Got Mobile Workers? Give Their PCs an Extra Layer of Security With Free VPN
I hope you know this already, but connecting a laptop to a public Wi-Fi hotspot -- say, the one at your local Starbucks or public library -- is inherently risky. Most of these networks aren't secure, making your PC (or those of your employees) easy pickings for hackers.
One of the best forms of protection is a virtual private network, or VPN, which hides a system from prying hacker eyes. (Think of it as a Harry Potter-style Cloak of Invisibility.) In other words, it protects all your mission-critical business documents and data.
Most VPN utilities cost at least a few bucks, but CyberGhost VPN is free. Mostly.
Available for 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista, and 7, CyberGhost VPN replaces your PC's externally visible IP address with a shared CyberGhost VPN address, one that gets routed through anonymization servers. It heavily encrypts all data traffic between you and those servers, effectively giving you a second layer of protection.
The free version of CyberGhost VPN provides six hours of connection time (or 1GB of traffic, whichever comes first), after which you get bumped off the servers. No matter: You can just reconnect for another six hours/1GB. There are premium plans as well for users who need more bandwidth.
For most users, however, I suspect the free version will more than suffice. This is the kind of thing you can deploy to all your mobile workers, and it won't cost you anything other than a few minutes of training time. ("Before you connect to a public hotspot, fire up CyberGhost VPN. End of lesson.")
Remember: The data you protect could be your own.
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