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How to Get Free and Secure Wireless Anywhere

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Portable WiFi can be as little as 20 bucks a month, but for the 200 or so MB you get and the slow speed that comes with it, you’d be better off upgrading to the $50-$60 for carrier WiFi with unlimited data on the faster 3/4G network.

But why pay when you can get it for free? Well, if you don’t have the time to hunt for WiFi or just need it occasionally, then you may have to pay. Otherwise, if you are flexible and can get around easily enough, there are plenty of resources out there for free WiFi.

Resources for free WiFi:

  • Mobiles: If you’re out and about, ask anyone if he or she has a mobile phone that acts as a hotspot. PC Advisor calls this setup tethering or internet sharing, and many smartphones provide this feature, including iPhones, BlackBerrys, Windows Phones and Android handsets. PC Advisor also has a list of phones that can do the trick.
  • Retail shops: Local coffee shops; retail stores; malls; hospitals; chains like Starbucks, McDonalds, Taco Bell, KFC, Burger King and many others provide free WiFi—often without you having to buy anything.
  • CableWiFi: Bright House Networks, Cox Communications, Optimum, Time Warner Cable and XFINITY allow one another’s high-speed internet customers to access more than 150,000 WiFi hotspots. CableWiFi is the wireless network name created as an extension of the WiFi services offered by internet service providers listed here.

WiFi locators:

  • WiFinder (iOS/Android) enables your WiFi card to find secured and unsecured wireless connections wherever you are. WiFinder provides the ability to quickly search for open WiFi networks from your home screen.
  • WeFi (Android) claims to be the most popular WiFi connection manager on the market. With WeFi, you always get the best WiFi connection while keeping battery consumption to a minimum.
  • Free Zone is the app that helps you find free WiFi hotspots—and it really works, with more than 300,000 WiFi totally free hotspots.

But keep in mind that “free” generally means unencrypted, wide open and unsecured, so they’re susceptible to hackers using sniffing hardware and software to steal your information.

When you’re hopping on free WiFi, make sure to download and install Hotspot Shield VPN on your mobile, tablet or laptop to encrypt your wireless communications so evildoers can’t see your data or install a Trojan on your device.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

How to Use Foursquare to Get Free WiFi

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https://safr.me/webinar/  | Robert Siciliano is the #1 Security Expert in the United States with over 25 years of experience! He is here to help you become more aware of the risks and strategies to help protect yourself, your family, your business, and your entire life. Robert brings identity theft, personal security, fraud prevention and cyber security to light so that criminals can no longer hide in the dark. You need to be smarter than criminals yesterday so that they don’t take advantage of you today! If you would like to learn more about Security Awareness, then sign up for Robert’s latest webinar!

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Know Foursquare? As the company itself puts it, “Discover and share great places with friends. Over 30 million people use Foursquare to make the most of where they are. Discover and learn about great places nearby, search for what you’re craving, and get deals and tips along the way. Best of all, Foursquare is personalized. With every check-in, we get even better at recommending places for you to try.”

Cool! But how does it work?

Foursquare is a location-based social networking website for mobile devices such as smartphones. Users “check in” at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application by selecting from a list of venues the application locates nearby. Location is based on GPS hardware in the mobile device or network location provided by the application. Each check-in awards the user points and sometimes “badges.”

People who use Foursquare are “portable” by nature—in other words, they move around a lot. They also thrive on, and feel the need to connect to, some form of wireless, either on their mobile or their laptop. As a result, Foursquare has become a great tool to find either a free wireless connection or one that requires a password, and that password is available in the comments on Foursquare location listings such as those for coffee shops and restaurants.

Frankly, I don’t use Foursquare like others do because I don’t like telling the world where I’m at. But I do use it to seek out a WiFi connection and its required password.

Another option to get WiFi passwords via Foursquare is to use another app called 4sqwfi in tandem. The 4sqwfi app uses Foursquare’s API and its user-generated venue tips, and its algorithm filters and displays only the relevant venues.

Keep in mind that with all this WiFi use, you want to protect your information. Use a free VPN for WiFi security like Hotspot Shield. It creates a virtual private network (VPN) between your laptop or iPhone and your internet gateway. This impenetrable tunnel prevents snoopers, hackers and ISPs from viewing your web browsing activities, instant messages, downloads, credit card information or anything else you send over the network.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

Your W-Fi Router Might Be Easy to Hack

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Recently I became aware that many if not most home Wi-Fi routers are very easy to hack by cyber criminals.  I thought, my mom has Wi-Fi, and so probably does your mom. So here is a letter you can share with your loved ones—be they tech-savvy or not, to protect them from the hidden dangers lurking in their homes

Dear Mom,

I don’t want to scare you too much, but I want to let you know about a potential issue with your Wi-Fi router. First, Mom, your router is not your modem. In most cases your modem is the small box with a row of blinking lights that connects directly to your internet service provider’s feed which is either a cable connection coming out of the wall or a phone line. From there the signal is converted and sent to your router through a “cat5” cable that looks like a bigger,fatter telephone wire. Your router (in most cases) is the thingy that’sthen plugged into your computer or gives off your wireless connection.

