​ + + This Home VPN Router Setup Protects Your Traffic Wherever You Are Posted on April 6th, 2016 by Computer, smartphone, and tablet users face all kinds of security threats. When at home or at the office, you're protected, in part, by your firewall and other security software. Mac store for windows.

Yet when you're away from your usual networks, risks abound. So you may be wondering a few things, such as what is the security concern when connecting to Wi-Fi networks? How the heck can you protect your traffic on public networks? And is a VPN router setup the right solution?

In this Article: Setting up a VPN App Adding a VPN Connection on Windows Adding a VPN Connection on Mac Adding a VPN Connection on iPhone Adding a VPN Connection on Android Community Q&A. This wikiHow teaches you how to set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) on your computer or smartphone.

These are all good questions that I'll clear up, giving you the tools you need to protect your computers and smartphones when on the go. What's the Security Concern with Wi-Fi Networks? It is possible — and increasingly common — for malicious people to 'sniff' traffic on public Wi-Fi networks, looking for information. They try to catch your user names, passwords, and any other data that may identify you, and then try and access your accounts or even steal your identity. This happened to my partner recently. She had used a public Wi-Fi network on a roadside rest stop, and suddenly found that she needed to change a number of her passwords. No one had hacked into any of her accounts, but attempts had been made to reset some of her passwords.

Furthermore, a recently discovered malware, called AceDeceiver, — thus, enabling 'man in the middle attacks,' whereas an attacker intercepts your data over a public network. For now, AceDeceiver has only been spotted in the wild in China, but it could spread. For this reason, you need to take extra precautions when you're on public or unfamiliar networks.

If you use a MacBook on the go, you can protect it with software such as, which contains a powerful two-way firewall and a Mac anti-virus app. But with iOS devices, this is not possible; Apple has banned anti-virus apps from the iOS App Store, and also doesn't allow apps to access the operating system in the same way, so your iPhone or iPad is at a much greater risk when you connect to unknown networks. How to Protect Your Mobile Devices on the Go There's a way to protect your devices from man in the middle attacks wherever you are: You can use a virtual private network (VPN). This ensures that the data you send and receive is encrypted between your device and a server, ensuring that no one can sniff your traffic in a coffee shop, airport, or hotel. Most VPNs are subscription services, and cost from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, depending on the speed and amount of data you use. But there's a better way to set up a VPN: You can buy a router that includes built-in VPN software, and then set it up at your home or office.

When you're on the road, you connect to that router, and the traffic between your laptop computer, iPhone, iPad or Android device is encrypted up to that point. After that, it goes out onto the Internet, but from a location that you know is secure. (And most routers also have firewalls you can activate to enhance their security.). When connected to the router, all VPN traffic is encrypted. As you can see, with the end-to-end encryption of a VPN, you can rest assured that you won't fall pray to a man-in-the-middle attack. So far, so good? Keep reading, and I'll explain how you can set up a VPN-enabled router at home or at work, and tell you how you can use it to ensure your mobile device's traffic on public networks is secure.

Step 1: Choose a Router with Built-In VPN Software The first thing you need is a router with built-in VPN software. You certainly already have a router at home, and your employer does as well. In this article, we'll look at a simple home router; we won't cover more complex situations, such as large companies, where a server is used as a router, offering not only a VPN, but also advanced routing and network traffic management services. Depending on how you access your Internet connection, you'll either need a router, or a combination modem/router.