Europol finally wake up and smell the coffee!

Did you know that when you access public Wi-Fi hotspots your data and sensitive information is at risk to cybercriminals and other third parties?  Of course, this is not breaking news; public Wi-Fi has been known to be insecure ever since it came out, but it appears Europol’s cybercrime team has just woken up to this startling revelation.

Troels Oerting, head of Europol’s cybercrime centre recently told the BBC that “We have seen an increase in the misuse of Wi-Fi in order to steal information, identity or passwords and money from the users who use public or insecure Wi-Fi connections.  We should teach users that they should not address sensitive information while being on an open insecure Wi-Fi internet (connection)” he said.
Europol’s advice is spot on, and it’s great to see that they have joined the party, but it is rather tardy of them, Europe’s cybercrime centre, to report this now.  Could it be that a number of individuals at Europol have recently used public hotspots, and had their private and confidential information stolen? It’s a possibility. Or perhaps they have just been beamed back to earth by aliens, and are currently playing catch-up? Who knows!

We at HMA! take your privacy and security extremely seriously and we’ve been talking about the dangers of using public Wi-Fi for years. Danvers Baillieu, Chief Operating Officer at Hide My Ass!, says that “Although this is great news that they are warning people not to send personal data across unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots,  it’s a pity they don’t mention the solutions”.

Of course I applaud Europol for reiterating this message, the more people who are aware they are vulnerable to such attacks, the better.  But what about some solutions, Europol?

Luckily, we have a solution for you that will keep your private information, passwords and other valuable data safe and secure out of the reach of cybercriminals.  HMA! Pro VPN encrypts all data you send and receive over the internet by sending it through a private VPN tunnel so anyone wanting to steal your data, will just see gibberish.  When you use a VPN, you are given a new personal IP (Internet Protocol) address and your data is encrypted, so when you use public Wi-Fi, every task you perform appears as if it is coming from the VPN server. Your data is now encrypted and secure.
For more information and other ways HMA! Pro VPN can safeguard your data click here

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Switch VPN	Visit Provider
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HMA! Tip: Virtual locations!

What are they and what can I use them for?

When you connect to one of our HMA! VPN servers, you’re assigned an IP address from the country server you connect to. For example connect to any HMA! server in America and you’ll get a US IP address. You can verify this here



Connecting to different countries is great for accessing geo-restricted content – for example, if you’re in the UK and you want to watch US television, many US websites will see that you are in the UK and will block you from viewing the content.  A VPN will help you get around this issue; simply connect to a US VPN server which will assign you an American IP address. This will allow you to watch the shows, as the website will now see you as connecting from within the US – you’ve tricked the website into thinking you are physically in the US.  However, connecting to a country that is far from your physical location can occasionally result in slower connection speeds and decreased reaction time which can make streaming online media difficult.  “Virtual Locations” can help solve this problem.

When you connect to a ‘virtual location’ server, you’re assigned an IP address of the country you would like to appear from, but you connect to a country server that is physically closest to you. For example, if you are based in Europe and would like to access the internet from the USA, you would connect to the UK, London – Virtual USA server.

This will give you improved speeds because now you’ve taken a shorter route, a “virtual” one.

When you connect to this virtual server location and check your IP you’ll see that you have a working virtual IP address, although the server you just connected to is located in a different country. You can now expect improved speeds and better reaction time.

Give it a try – check the HMA! Pro VPN clients server location list, the PPTP/L2TP server list or the OpenVPN configuration files for the “Virtual” server locations:

TCP OpenVPN config files

UDP OpenVPN config files

L2TP server lists

PPTP server lists: These can be found in your control panel

You can find out more information about virtual locations here

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Strong VPN	Visit Provider
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IPVanish VPN	Visit Provider
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First it was a block on Twitter, and now YouTube. Hide My Ass! continues to offer free VPN services to help Turkish citizens beat censorship

 

Turkey has now blocked two social media sites, Twitter last week and today, YouTube.
We at Hide My Ass! continue to support HMA! users in Turkey at this time by offering free VPN during this ban.

This new block comes a day after a court ordered the suspension of a ban on Twitter, which PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported.


An anonymous audio recording of Turkish officials discussing Syria appeared on YouTube appears to have prompted this new move. The recording relates to possible military operations in Syria, which included the Turkish head of intelligence talking to the deputy chief of the Turkish military and the Turkish foreign minister.

Whilst some users are able to access the site, others are receiving the message (translated into English) “Access has been blocked by the Telecommunication Communication Presidency”
We are proud to support Turkish citizens in their pursuit of online freedom, and Hide My Ass! will extend free services to our Turkish customers while this ban on Twitter and YouTube continues. See below for details of how to claim your free VPN time.

With our service, you can bypass censorship and access any blocked website, like Twitter and YouTube. Once you connect to HMA! with any of your devices (mobile or desktop), you can choose one of our servers located in 65 countries and you will obtain an IP address which will hide your real location. Your traffic will be encrypted and you will enjoy free and uncensored access to any website you wish while you are virtually residing in a different country.

We urge all VPN users in Turkey to spread the word and help their less knowledgeable friends, co-workers and neighbors avoid this stupid ban.

How to claim – terms of this offer

All existing active customers who have an HMA! Pro VPN subscription purchased through SMS from a Turkish mobile phone number will automatically have their subscription extended.

Other existing active customers based in Turkey, who wish to have an extension, should contact HMA! customer support by email with the words “YouTube Ban” in the subject line.  Our customer support will verify your location by IP address and credit card billing details. If you did not pay by credit card, we may request other proof of address.

New customers (including inactive users) in Turkey should purchase a one week subscription via SMS which will be automatically extended. You can order via SMS by visiting the HMA! order page.

This offer is for a maximum of 6 months from 21 March 2014 or the end of the Turkish Twitter ban, whichever is sooner.

The terms of this offer may be amended at any time by Hide My Ass!

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Hide My Ass	Visit Provider
Strong VPN	Visit Provider
Switch VPN	Visit Provider
Pure VPN	Visit Provider
IPVanish VPN	Visit Provider
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