We are pleased to announce that we have entered into a partnership agreement with Private WiFi® to provide our site visitors with up-to-date news and privacy resources about how to prevent identity theft and fraud in wireless hotspots.

For those of you unfamiliar with Private WiFi, it is a personal VPN software that installs easily on your laptop to make you invisible to hackers.

The privacy company warns that it is actually very easy for ordinary people to hack wifi. From massive privacy breaches at Sony and Apple to identity thefts via online banking or social networks, hardly a day goes by without a story about someone being victimized.

But it actually doesn’t take any tech expertise — it doesn’t even take a geek — for someone to access email passwords, Facebook details or photos, or any other highly sensitive data while online in a wireless hotspot.

Just in case you’re thinking, “Well, that won’t happen to me,” check out this awesome quote about VPNs courtesy of ComputerWorld:

“You don’t spit into the wind, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape, and you shouldn’t use unencrypted public WiFi networks without a VPN. It opens up a slew of potential problems.”

That’s pretty accurate — and scary — but just what is a virtual private network? It’s sometimes also called a “secure tunnel” to encrypt data at one end and decrypt it on the other. This protects hackers from intercepting communications at the most vulnerable point — over the airwaves in a wifi hotspot, such as a coffee shop, hotel room, or airport lounge.

By using a VPN, all hackers would see is jumbled gibberish and not, say, email messages, passwords, or online bank activity.

The personal VPN is definitely going to be a hot trend in 2012 – think back to before you used a firewall or antivirus – scary to imagine going that “naked” anymore, right?

Be sure to Like Private Wifi on Facebook – they are always sharing privacy news and real stories about identity theft and preventing fraud.

The company’s Private-I blog also features an overview of news and commentary regarding security and privacy.

We are looking forward to working with Private WiFi! Don’t forget to check out their free 3-day trial at http://www.privatewifi.com/try.