Attention business travellers: Airport WiFi may be putting you at risk

23 July, 2018

A new report from cloud security company, Coronet has brought to light a glaring problem with airport WiFi which is currently putting business travellers at risk. The report was designed to inform business travellers of how unsecure airport WiFi can inadvertently put the integrity and confidentiality of cloud-based work apps such as G-Suite, Dropbox, and Office 365, at risk. Many airport WiFi networks are unencrypted, unsecured or improperly configured.

The complete report ranks the 45 busiest airports in the US by vulnerability, and has Chicago-Midway, Raleigh-Durham and Nashville International leading the pack as the least vulnerable. However, it is the unsecure airports which is most worrying and could cause business travellers data, as well as the company's they work for, the most issues.

"Far too many US airports have sacrificed the security of their WiFi networks for consumer convenience. As a result, business travellers in particular put not just their devices, but their company's entire digital infrastructure at risk every time they connect to WiFi that is unencrypted, unsecured or improperly configured."

America's Most Cyber Insecure Airports:

36. Boston Logan International Airport
37. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
38. Charlotte Douglas International Airport
39. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
40. Dallas Love Field
41. Newark Liberty International Airport
42. Southwest Florida International Airport
43. William P. Houston Hobby Airport
44. John Wayne Airport-Orange County Airport
45. San Diego International Airport

America's Least Vulnerable Airports:

10. Tampa International Airport
9. Miami International Airport
8. Lambert St. Louis International Airport
7. Kansas City International Airport
6. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
5. San Antonio International Airport
4. Washington Dulles International Airport
3. Nashville International Airport
2. Raleigh Durham International Airport
1. Chicago-Midway International Airport

The Methodology Behind Finding America's Most Cyber Insecure Airports

To identify the airports with the greatest cyber risk, Coronet collected data from more than 250,000 consumer and corporate endpoints that travelled through America's 45 busiest airports over the course of a five month period. Coronet used this information to determine both device vulnerabilities and WiFi network risks. Following the completed analysis, the data was combined and standardised to compile an Airport Threat Score. The greater the vulnerability for devices and networks, the higher the score assigned. Based on the analysis, Coronet classifies any score above 6.5 as unacceptable exposure.

Coronet founder and CISO Dror Liwer said: "Far too many US airports have sacrificed the security of their WiFi networks for consumer convenience. As a result, business travellers in particular put not just their devices, but their company's entire digital infrastructure at risk every time they connect to WiFi that is unencrypted, unsecured or improperly configured. Until such time when airports take responsibility and improve their cybersecurity posture, the accountability is on each individual flyer to be aware of the risks and take the appropriate steps to minimize the danger."