AT&T Locks Down Hot Spots

Lots of press coverage today about AT&T's deal with GRIC to secure WiFi hotspots with VPN access. This is a topic that's popular with me, since I believe the lack of easy VPN offerings for WiFi users is the real security threat with WiFi hotspots. However, I can't find a clear explanation of this deal in any of the press reports. All seem to dance around the real issue, saying that it will offer VPN access, but the details aren't clearly explained. It appears that this VPN access is part of AT&T's overall VPN access system, and thus, it's a bit unclear why they need to lockdown specific hotspots. If people have a VPN offering they can use, can't they tunnel in from just about any network connection?

Filed Under: wifi, wi-fi