This summer, I took a vacation to south Florida and in doing so, I
spent a significant time waiting in the airport. Most modern airports
have free wireless Internet access after the security check in points
and the airports that I’ve frequented (Portland, Phoenix, Houston, Ft.
Lauderdale) were no exception.

Most Wi-Fi networks in the airports follow a recurring motif; an open
AP (access point) that allows you to access the Internet. It’s really
convenient and easy to use but unfortunately, the problem with this is
that your communication to and from the Internet is not encrypted
whatsoever.

I don’t usually worry about this lack of encryption though. I have
access to a VPN server at work and at home so what I usually end up
doing is using the Wi-Fi at the airport then making a VPN connection to
my home network and then remote controlling and browsing, emailing, and
IM’ing from the remote controlled machine. Naturally, this is all
encrypted and I feel warm, safe, and fuzzy.

That safe feeling lasted until I couldn’t establish a VPN connection
from the Ft. Lauderdale airport. I instantly felt naked, as if my
thoughts were open to everyone and anyone. I still connected though but
I just used IM and didn’t read any of my email (corporate or home).

This got me thinking, there are probably a lot of business types out
there that use the free wireless at the airports, Starbucks, etc.
without thinking about the security of the information that they are
sending throughout the air. That thought, spawned another thought; I
envisioned a VPN service that people could use to encrypt their
wireless sessions to and from the Internet using OpenVPN. Since OpenVPN
is a TLS/SSL based VPN, it’s doubtful that someone would block the
outgoing port.

As luck (and laziness) would have it, I sat on the idea. Tonight
(morning) I opened up digg, and found this headline, “Google to offer
secure WiFi VPN.” Sound familiar? Yeah the premise is the same.
Luckily, I didn’t get into that game because Google would have crushed
me.

In order to use the service, you have to download a Windows application. Before you use it, familiarize yourself with the FAQ and the Privacy Policy.

One thing that always disturbed me about starting a service like that
was the potential to provide haxx0rs with “a free ride” to the
Internet. Think about it, now you can roll up to someone’s unsecured
wireless network in the ’burbs, start up your Google Secure Access and
start hacking away using an encrypted session.