iOpus, a provider of cost effective, cutting edge technology utilities that are both powerful and easy to use, announced this week that the iOpus Private Internet Gateway (iPig) will be available as a free beta product to consumers or end users worldwide, beginning today at Digital Life 2006. iPig is downloadable from the company’s website at http://www.iopus.com/ipig/download.

The new offering, aimed at consumers and small businesses seeking to secure their laptop connections at public hotspots, offers powerful 256-bit AES encryption technology. The iOpus Private Internet Gateway (iPIG) creates a secure "tunnel" that protects your inbound and outbound communications (Email, Web, IM, VOIP, calls, FTP, etc.) at any Wi-Fi hotspot or wired network. The internet connection may be a free or commercial Wi–Fi hotspot, an Ethernet network jack in your hotel room, or a network drop in the office you’re visiting.

iPig is the only zero-configuration VPN solution that offers a free VPN Server. Instead of having the Pig client send all data to our secure connection servers, you can set up your own secure connection server. Just like the iPig client, the iPig Server is extremely easy to install. All you need is a PC or Server with a permanent Internet connection. With your own iPig Server, no data passes through our server, thus 100% privacy is ensured.

iPIG shields your data from even the most sophisticated methods of online spying and snooping like the "Evil twin attacks". In addition, your sensitive information is not only protected between your computer and the wireless access point you're using, but all the way to iOpus' secure connection servers deep in the Internet. This ensures that your data can't be easily hijacked through the air and at the point it transitions to a "wired" Ethernet connection. Unlike other technologies, iPig works with any kind of Internet connection (Wifi, WLAN, wired ethernet) and requires NO configuration of any kind. You just start your favorite web browser, email client or chat software and switch the iPig encryption on: iPig grabs all Internet traffic before it leaves your PC and encrypts it securely! iPig has the option to block all traffic if the encryption is not switched on correctly. iPig also works with all major firewall software like Zonealarm or Norton Internet Security. The software runs on Windows 2000, XP and 2003.

“People need to remember that everyone around you has access to your data when you are connected to a public hotspot. All of the data you send can be intercepted easily and quickly by persons unknown, without your knowledge. Your data may be your email usernames and passwords, your emails, Instant Messages, web passwords, and all the web pages you visit,” commented Mathias Roth, CTO of iOpus.