Anyway, a recent study saidresearchers “have discovered critical security vulnerabilities in numerous small office/home office (SOHO) routers and wireless access points. We define acritical security vulnerability in a router as one that allows a remote attacker to take full control of the router’s configuration settings, or one that allows a local attacker to bypass authentication and take control. This control allows an attacker to intercept and modify network traffic as it enters and leaves the network.”

In case you didn’t catch all that, it basically means the cyber bad guys can break into your internet data stream just like a burglar might break into your car or house and grab important stuff like your passwords, SS number or bank account info that you don’t want them to have. A lot of common big name routers were tested and a lot of them failed. They warned that basically even if your router was not on the tested list, you should still be concerned.

Jake Thompson, one of the security analysts, disclosed  some easy-to-implement tips, including some obvious ones like making sure that you change the router’s default username and password credentials. However, he cautioned, not all routerslet you change the username. They also recommended that “people use WPA2 security protocol, over WEP” but that is probably going to be beyond your understanding

So I am going to recommend something even simpler: adding  a layer of protection by installing  a VPN.  Consider it an easy, cheap (in this case free) insurance policy. When on a PC or laptop, install and launch Hotspot Shield VPN. It’s a free VPN software, but I prefer the paid version; the expanded paid option is a little quicker and offers a cleaner interface. Either way, it’s a great option that will protect your entire web surfing session, securing your connections on all your devices regardless of any security issues with your router.

And BTW, how’s your cat?

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

How to Protect WiFi When Flying

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When getting on a flight that’s three to five hours (or more), many business professionals wrestle in their heads whether to spend the $12.95 on airplane WiFi, take a nap or watch the movie—or, if their company is paying for it, they might do all three. But here’s the thing: If you are connecting to WiFi on a plane and have all these company secrets on your device and all this client data, do you really think it’s a good idea to connect?

What savvy business travelers aren’t savvy about is security—or, specifically, the lack thereof in airplane WiFi. When logging onto an airplane WiFi, there isn’t any encryption preventing other users from seeing yourdata. The majority of the security in airplane WiFi is built into the payment system to protect your credit card. Beyond that, you’re pretty much left to the dogs.

Another issue flyers face when booting up is that their WiFi card generally defaults to seeking out a known WiFi connection and then automatically connects, like when you are home and you automatically connect upon booting upbecause at one point in your settings you checked that option. But on a plane (or anywhere, really), an evil hacker can set up what’s called an “evil twin,” which is a rogue wireless network specifically set up by a bad guy to trick you into manually connecting or to trick your device into automatically connecting. Once you’re hooked, all of your information travels through his device and he captures every packet of wireless data.

Protect yourself.

#1 When WiFi is not in use, head over to your wireless network manager and right-click to disable your wireless network connection. Some laptops have a switch and others have a keyboard key.

#2 If you plan to connect to in-flight service, you need to protect your information with a VPN. Hotspot Shield VPN is a free proxy that protects your device’s data by ensuring that all web transactions (shopping, filling out forms, downloads, etc.) are secured through HTTPS. With Hotspot Shield, your device basically will be surfing through a protected tunnel throughout the in-flight service.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

Steps to Take When Connecting to WiFi at the Coffee Shop

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Consumers are oblivious to the dangers of connecting in a free wireless environment. If they actually knew how vulnerable they are, all that coffee shops would do is sell coffee.Nobody would stick around and connect to the internet.

Everyone—and I mean everyone—always asks me if they should connect to public WiFi. The short answer is yes, but you need to install virtual private network software to encrypt your connection. More on that in a bit.

There’s plenty to know and a few things you can do to protect yourself. Here are some terms you should know:

Router encryption: The router you hop onto at the coffee shop will most likely have no encryption at all. Encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that eavesdroppers or hackers cannot read them, but that authorized parties can. Routers are built with software options to turn on encryption, but the coffee shop typically doesn’t turn it on because that would mean every person coming in would need a password. And even in that scenario, that doesn’t necessarily mean your data will be secure.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption: WEP is 15 years old and offers minimal security; WiFi Protected Access (WPA) encryption is better than its predecessor, WEP. WPA is a certification program that was created in response to several serious weaknesses researchers found in WEP. WPA and WPA2 (a subsequent version) are tougher to crack, but not impossible.

