I have come across something that I have not encountered before. A client installed a new firewall with all of the nice “whiz bang” gui interface. After a month or two, it was noticed that an application was accessing a VPN provider - HMA VPN aka Hide My Ass VPN! We investigated this VPN and discovered it is owned by AVAST!!! I have reached out to Avast support to verify or deny Avast’s Cloud Care endpoints using this VPN for any reason. Initial response from support is “no”, but a ticket has been created to have it investigated further.
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That sounds a bit strange. Avast does have a bit of a “Checkered” past.
I have finally gotten an “official” reply from Avast concerning this VPN:
“We sincerely apologize for the delay in our response and appreciate your patience. After careful consideration with our teams, we would like to inform you that we do not recommend blocking the VPN. Doing so may have an adverse effect on the functionality of your antivirus services.”
Interesting… 
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That is a bit strange. It is almost like saying “We think it is ours and that we need it, but we are not sure”.