Open, unsecured, “free” wireless Wi-Fi networks are not, I repeat, not safe to use. If you’ve read my previous three columns, you know why. If you haven’t read them, they are on my website.
Without the proper measures in place, unsecured networks should not be used for any activity that involves usernames and passwords, such as email, banking, bill-paying, eBay-buying or Facebooking.
My research has convinced me that the overall best way for normal computer users to be truly safe on an open wireless network is by using a very powerful tool known as a VPN, which stands for “Virtual Private Network.” Think of a VPN as a hidden tunnel leading from your house to the grocery store. Nobody can see what happens inside the tunnel. Everything you do between your house and the store is hidden from view.
I’ve been testing two free VPN services: HotSpot Shield and SecurityKISS. While there are many third-party VPN services out there, I chose these two based on their reputation and the fact that they are easy for most folks to set up and use.
First up is HotSpot Shield, available at hotspotshield.com. While most VPN services have daily or monthly usage limits, HotSpot Shield does not. There is no requirement to create an account with yet another password, which I like a lot; you simply install the service’s program and go. While the service advertises that it works on both PCs and Apple Macs, I was disappointed that it would not install on my PowerBook G4, even though it is running the highest version of OS X Leopard. Only Macs built with Intel processors are supported.
Even so, HotSpot Shield installed without problem on a fully-updated and tweaked dual-core HP laptop running Windows Vista with 2 GB of RAM. The tradeoff for free, unlimited logon time is that the service is “ad supported.” This means that you will see an ad at the top of your browser while you are using the Internet.
Browsing sessions begin with a page full of ads and videos that you need to click out of, but I did not find the full-time banner ads to be overly annoying. There is an inexpensive paid version of HotSpot Shield that is ad-free. Logging in to Gmail’s email service triggered security questions, because Gmail suddenly thought I was located in New Orleans, where some of HotSpot Shield’s servers are located; make sure you know your security question answers. Download speeds, tested at speedtest.net, were pretty good. Overall, I give HotSpot Shield for PCs thumbs up.
SecurityKISS (securitykiss.com) is a Windows-only service, and usage is limited to 300 MB of activity per day. You do not have to create an account; all you do is download and install a small bit of software. You are instructed to run the service as “Administrator” (right-click the icon, select “run as administrator), which is easy enough, and then you are on your way.
SecurityKISS says the free version does not allow email, online gaming, or video chat. I did not try Skype, but I was able to access my Gmail accounts just fine. There are no ads associated with the service. The service seemed plenty fast enough for my needs, although I did not try downloading any big files. When you’re finished, right-click the tray icon and disconnect. SecurityKISS gets thumbs up.
I spent days looking, but I was never able to locate a VPN service that met my requirements for my Mac, which were (1) free, (2) reasonably fast and (3) easy for most computer users to deploy. Your results may vary, especially if you have an Intel-based Mac. Most Mac users would probably be happy with the paid version of HotSpot Shield. It’s cheap insurance, in my opinion.
No matter what you do, though, do something. Don’t keep throwing user names and passwords across unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Start using VPNs, which will make the bad guys go after easier, more vulnerable prey.