Why You Need a VPN When Using Public Wifi

Why you should always use a VPN on public Wifi
It’s no secret that public Wi-Fi isn’t safe. You can be targeted by hackers or even government agencies. Your information is at risk of being stolen and used against you. That’s where a VPN comes in handy. Read on to learn how a VPN will protect all your data from prying eyes so that you can browse with peace of mind.

The Risks of Public WiFi

Public WiFi networks are convenient, but they come with risks. Without a virtual private network (VPN), your data is vulnerable to theft and other attacks. Public WiFi networks are also a favorite of cybercriminals. By spoofing the signal of a legitimate network, they can trick unsuspecting users into connecting to their malicious hotspot. Once connected, the criminals can steal passwords, financial information or even install malware on the user’s device.
Here are some of the risks you take when connecting to public WiFi:

1.Personal Information Theft

The theft of personal information is one of the most severe and prevalent dangers of using publicWiFi. If a hacker obtains access to your computer or other personal devices through a hacked public WiFi connection, they could have free rein over everything saved on them. For instance, if they get access to your login details and log into your bank’s or credit card’s website, well… you can see how that would be a problem.

2.Cyber Attack on Businesses

Mobile users on the road for most of the day may connect to public WiFi to check their emails, download files, view customer information, and perform other tasks requiring a network connection.
Most companies/businesses have security measures to minimize the danger of connecting over WiFi. However, there are still dangers if you or your coworkers need access to a company network via a public connection. Because WiFi networks are, by their nature, open and frequently monitored, it isn’t easy to know what information they might collect. There may be several reasons why you’re having trouble connecting to the internet. For example, you may be restricted because you’re in a public place or locked in your computer. You never know what data the WiFi provider could keep track of. The WiFi provider might log everything you do on the network and sell your data to marketers.

3.Malware Distribution

A more serious concern that may come about when using public WiFi is the installation of malware on your device. Someone with malicious intentions on the same public WiFi as you may install malware onto your computer if it is not kept secure. Bad actors could use the hotspot itself to drop one or more of these threats on your machine.

4.Packet Sniffing

When you send and receive data over the internet, anyone connected to the same WiFi network as you can see what you communicate with a packet analyzer or packet sniffer. These tools enable inspection of everything transmitted over the WiFi network unless encrypted. Tools like these are not inherently bad. You can utilize them for good or bad purposes, just like any other tools. Packet sniffers allow network specialists to diagnose wireless network connection and other performance difficulties, but they also enable hackers to see all of the data sent through that WiFi network.

5.Hijacking of Sessions

Another common type of WiFi security breach is a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack. In this scenario, an adversary snatches information about your computer and its connection to websites or other services.
The attacker can then set his computer to mimic yours and take control of the connection after obtaining that data. Hacking into your personal computer and gaining access to online accounts is only one of several possible ways a hacker can control your information. For instance, after you sign in to your bank’s website, a hacker may steal your connection. Since your computer is already connected, the attacker would have access to everything on the banking website that you would have access to.

How to Use a VPN to Protect Your Privacy and Security on Public WiFi

Public WiFi can be a goldmine for hackers looking to steal your personal information. However, you can protect yourself from these threats and keep your data safe using a VPN. A VPN works by creating a secure tunnel between your device and the internet. This secure, encrypted tunnel protects your data from being intercepted by third-party hackers.
Here are a few best practices for using a VPN on public WiFi:
  • Use a VPN on all of your devices, including smartphones and laptops, that will use public WiFi
  • Choose a VPN that is reliable and has strong security features
  • Make sure the VPN is active and connected anytime you’re using public WiFi
  • No streaming or downloading large files while connected to public WiFi networks
  • If your VPN connection drops, immediately disconnect from the public WiFi network or utilize the VPN’s killswitch feature
By following these simple tips, you can keep yourself safe and secure when using public WiFi. Remember, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

How a VPN Protects You on Public WIFI

So how does a VPN actually making it safer to use a public WiFi network? Here are a few ways:
  • Encryption of your data. A VPN will encrypt your data, ensuring that it is safe from prying eyes.
  • Protection against spying & data theft. By using a VPN, you can prevent others from spying on your activities while using public WiFi. If they do get access to your data, everything will be encrypted, and therefore unintelligible and unusable.
  • Avoiding malware and viruses. A VPN can help to protect you from these threats by limiting the ports available to connect to your device, having a firewall in place, and strongly filtering anything coming in.

