Saturday, March 15, 2008

FT.com / Home UK / UK - Keep snoopers off your WiFi

On a related (to the previous post) note, some guidance from the Financial Times:

But the best protection is to use a virtual private network (VPN) to provide strong authentication and encryption for all your hot-spot communications. A VPN does just what its name suggests; it creates, within the public network that everyone can access, a virtual private network that only you can access. When you're using a VPN all of your data travels within an impenetrable encrypted tunnel.

This is particularly important if you are connecting to your company's internal network, in which case you will probably be given VPN software and perhaps an electronic "token" to use during log-on by your IT department. Individuals can opt for free or low-cost consumer VPN services such as iOpus Private Internet Gateway (www.iopus.com) which is both easy to use and rock solid. The software encrypts all inbound and outbound information, and should also help protect against spoof public hotspots called "evil twins" set up by hackers to capture private data. AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield (http://anchorfree.com) is another free alternative.

FT.com / Home UK / UK - Keep snoopers off your WiFi

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