Protect yourself when using WiFi:

  • Use the most updated and secure version of your browser.
  • Consider only sharing data with sites with HTTPS in the address bar; the S signifies that the website itself is encrypted.
  • Turn off file sharing. If you share files at home, turn file sharing off in public.
  • Turn on your firewall. It should be on by default, but depending on the age of your computers or by accident, it could be off.
  • Use a VPN. AVirtual Private Network (VPN) is a network set up with encryption to protect your data from unauthorized access.Hotspot Shield VPN is a good one to use. It’s secure, free to you (supported by ads) and available for PC, Mac, iPhone and Android.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen.  See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

Stop, Think and Connect on Public Wi-Fi

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OnGuardOnline.gov, co-managed by the Federal Trade Commission, is the federal government’s website to help you be safe, secure and responsible online.OnGuardOnline.gov is a partner in the Stop Think Connect campaign, led by the Department of Homeland Security, and part of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Vulnerabilities

I, for one, am a big fan of the Department of Homeland Security, so I wanted to provide some DHS perspectives on wireless, its vulnerabilities and encryption–such as that obtainable through Hotspot Shield VPN—straight from the government’s mouth: “Wi-Fi hotspots in coffee shops, libraries, airports, hotels, universities and other public places are convenient, but they’re often not secure. When using a hotspot, it’s best to send information only to websites that are fully encrypted.

“You can be confident a hotspot is secure only if it asks you to provide a WPA password. If you’re not sure, treat the network as if it were unsecured.”

Encryption

You’ve heard it from this blogger before, but this is what Homeland Security has to say about encrypting your web communications:

“Encryption is the key to keeping your personal information secure online. Encryption scrambles the information you send over the internet into a code so that it’s not accessible to others. When using wireless networks, it’s best to send personal information only if it’s encrypted—either by an encrypted website or a secure WiFinetwork. An encrypted website protects only the information you send to and from that site. A secure wireless network encrypts all the information you send using that network.” Homeland Security further states: “Don’t assume a Wi-Fi hotspot is secure. Most Wi-Fi hotspots don’t encrypt the information you send over the internet and are not secure.”

Hence, get yourself a wireless VPN! And use it. Advice straight from the DHS’s mouth.

Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield VPN. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was StolenSee him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.

The Rise of Smartphones

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More consumers than ever before are buying smartphones. A smartphone is an Internet-enabled mobile phone with the ability to purchase and run applications. Smartphones are generally equipped with voice, data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS functions. Operating systems include Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS and Windows’ Mobile 7. Most function on a 3G wireless connection and can switch to Wi-Fi when it’s available. Newer models are being built to accommodate the upcoming nationwide deployment of 4G wireless networks.

“Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totaled 417 million units in the third quarter of 2010, a 35 percent increase from the third quarter of 2009, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphone sales grew 96 percent from the third quarter last year, and smartphones accounted for 19.3 percent of overall mobile phone sales in the third quarter of 2010.”

In the U.S, there are 293 million cell phone subscribers and cell phone penetration is  over 93%. In 2010, more than one in four households had cell phones and no landlines, which is an increase of 2.1% over 2009. Almost one in six households use cell phones exclusively, despite having a landline. Wordwide, there are 5 billion  smartphones in use.

The number of mobile broadband subscriptions surpassed the half billion mark in 2010, and in 2011 broadband subscriptions are expected to exceed one billion. As more and higher speed networks are built, more consumers will gravitate toward the mobile web. Smartphone users are downloading billions of apps and spending millions via mobile payments. In fact, for the younger generation, smartphones are used for a majority of ecommerce transactions. Many of these people haven’t been inside a bank in years!

Taking Security Measures.

As more people switch to smartphones, mobile security concerns increase. Here are a few reminders to help keep your data secure on your phone:

1) Use a PIN to lock your phone: 55% of consumers do not use a PIN to lock their phones. Mobile content is especially vulnerable to hackers and thieves.

2) Don’t store banking passwords on your phone: 24% of consumers store computer or banking passwords on their smartphones. 40% of consumers say losing their phone would be worse than losing their wallet, and two million mobile phones are lost or stolen every year. That’s one every fifteen seconds.

3) Register for a service that can remotely locate, access and wipe your phone: There are services that can remotely access a lost phone, pinpoint its location, and, if necessary, wipe the data from the phone. Now is the time to consider investing in one, before you lose your phone.

Robert Siciliano is a personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto. (Disclosures)