Miscellaneous 3 min. read

How to remain private on college WiFi

How to remain private on college WiFi

With the first semester well underway, you’re probably spending much of your time connected to college WiFi. But is college WiFi safe? And how do we keep our internet activities private?

Is college WiFi safe?

How many people are connected to your college WiFi? Lots, is the answer. With many students and university employees all connected to the same network, you should view your college WiFi in the same way you’d view any public WiFi network — insecure.

So is college WiFi safe? The answer, most definitely, is no.

It’s incredibly easy for bad guys to hack you on a public network. Don’t think there are any hackers in your school? Well, those kids in the corner of the common room with their hoods up do look mighty suspicious. But in all seriousness, hacking and malware attacks are common, especially in college, and you need to protect your devices.

It might not only be hacking you’re concerned about. What about simply retaining your online privacy? We’ve all seen the backlash with Facebook’s recent scandal. We, as people, are now that much more concerned about protecting our private data.

The truth is, you’re never safe on a public WiFi network. When you’re on a public WiFi network, your internet traffic is exposed. Which means, when you check your bank account on your phone, for instance, someone could be watching. When you type in your email password, prying eyes may be taking note. And because you’re in college rather than at a random coffee shop, students are far less likely to have taken the necessary steps to protect themselves.

How to stay private on university WiFi.

Let’s talk about how you can keep your private information secure—and remain safe online.

Follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Search for and download Hotspot Shield VPN from your app store. Hotspot Shield is the #1 rated security app that provides online privacy, security, and access to restricted websites and apps.

Step 2: Open your Hotspot Shield VPN app and press “connect”. Your internet traffic is now encrypted and you are effectively ‘invisible’ online.

Step 3: Continue browsing the web as normal. Now, when you check your bank account or open any other app or site, no one—including the network itself—will have any idea what site or app you’re visiting. This keeps you private, secure, and enables you to access any apps or websites that may have been blocked.

How to unblock content on college WiFi

So now that you’re using Hotspot Shield VPN to keep you safe and private, you might be interested to learn about how Hotspot Shield can help you access blocked content.

On many college networks, websites, apps, and games—like Snapchat, Netflix, YouTube, Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, Pokemon, Fire Emblem Heroes, and many others—will be blocked (Purdue just did this). So how do you unblock them?

Follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Open up your Hotspot Shield VPN app.

Step 2: Click “connect”.

Step 3: Now visit the app, game, or website you’re trying to visit and you’ll find that any restrictions have been bypassed. It’s that easy!

How does Hotspot Shield unblock content?

When you connect to Hotspot Shield, you’re routing your web traffic through its secure servers. Hotspot Shield VPN then encrypts your data, switches out your IP address, and sends it to the site or app you want to visit. You are effectively now ‘invisible’ online. And if your college network can’t see what apps or websites you’re visiting, it can’t block you.

How to bypass blocked VPN

In some cases, certain VPNs may be blocked. Why? Because colleges know that students use VPNs to unblock games and such things during class. (We at Hotspot Shield do not condone using our VPN to bypass school laws, however, there could be times when you need to access information—like if you needed to contact a friend urgently via Snapchat. But please don’t watch Netflix in class!)

While a college WiFi network might not be able to see what sites people with VPNs are visiting, it could tell that all the traffic is deriving from the same servers. It may, then, label those servers as “VPN traffic” and block anything that comes in deriving from those servers’ addresses.

This is where you need a trusted VPN. With over 2,000 servers, Hotspot Shield is a leader in accessing restricted content because our technology ensures the traffic passes through undetected. So while some VPNs may be blocked, you can trust Hotspot Shield to sneak through and provide access.

How do I download a VPN?

Obviously, here at Hotspot Shield, we recommend joining the 650 million that are already using Hotspot Shield on their mobile device and computers, staying safe and secure online in the process. You can download Hotspot Shield VPN for free by clicking the button below.

Is college WiFi safe? Protect yourself today with Hotspot Shield.

Download Hotspot Shield for FREE

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