The BBC is reporting today (click here) that free VPN provider Hola has been rocked by botnet accusations, so what does this mean and why should you think twice before using a free service like Hola?
Free VPN providers like Hola might be tempting however they’re not worth compromising your online security or privacy for. Trusted VPNs such as Liberty Shield offer a much safer option to unblock geoblocked content from abroad.
“While analysing Hola, Vectra Threat Labs researchers found that in addition to behaving like a botnet, Hola contains a variety of capabilities that almost appear to be designed to enable a targeted, human-driven cyber attack on the network in which an Hola user’s machine resides.”
This video from LogicLounge sums things up in simple terms…
Isn’t Hola safe and secure?
In a word “No”, at least as far as their FREE service goes!
- The biggest issue with Hola is that it is essentially selling their users’ bandwidth to anyone willing to buy. This means all Hola users are turned into botnets.
- Hola does not guarantee traffic encryption. Therefore users are being left totally exposed online.
- It has also been proven that Hola has been testing injected ads into users’ browsers.
- Hola essentially only works on Chrome and Firefox. If you want to unblock your favorite streaming channels on iPhone, iPad, Android, Smart TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, PS4, Xbox, or any other streaming device, Hola is not an option.
- Hola is being advertised as a free product. That’s far away from the truth. Free VPN providers are littered with problems. Slow browsing speeds, limited bandwidth, and using browsing history for advertising purposes.
“First, the Hola software can download and install any additional software without the user’s knowledge. This is because in addition to being signed with a valid code-signing certificate, once Hola has been installed, the software installs its own code-signing certificate on the user’s system.”