherwise. But most infections start with a click on a bad link or a fake download page. Combining careful download habits with a VPN that blocks known malicious domains, plus two-step sign-in and a password manager, removes most of the easy ways in.

Want to go deeper? Read how CyberFence Breach Monitor works , the free CyberFence breach check tool , or the CyberFence password strength tool .