Those free WIFI connections in cafes do not  encrypt network traffic. This implies that anyone on the same WIFI network as you is able to ‘sniff’ your traffic and possibly hijack your sessions.

For gmail, yahoo and all your banking sites etc. you would typically go to an SSL site – which means your traffic is encrypted. However, if your surfing is not limited to these big providers, you may want to use a virtual private network (VPN).

People are familiar with the use of a corporate VPN.  However, there are public services as well, such as F-Secure’s Freedome and Privax’s HideMyAss.  Your laptop (in your favorite café) would connect to this VPN (e.g. HideMyAss’s)  servers. The servers would establish an encrypted tunnel for all your Internet traffic from the device to their servers. The service then proxies all your traffic to and from its destination.

To prevent hackers from getting into your laptop (PC, tablet whatever), use a VPN service – like  Private Internet Access

IP Concealment

In addition to the encrypted tunnel discussed above, these services also hide your IP address – making it impossible for sniffers/snoopers to sniff your data.

Anuj holds professional certifications in Google Cloud, AWS as well as certifications in Docker and App Performance Tools such as New Relic. He specializes in Cloud Security, Data Encryption and Container Technologies.

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Anuj Varma – who has written posts on Anuj Varma, Hands-On Technology Architect, Clean Air Activist.

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