Conclusion

VPNs are an essential tool for staying safe and secure online — especially when using public WiFi networks. They encrypt your data so that it cannot be read by anyone else, protecting your privacy in the process.
Do you use a VPN anytime you’re on public WiFi? Do you have any additional tips for using public Wifi? Tell us in the comments!

How To Use Ghost Path VPN to Watch Out of Market Sports

Watching out of market sports is one of the best use cases for a VPN service. Today’s tutorial is a quick guide to using Ghost Path to watch your favorite sports teams even though you’re not in their local viewing market.

The Process

Typically, when you want to watch your team’s games you’ll want to connect to a VPN server in their local market. This goes for all major sports in the US, and likely elsewhere in the world. Ghost Path has great coverage across the world, but especially in the US. You should be able to find a server very close to the market you’re interested in.

Decide which servers you want to use

If you’re using the Ghost Path client then you can choose servers directly in the client. If you’re using a third-party app like OpenVPN, Viscosity, or Tunnelblick, then you’ll want to download ready-to-use configuration files from our VPN servers page.

Connect and Test

Once you’ve got the servers determined and configured in your VPN client, you’ll want to connect to those servers and verify that you are being seen in that location. An easy way to test is to check your IP address and see if you show as being in the location you’re targeting. If you are where you want to be, then you should be good to go.

If not, it could be that the location provider doesn’t have updated records of our IP address and it’s datacenter location. If we have multiple VPN servers in that city (which is fairly common) then you’ll want to try those.

Pro-tip: If you can’t get the VPN connection to work to your team’s home market, then try the opponent’s home market. Many times a broadcast will be shown in both markets. 

Here’s a short tutorial using Viscosity to connect to a few different cities.

 

Using Ghost Path with Tunnelblick

Video tutorial for configuring Tunnelblick

Tunnelblick is a popular free OpenVPN client for Mac. It’s been around a long time, is still being updated, and is a breeze to use. This post has a video tutorial that walks you through the process of setting up Tunnelblick so that you can quickly and easily access Ghost Path’s VPN servers.

How to install and configure Tunnelblick to work with Ghost Path servers

Here’s the full list of Ghost Path VPN servers. You can click the OpenVPN link for any of those servers to download a pre-config’d OpenVPN file to easily import into Tunnelblick.

Using Ghost Path with Viscosity

Video tutorial for configuring Viscosity

Viscosity is one of the absolute best VPN clients for Mac (and Windows). It’s very popular and I use it personally for a variety of reasons. I’ve put together a handy guide to help you get started with Viscosity.

Viscosity is not free, but it does come with a 30-day trial and then it’s just $14 for a license. Well worth it imo.

How to install and configure Viscosity to work with Ghost Path servers

Here’s the full list of Ghost Path VPN servers. You can click the Viscosity link for any of those servers to download a pre-config’d Viscosity file.

New Feature: Configure Your Own Port Forward

Set up VPN Port Forwarding on Ghost Path

We’ve released a new feature that customers have been asking about. Now, you can manage and configure port forward settings yourself, directly in your account, without having to rely on our support team to set it up for you.

What is a Port Forward?

Port forwarding is the process of opening up a specific port through the VPN that is public-facing. This allows outside traffic to access your computer. An example of this would be remote access, where you would use port forwarding to access your home computer while you’re traveling.

There are inherent security risks with port forwarding since you’re allowing outside traffic through a port, so be sure to weigh the potential risks before setting it up. There are many legitimate uses for port forwarding, so the benefits of your specific situation may outweigh the risks.

Port Forward Requirements

Each Ghost Path username is allowed to forward one port, and you have to specify whether you want the TCP or UDP protocol. Once a port forward is configured it takes a few hours for it to take effect throughout the network.

