A months-long study has named and shamed the US airports where travelers are most at risk of being hacked when using the free airport Wi-Fi connection.
Cyber-security firm Coronet studied data from 45 major US airports over a period of five months and has ranked them on their cyber-vulnerability.
San Diego International was the most vulnerable, it said.
Coronet said it found an access point designed to mimic the airport’s official Wi-Fi login called ‘#SANfreewifi’ which was running malware and easy for hackers to access travelers’ data.
John Wayne Airport-Orange County Airport, Southwest Florida International Airport, Houston Hobby and Newark all rated poorly for insufficient security in their free public Wi-Fi networks.
"Far too many U.S. airports have sacrificed the security of their Wi-Fi networks for consumer convenience. 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 un-encrypted, unsecured or improperly configured," said Dror Liwer, chief security officer of Coronet.
"Even for those airports that do prioritize security, attack techniques such as the Key Reinstallation Attack (KRACK), which can break the WPA2 protocol to capture and/ or expose information shared over public and private WiFi, presents significant risk to passengers in transit," the study said.
