A new report, Attention All Passengers: Airport Networks Are Putting Your Devices & Cloud Apps at Severe Risk, released by Coronet found that some of America’s airports are cyber-insecure.
The data collected identified San Diego International Airport, John Wayne Airport-Orange County (CA) International Airport and Houston’s William P. Hobby International Airport as lagging in cybersecurity.
Over the course of five months, vast amounts of data on device vulnerabilities and Wi-Fi network risks were collected from more than 250,000 consumer and corporate endpoints that traveled through America’s 45 busiest airports.
After extensive analysis, the data was compile into an Airport Threat Score, which identified not only the most cyber-insecure airports but also the least vulnerable. Chicago-Midway International, Raleigh-Durham International and Nashville International ranked top of the list for low vulnerability.
According to the report, business travelers are at heightened risk of unintentionally facilitating unauthorized device access, data theft and malware/ransomware spread across their endpoints. Once devices are infected, the integrity and confidentiality of the employers’ essential cloud-based work apps, such as G Suite, Dropbox and Office 365, are jeopardized.
The data suggested that all flyers are at an elevated risk of connecting to unencrypted, unsecured or improperly configured networks, which can prompt identity theft, financial fraud, and personal files and picture theft.
“Far too many U.S. airports have sacrificed the security of their Wi-Fi networks for consumer convenience,” said Dror Liwer, Coronet’s founder and CISO.
“As a result, business travelers in particular put not just their devices, but their company’s entire digital infrastructure at risk every time they connect to Wi-Fi that is unencrypted, unsecured or improperly configured," said Liwer. "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.”