How Do You Configure the Port Forward?

It’s a really simple process. Simply log in to the Ghost Path website and click on VPN settings. Follow the instructions to configure everything. We’ve put together an article in our knowledgebase about Port Forwarding with a bit more detail. As always, feel free to reach out to support if you have any questions.

New Version of Ghost Path Client

New Ghost Path VPN Client

We’ve just released a brand new update to the Ghost Path VPN client. This version is meant to improve usability.

We recommend all Ghosts update to the newest version as soon as possible. You can download by logging in at ghostpath.com/members and clicking Downloads.

New Default VPN Servers

New installs of the software will see the closest VPN server automatically become the default. As always, you can change that to any server that you choose, but pre-populating with the nearest server will help new users get connected more quickly and easily.

New Random Port Setting

We’re also turning on the random port connection setting by default for new installs. This helps you stay more secure by keeping you from staying on a single port too long.

Will Updating Erase My Ghost Path Configurations?

Updating to the new version of the Ghost Path app retains all settings from the previous version, including your username and your VPN server selections.

Full List of Changes

  • VPN server defaults to nearest server for new installs
  • Random port setting is enabled by default on new installs
  • Fixed a bug related to server list updates

As always, contact support if you run into any problems at all.

New Ghost Path Client Version Available

New Ghost Path VPN Client

We just released a brand new version of the Ghost Path VPN client, and it’s a big one. We’ve released support for Plex, our multi-hop VPN solution that makes our VPN more secure than ever.

We recommend all Ghosts update to the newest version as soon as possible. You can download by logging in at ghostpath.com/members and clicking Downloads.

TAP Driver Fixes

With the recent release of Windows 10 came a slew of networking problems. The TAP drivers utilized by Windows to connect to our OpenVPN setup was problematic before Microsoft released updates. Now we are bundling those updates into this new version to insure that everyone is using the latest TAP drivers.

New Software Privacy Options

The Ghost Path VPN client no longer logs connection activity or IP addresses by default. In certain situations our support team may need connection logs to help diagnose a problem, so we will send instructions for enabling the logs in this rare case.

Will Updating Erase My Ghost Path Configurations?

Updating to the new version of the Ghost Path app retains all settings from the previous version, including your username and your VPN server selections.

Full List of Changes

  • Plex support added (multi-hop VPN connections)
  • Updated OpenVPN version to 2.3.9
  • Windows: Updated TAP drivers.
  • Windows: Use block-outside-dns OpenVPN option on Windows 7 and newer
  • In-client logs and IP address history are now turned off by default.
  • All logs and IP address history data will be deleted on startup when logging is disabled in settings
  • Corrected OpenVPN issue that resulted in “too many servers” error in certain groups.
  • Mac OS X: Fixed bug that resulted in hang during system shutdown
  • Server list timer settings no longer require a restart

As always, contact support if you run into any problems at all.

New Version of the Ghost Path VPN Client Available

New Version of Ghost Path VPN Client Released

A brand new update to the Ghost Path VPN client is now available! We recommend all Ghosts download and install the new version as soon as possible.

Lots of changes and improvements this time. Here are some of them:

  • Leak protection featured now on by default for new installs.
  • Enhanced leak protection for IPv6.
  • Added ability to add gateway servers, cities, and countries to groups via right click.
  • Allow application to start minimized.
  • Several bug fixes
  • Mac OS X client: added ability to close client with CMD+Q
  • Several other minor changes and fixes.

As always, contact support if you run into any problems at all.

How to Hide an IP Address

How to hide your IP address

Many of us who use the Internet every day have never heard of an IP address., but this simple collection of numbers is a major part of security on the web, and determines how we use parts of a network to access the global Internet.

An IP address is a binary number, made into a set of numbers, that shows where a specific message is coming from on the web. Each device or part of a network has its own IP address according to the Internet Protocol that’s been set up to make Internet use universal. But there are some ways to complicate matters by hiding an IP address and shielding Internet messages from revealing the location and identity of the sender.

