~ Connecting to public Wi-Fi is convenient but not safe: avast! SecureLine VPN for smartphones and tablets protects users from prying eyes ~
REDWOOD CITY, California, January 28, 2014 – Free open Wi-Fi hotspots are everywhere, providing convenient connection points for people on the go. Unfortunately they don’t provide the security required to connect safely. Hackers can easily access and steal the personal data of users connected to these unprotected networks. AVAST has solved this problem with avast! SecureLine VPN for Android smartphones and tablets as well as an updated version of SecureLine for iPhones and iPads. SecureLine acts like a tunnel, encrypting user data, thus forming a virtual shield that makes the user’s activities invisible to the outside world. avast! SecureLine VPN users can surf the web completely anonymously, protecting themselves from hackers and snoops.
According to a study conducted by AVAST with more than 340,000 respondents, nearly half of all smartphone owners in the U.S. connect to open Wi-Fi every month, 40% of them on a daily or weekly basis. Whether at an airport, cafe or local park, unsecured Wi-Fi allows users to access the Internet without entering a password. About a third of these users perform security-sensitive transactions while on public Wi-Fi, such as online shopping, banking and other activities that require entering passwords and personal data.
“Hackers target public hotspots, where it’s easy to follow every move that users of the Wi-Fi connection make, allowing them to access emails, passwords, documents, and browsing behavior,” said Vincent Steckler, Chief Executive Officer of AVAST Software. “Open Wi-Fi is not going away - we just need to make sure there’s a more secure way to connect, which is why we offer avast! SecureLine VPN for PCs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices.”
In addition to protecting users while using unsecure Wi-Fi, avast! SecureLine VPN gives users the option to change their location while browsing. This feature is especially beneficial for frequent travelers, who need to circumvent regional restrictions to access content: avast! SecureLine VPN allows travelers to connect with servers in their home country to access services they subscribe to.
Once avast! SecureLine VPN is installed onto a smartphone or tablet it automatically notifies users of the risks of connecting to unsecured Wi-Fi. The user then has the option of connecting to AVAST’s secure VPN. avast! SecureLine VPN can be proactively activated by the user, or be automatically set to establish a secure encrypted connection whenever the mobile device connects to open Wi-Fi. As a default, the app will automatically select the closest server to assure optimal performance. Alternatively, the user can choose to change the virtual location he would like to access the Internet from, e.g. New York, Seattle, Singapore or London. With avast! SecureLine VPN activated all of the users’ activities done over the Internet are anonymized and protected from hackers.
“Unfortunately hacking isn’t a complicated process – there are tools available online that anyone can easily use to steal personal data”, says Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Technology Officer at AVAST. “We created avast! SecureLine VPN to allow users to browse the web anonymously and safely, especially while using open Wi-Fi.”
avast! SecureLine VPN is available as a monthly subscription for $2.59 or as a yearly subscription for $19.99 for Android on Google Play and for $2.99 a month or $29,99 a year for iOS in the Apple App Store.
avast! SecureLine VPN as desktop solution for small and medium businesses:
For businesses, it is especially important that remote workers and traveling employees don't share sensitive business-related information via public Wi-Fi. AVAST’s business customers can activate avast! SecureLine VPN for Windows through multi-seat offerings, starting at five PCs, available through AVAST resellers.
