Get hooked up with AT&T ConnecTech
-
CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating -
Average user rating:
Write your own review - See all user reviews
Product summary
The good: Steganos Secure Traveler includes a VPN service, data encryption, antitheft protection, and a data shredder.
The bad: Steganos Secure Traveler is expensive.
The bottom line: Steganos Secure Traveler contains a VPN service, a secured vault, a password manager, antitheft protection, and a shredder, all tools you need to secure your laptop. But we feel it's a tad expensive for the average user.
Specifications: License type: Complete package; Min processor type: Intel Pentium; Peripheral / Interface devices: Mouse or compatible device; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 04/26/2007
- Released on: 04/25/2007
Secure Traveler is the latest offering from the German security company Steganos, and it addresses a growing need as wireless laptops meet free public Wi-Fi service: a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Public Wi-Fi connections are open, unencrypted networks that allow anyone to capture the private data you are sending and receiving over the Internet. A VPN is a secure, encrypted connection between your wireless laptop and the Internet, but these connections have so far been limited to employees of major companies. With Secure Traveler, Steganos offers a VPN service to the individual consumer, along with a suite of security tools to help protect your laptop's data. While we think this is very good idea, we feel the price is a bit high.
Setup
From the Steganos site, we downloaded a prefinal release of the application and installed it in a matter of minutes. We were then asked to provide a valid license number and to activate the product with Steganos. These are straightforward and standard requests these days.
Steganos Secure Traveler runs on Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP, and Windows Vista (32-bit). Installation requires 100MB, and you should have at least 256MB of RAM. The price is pretty steep, but it's important to remember that you're getting a security suite of tools plus a VPN service. One month of service with Secure VPN costs $29.95, while one year runs $169.95, both are limited to 10GB of data transfer per month, which should be more than enough for most people.
Should you want to remove Steganos Secure Traveler, there is an uninstall icon (a rarity these days). However, upon reboot, we found no file folders for Steganos but several registry entries still remained.
Interface
The Steganos interface hasn't changed in years; it's still a simple blue box with six large icons. But there is no wizard, no tutorial, and no real help in setting started, which is problem. The interface is not very intuitive. You have to just start clicking icons, and even then you might not configure everything right.
When you double-click one of the six icons in the main control window, the icon jumps up and down like a nervous 5-year-old. It's cute the first time you see it, annoying as you realize you're not making any progress. Try as we may, we could not get the principal product, Secure VPN, to launch until after we activated the product and then rebooted the computer. The other icons--Safe, Portable Safe, Shredder, Password Manager, and Antitheft--all displayed their initial setup screens when we first clicked. We suspect this glitch will be fixed after the final release of the product.
Features
Five of the six features in this product are available in other Steganos products. The main feature is the VPN connection, however, there are important enhancements to Steganos Safe, Steganos Portable Safe, and Password Manager which are worth noting.
Secure VPN is an upgrade and rebranding of the Steganos Anonym VPN that uses 128-bit SSL technology. Like Anonym VPN, Secure VPN includes a chart that displays your current data usage through the Steganos service. Everything you do online--connect to e-mail, surf, IM, log in to a Web site service--is conducted through the Steganos VPN tunnel. To further confuse would-be attackers, instead of typing in a pass phrase or a series of random alphanumerics and characters to access the VPN, Steganos presents you with a grid of photographic images, called PicPass. From that grid you create a little story. For example, choose the smiley face, then the apple, then the blue sky: The smiley face eats the apple while staring at the blue sky. Steganos found this example wasn't very secure (only three images were chosen), but you get the idea. Only after creating a Safe are you given access to additional configuration options, such as moving your Microsoft Outlook e-mail folders, contacts, and calendars to an encrypted drive so that others can't access your Outlook mail.
Continue reading- See more CNET content tagged:
- Secure VPN,
- VPN,
- icon,
- laptop computer,
- password
User reviews
-
Average user rating:
0 stars
Not yet available
Back to product review - My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 1 of 1 user reviewSee 1 user review
- See 1 user review Write review