IP Addresses and Hacking

In some cases, obscuring the IP address of an Internet signal request has to do with some types of hacking.

One common example is called “IP address spoofing.” This involves forging parts of a data packet to hide the identity of the person who’s sending the message and the network components that he or she is using.

In IP address spoofing, the header of an Internet data packet is changed. Hackers may forge a different address, to make it look like a packet was sent by a different device or network.

IP spoofing is sometimes used in type of cyberattacks called ‘denial of service’ attacks. These attacks can flood victim networks with a lot of traffic and overload a system, and they’re something that today’s businesses and government offices are taking seriously. DoS attacks, as they’re called, can disrupt business and sink revenue, even if the site is only down for a short time.

However, not all IP spoofing is hacking, and this method does have some legitimate uses, for instance, in testing networks or parts of network systems.

Why Would You Hide an IP Address?

Tools for hiding IP addresses aren’t just for hackers.

There are some legitimate reasons why someone might want to shield an IP address.

In some cases, users may simply want to hide their geographical locations. We’ve all heard about Facebook scares, where some users worry that predators or others will get their geographical location from the signals they send over the Internet, to find them and harm them. Although that’s unlikely, hiding an IP address can make a user feel safer.

Also, many networks and services will lock out users from certain geographical locations, a process called geoblocking or geolocation. In any case, it’s not illegal to get around geoblocking, to hide a user’s real location and where he or she is sending from.

In other cases, you may be doing mystery shopping, researching a competitor’s products and services, or doing other kinds of research where revealing the IP address could be damaging to your results.

But one of the most common reasons for hiding IP addresses comes down to something simple — digital marketing. Company web sites and web pages often track all Internet requests, using cookies and other tools. Some of these are pretty sophisticated, and many of us don’t even know they are in place. In some cases, governments have taken a hard look at how data is collected about users online, in order to try to protect consumers, but there’s still an awful lot of tracking out there.

Lots of savvy Internet users want a little protection against this kind of intrusive marketing. They don’t want every web step they take to be endlessly analyzed and responded to, with hyper-aggressive emailing or marketing campaigns. They just want to remain a little bit anonymous over the web. And that’s another reason why users might take steps to hide their IP address from anyone who gets their hands on the data packets, or receives a network request.

How to Hide an IP Address

Generally, those who want to hide an IP address will use some type of VPN, proxy, or smart DNS service.

A proxy is simply a device or component that puts itself in the place of the original device or component to substitute an IP address.

One way to think about this is that in local networks, networks that are not necessarily analyzed by Internet protocol, it’s possible to ‘bounce’ signals around within those networks in ways that don’t get advertised over Internet channels. So, with a proxy, network users put these intermediary servers and other machines in place so that, when they send a message from a private machine, it looks like it’s coming from the public proxy instead.

There are many different types of proxy tools available, as well. For instance, there are web-based proxies that provide these services wirelessly. Then there are hard-wired proxy servers that, as mentioned above, act as go-betweens for a user and a recipient.

Another type of proxy is an anonymity network, where a third party may set up network structures to help others mask an IP address.

All of these are effective for hiding IP addresses and making sure that individual web user behavior isn’t broadcasted to the world. But especially for companies and enterprises, there’s another more common way to put IP address shielding in place.

The Virtual Public Network

A Virtual Public Network or VPN is a valuable security tool. Ghost Path offers state of the art VPN services to help individuals make their web use safer and more effective.

These kinds of setups essentially provide “secure tunnels” for Internet messaging. They connect the public global Internet to private networks and encrypt data securely at the point of exit, so that it travels the Internet in an entirely secure way.

In many VPNs, engineers often put a firewall between the client and host servers, so that remote users have to authenticate themselves and establish their identities. That prevents different types of unauthorized access. Encryption often utilizes certain keys that are held by stakeholders, so that hackers or any other outside parties do not have access to usable data. Instead, they get an encrypted result that is useless in terms of poking and prying for information.

