Schools across several Russian regions have begun holding classes on the dangers of VPN services, the independent Russian news outlet Verstka reports. The outlet reviewed posts about the sessions on the VKontakte pages of general education institutions.

In February, the Vologda Region’s Education Ministry announced that ninth-graders had discussed ”‘cosmic’ cybersecurity at a ‘Digital Lesson.’” Among other things, students were told about “the dangers of free and unverified VPN services and how they can provide access to personal data and devices.”

At Irkutsk Education Center No. 10, VPN services were discussed “as part of an anti-drug awareness month and financial security events.” Students attended “lectures on preventing the use of games and VPN virtual networks.”

The lectures carried titles such as “VPN Is Outlawed. What You Can and Cannot Do Online Now,” “Using a VPN Is an Aggravating Circumstance in the Commission of Crimes,” and “Why Gamers Need to Choose VPN Providers Carefully.”

Police officers, specialists from a neuropsychiatric clinic, representatives of the Anti-Drug Committee, and staff from Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service attended the sessions.

At another Irkutsk school, No. 32, students attended a class titled “The Ban on VPN Services: What You Need to Know?” which focused on data leak risks. At one of the schools in the Rostov Region, students were told during an “internet safety talk” about “what personal data, a digital footprint, online anonymity, and the risks of using VPN are.”

Several schools in the Arkhangelsk and Vladimir regions, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and Yekaterinburg published similar posts about the dangers of using free VPN services.

Demand for VPN services in Russia has surged following the blocking of foreign social networks and messaging apps, including Telegram. In response, Russian authorities have intensified their crackdown on circumvention tools.