MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — (Marketwired) — 05/21/13 — AnchorFree, the global leader in consumer security and Internet freedom, today announced the 10 schools in the U.S. and the U.K. leading the pack in AnchorFree-s Hotspot Shield Privacy Challenge.
Designed to raise awareness towards keeping student-s digital lives private and secure, AnchorFree will award students at the top three colleges $50,000 in scholarships and crown those schools with the title of “Most Private Campus” when the challenge concludes on June 9. The last three scholarship prize winners will be chosen at random from all student entries. Students can earn additional entries and increase their chances of winning in the following ways: one entry for signing up; two additional entries for every additional device they install the software on and activate; and one additional entry for every college friend they share it with who also signs up with a valid “.edu” address.
Heading into the final weeks, here are the top 10 contenders leading Hotspot Shield-s College Privacy Challenge:
1. Arizona State University
2. University of Michigan
3. University of Florida
4. Virginia Tech
5. North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
6. University of Phoenix
7. University of Texas at Austin
8. University of California, Los Angeles
9. University of California, Berkeley
10. Virginia Community College
During the challenge, any college student registering with a school-provided “.edu” email address or the U.K. equivalent receives a free subscription to the Hotspot Shield VPN for up to five devices including; iPad, Android, tablets, PCs and Macs, a $30 value.
Diana Salnik, a student at UC San Diego, recently installed the Hotspot Shield software after a family member warned her of the dangers of browsing the Internet while using public WiFi. “I-m always out and about using the free Internet wherever I go,” said Salnik. “Now that I know how easily your data can be hacked into, I-m telling everyone I know they need to be more careful.”
Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram help students to stay connected; but they are also prime outlets for private information and confidential data to be spread on the web. Students are estimated to spend up to 14 hours a day on their mobile devices alone [1], increasing their vulnerability to privacy breaches. In recent months students have adopted applications like Snapchat, Secret Life and PicVault to privatize and secure their mobile and social lives.
“As students close out the school year many are heading into the workforce, seeking summer internships or first time jobs, and are scrambling to -clean up their Facebook- or privatize their digital lives,” said David Gorodyansky, CEO of AnchorFree, the maker of Hotspot Shield. “Using a VPN like Hotspot Shield can protect young people-s web browsing and online interactions. It-s important that students are in control of their information, keeping their futures bright as they head into the job market.”
AnchorFree-s has been downloaded more than 120 million times on PCs, Macs, iOS and Android platforms. The company experienced explosive growth in 2012 and, according to Quantcast, was among the top 35 online destinations based on total Internet traffic.
More information about the “Hotspot Shield College Privacy Challenge” can be found at .
AnchorFree believes in placing consumers in control of their personal information online. The company-s mission is to enable secure access to the world-s information for an addressable market of five billion people who access the Web through computers or mobile devices. AnchorFree does this through Hotspot Shield, the world-s most popular app for safe browsing. Hotspot Shield secures all Internet communications, protects the user-s identity online, and provides universal access to all Internet content. Hotspot Shield is available for PC, Mac, Apple iOS and Android platforms at and . AnchorFree is a privately held, venture-backed company based in Mountain View, California.
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Contacts:
Nick Shepherd and Kristen Hay
hotspotshield[at]launchsquad[dot]com
415-625-8555
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