VPN’s also help to deal with dangers related to wi-fi hotspots and all other kinds of situations where sensitive data can get jeopardized as individuals browse the web and transmit data using mobile apps. A real danger is logging into mobile banking over a public wi-fi connection. Hackers can ‘snoop’ data being transmitted on an open wi-fi network and potentially gain access to any data transmitted, including usernames and passwords. Ghost Path can help set up effective VPN structures where every remote user at every level of a business is taken care of, so that no matter if people are using the network in a company office, or out in the field, everything stays safe.

VPN’s and IP Addresses

Not only does connecting to a VPN hide your true IP address, you have the option of choosing the IP address that you want to use. Each of our Ghost Path VPN servers has one or more IP addresses associated with it at any given time. When you connect to that server you are assuming that IP address. For example, if you want to appear to be coming from Las Vegas then choosing the Las Vegas VPN server will accomplish that.

In short, VPN does much more than hiding IP address. It cloaks the remote user from having their identity broadcasted, but it also protects all sorts of sensitive data that you might transmit online, including:

  • usernames and passwords
  • your browsing activity
  • any other data that you transmit

IP Exhaustion & the IPv6 Transition

It’s important to note that the particular technologies in place now to handle IP address documentation may not be around forever. One reason is because the actual agencies in charge of the Internet are starting to change how IP addresses are written, and how they’re used.

In the U.S., agencies like ICANN register Internet domains and addresses. At this time, regulatory agencies around the world are moving from an IPv4 to an IPv6 format. The IPv4 format, which included 32-bit numbers, has become impacted by what professionals call ‘exhaustion,’ and IPv6 is a way to extend the these addresses to fit a much larger global user base than existed when the Internet was originally built.

Looking Toward the Future of Privacy

To continue to keep on top of new technologies, check out what Ghost Path is doing around the world. Our servers are popping up in many different countries worldwide, as we anticipate the biggest security and privacy changes that our customers will see in the coming years.

4 Questions to Ask BEFORE Buying a VPN

If you regularly use public WiFi, travel for work, worry about Internet security, or simply value you privacy, you’re probably considering getting a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

4 questions for your VPN provider

A VPN is essentially a protective “tunnel” that secures the connection between your laptop, smartphone or tablet and the Internet. This ensures that all your online activity is protected from hackers, peeping toms, or others with malicious intent who are using the same network.

But, before you got out and buy one, it’s important to consider your needs and usage habits so that you choose the best possible VPN for you!

Here are 4 questions to consider before you buy a VPN:

  1. Do you regularly travel out of the country? Many of your favorite services, like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon on Demand, are blocked once you travel outside of the USA, and many decide to get a VPN to bypass these limitations. To ensure you get the right one for you, ask your VPN service provider if they have exit servers in the U.S. meaning that you can “appear” to be in the United States when you’re actually enjoying a cappuccino in Rome. (GhostPath VPN is totally equipped to help you bypass any foreign country limitation, so you can catch up on House of Cards even while you’re abroad.)
  2. Can it be used across all your devices? You may think you only need a VPN for your computer, but the truth is more and more Internet security breaches are occurring on our smartphones and tablets because they’re portable and we can easily use them in public (often on unsecured WiFi networks). (Our GhostPath VPN works seamlessly with laptops, computers, smartphones and tablets, so no matter what device you’re using, you’re covered!)
  3. Can I use it on my router? Using a VPN in conjunction with your wireless router is a great way to protect all of your internet connected devices in one fell swoop. (GhostPath supports using DD-WRT to connect to the VPN at the router level, meaning all your internet connected devices are protected. Keep in mind DD-WRT will only work if it’s supported by your router.)
  4. Are there any limitations? Make sure to ask about bandwidth limitations, as that can greatly impact your user experience. Also, ask if the VPN you’re considering works with all service providers. (GhostPath syncs with all major operating systems including Windows, Mac OS X, Ubuntu, Android, and iOS. And, there are no download limits, no throttling, and no maximum number of server changes! You are free to use our service however you see fit.)

Click here for more information on our VPN service.

 

Some questions inspired by this post from PC World.