According to a recent poll done by the Washington Post, 40% of their sample population takes precautions when using public WiFi, 22% never use a public WiFi at all, and a stunning 37% take no precautions in using public WiFi, putting their personal data at risk.

Symantec is addressing the growing concern for security over public WiFi or hotspots with the Norton Hotspot Privacy.  The new security offering from allows consumers to connect to Wi-Fi securely by creating a virtual private network (VPN) on any public hotspot.

Norton Hotspot Privacy lets users surf the Web privately and helps keep their identity, Web accounts and transactions safe – all without the hassle of having to log on each time.  When a device detects and connects to a Wi-Fi network, Hotspot Privacy will automatically configure and initiate for the user.  The product will be available for iOS and Mac later this year.

Security issues grow with hotspots

Last week, Romanian security firm Bitdefender, warned that there is a growing security threat among iOS users who connect to public WiFi networks.  According to them, Apple’s browser Safari doesn’t warn iOS users if they are entering an unsecured site.

“The problem mainly is just with Safari. It’s built into the IOS operating system and you can’t reset the settings, so certificates [warnings] don’t show up anymore,”Bitdefender senior product manager Alexandru Balan said.

Good thing that security companies are now addressing this issue.  It will still be some months before Norton’s new tool will be available, so let’s check out some other recent developments in the WiFi security arena.

PRIVATE WiFi

Private Communications Corporation, makers of PRIVATE WiFi, recently announced that they will offer fully licensed subscriptions of their flagship software on AOL’s Lifestore.com — a destination for superior security products and services designed to help make consumers’ lives easier, safer and more fulfilling.

PRIVATE WiFi encrypts data going into and out of your computer, protecting you from hackers and identity thieves on any public hotspot.

Anchorfree’s Hotspot Shield

Anchorfree released the Android version of Hotspot Shield, the app that uses a VPN to encrypt a user’s browsing session over Wi-Fi.  But what makes this app great is that it encrypts other apps as well, theoretically, plugging any data leaks that might be happening due to a poorly written application, over a public WiFi.