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by John W. Simek, Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.

VPNs Protect Your Information – Except Hola

June 2, 2015

Free is not always good. Hola is a free VPN service that is used by millions around the world. A recent report by security researchers claim that Hola is an insecure service and “operates like a poorly secured botnet.” The group of researchers has created an “Adios, Hola!” website, where they state that “Hola is a ‘peer-to-peer’ VPN. This may sound nice, but what it actually means is that other people browse the web through your internet connection.” Ouch. So much for keeping your information private.

This sounds a lot like the Xfinity hotspots, where any Comcast user can jump on your personal wireless network. Comcast uses the wireless routers it supplies to create a public hotspot for other Comcast customers. Comcast calls this a “feature” and a great advantage since you have access to any hotspot around the country. I call it putting your network and data at risk.

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