Hotspot Shield Free Download

Hotspot Shield 

is a software application developed by AnchorFree, Inc. that allows users to surf the Internet privately by creating a virtual private network so the user can gain secure access to all internet content, while staying in control over their personal privacy. The program is also used for cloud malware protection especially by travelers and expats that want to save data or access their home content while roaming abroad. It is used by business travelers and students to protect their online activities in Wi-Fi hotspots. It is also used by people in regions that are subject to Internet censorship, giving users access to the world’s information. Hotspot Shield was used to bypass government censorship during the Arab Springprotests in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya, and was featured on The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN.

Overview

Hotspot Shield was developed by AnchorFree, a company in Silicon Valley. The software was released in April 2008 for Windows and Mac operating systems, and was expanded to include support for iOS and Android in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Hotspot Shield establishes a virtual private network connection (VPN) between a device and a web server. This makes the user anonymous and secures data being transferred to and from the computer or mobile device. The software also protects information from being accessed or tracked by third parties. It has free and paid versions, with the paid version protecting users from malware, phishing, and spam, and providing a choice of accessing content from different countries.

Utilities and tools

Hotspot Shield uses VPN technology to encrypt data sent through a network. The software increases privacy and security while browsing the web through a proxy connection to AnchorFree’s servers, located around the world, to let users access websites that might be blocked locally or regionally. This way, people using Hotspot Shield in countries with Internet censorship can still visit international sites that are blocked. The software also offers access to all internet content without any restrictions, privacy and identity protection, wi-fi security at public hotspots, malware protection, and data compression for mobile users.

Reception

In many regions with internet censorship, using Hotspot Shield has allowed users to access Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, among other sites, which assisted them in organizing protests as well as reaching out to international media.

During the Arab Spring protests in 2010, protesters used Hotspot Shield to access social networking tools to communicate and upload videos. Hotspot Shield was also widely used during the Egyptian protests and revolution in 2011, when the Mubarak regime cracked down heavily on access to social media sites. During this time, users of the software in Egypt increased from 100,000 to over 1,000,000 overnight.

In 2013, downloads of Hotspot Shield in Turkey increased from around 10,000 per day to nearly 100,000 per day, in response to the suspected efforts of the Turkish government to censor social media and citizen access to international websites. The number of downloads of the software to mobile phones also increased significantly.

In 2012, Hotspot Shield usage increased among Mac users in the United States and Europe, as 500,000 Mac users were infected by the Flashback virus. Hotspot Shield was used as a solution to prevent cloud side viruses and threats.