Safe browsing - free wifi spots, etc

The Black Oil

Heya,

I'm looking for some advice on ways of keeping your information safe when using free wifi - hotels, conferences, etc. I was on a camping on holiday during the summer, but I don't have a smartphone and I didn't bring my iPad along. There was a girl who had one and she used Skype to call home regularly, on free wifi at the campsites or in coffee shops.

I did use my laptop to browse the wifi in Pearse Street library in Dublin, but I never logged into any of the sites I normally use - email and boards, for example. Obviously, checking internet banking is a big no no, too.

Anyway, sometimes with work and things I need to use social media, but I've not taken my iPad (or Macbook) to any events yet. Thinking ahead, though, I'd like to have something on my device that provides some security. Eh, is this a VPN, or something? One recommendation I've heard is Hotspot Shield, iirc. How does it work anyway, since presumably, if in a hotel with free wifi, you have to have access to their wifi...and if logging into a protective shield through that, won't it be compromised? Am a bit clueless on this side of things.

Thanks.

biko

Wifi traffic can be intercepted by anyone close by. So there are a few measures you can use, https, vpn etc.

http://mobileoffice.about.com/od/locatinghotspots/bb/wi-fi-hotspot-security.htm